the roads are getting nearer

Friday, April 22, 2005

` Friday, April 22, 2005

I'm so glad to be home. A couple of years ago you might not have heard me raving about the merits of this country. I'd be happily packing my Samsonite and raring to explore every new destination, with absolutely no regard for family or friends (or my rapidly shrinking appetite).

I've been in jobs that required frequent overseas travelling for the past two years, the most intensive being 2004 where I was literally living out of my suitcase 70% of the time. Of course, the perks of travel (4/5* hotels, paid meals and transport, weekend trips) initially outweighed the dreaded airport waiting times, jetlag and long working hours. I've been to locations so remote that I started defining civilisation as the number of times a Starbucks or McDonald's outlet was spotted in a city.

In the case of Bangalore, there were no Starbucks nor McDonald's. Although there were worthy replacements in the form of local coffee chains churning out competent coffee, I craved the familiarity of the green logo and banana walnut muffin (absolutely divine when eaten warm). Perhaps it is true that American culture has infiltrated our little island to the extent that we seek some semblance of it when on foreign ground. It is always comforting to know that the taste of Coca-Cola remains relatively consistent regardless of country. I lost count of the number of times I had politely rejected lassi for the fizzy drink. So much for culture immersion.

Maybe I am getting older mentally, in the sense that I have subconsiously chosen not to move out of my comfort zone in situations which require me to. The opportunity to see the world was a privileged one, but it was also surreal because people in ordinary life don't jet around the world, staying for 2-3 weeks in nice hotels and get reimbursed for daily expenses. However, ask any seasoned business traveller and I'm pretty sure many of them will tell you it's not normal to be more used to sleeping on a fully-reclined chair (the airlines insist on calling them beds for some reason) in an aeroplane (or sometimes economy chairs that don't recline) than their own beds at home. Or to go back to an empty hotel room late at night only to find satellite television as the sole companion. Include significant others and friends having to bear with one's prolonged absence from daily life and you'd probably see what I mean. Travelling for leisure is another matter, but business travel for extended periods is not as fun or glamorous as it is made out to be.

I was on a 'red-eye' flight back from Bangalore yesterday and for once I had difficulty trying to catch some shut-eye on the plane. The relief that came with landing at the airport was immeasurable. It was a lovely morning ride back home, and the expressway and surrounding greenery never looked better. Like they say, you never know what you're missing out on until you've missed it.

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