Globe-trotting the Orient

Stuffed Kitty Kitty Cat
Originally uploaded by michellechang.

After four planes, 12 taxi rides, 16 hours of time zone difference, and six in-flight movies, I have travelled approximately 7,500 miles, stopping by Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan all in just five days. But home isn't around the corner yet. On Sunday, I board a fifth Boeing, onwards to the fourth of five stops, Korea. Yes, business travel sounds glamorous, but what they didn't tell you, is how awfully exhausting it is.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love travel. Who can complain about a company-sponsored, fully expensed, business class, five star hotel, butler-serviced tour of the Far East? After nearly three years of employment at Deloitte, I have finally embodied and defined the globe-trotting consultant that everyone wants to be. So, what is international business travel really like?

1). Getting drunk in business class. Take this as you wish. I haven't quite taken advantage of the all-you-can-drink cabin class, but intoxication 35,000 feet in the air is a more likely possibility than in Economy. In business class, not only are you pampered with three rounds of heated hand towels, four-course meals (including a fine cheese platter), and lavatories decorated with fresh pink rose petals glittered along the sink, but you are also called by your last name.

"Ms. Chang, would you like a glass of zinfandel or a cup of cappacino?" the blue-suited flight attendant asks me. I have to perform an abdominal-intense sit-up from my fully stretched-out, horizontal napping position before I can even answer. Also, I am blessed with my youthful age and appearance, winning hands-down as the youngest busines class customer on the flight. Dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, frayed jeans, and bright yellow backpack, I order my second scoop of ice cream, and right then and there, I decide to kiss all future coach seats goodbye. It's all business from here.

2). Spinning circles. While I may not look like I'm a foreigner from countries such as Singapore or Japan, I am still lost in translation. I fumble to find enough Singapore dollars to pay the taxi driver, and I hover over the concierge desk in order to understand which train on the schedule to take. On top of all of this, my hotel room clock says it is 8:34 pm, but my computer clock is stuck at 5:34 am. Should I be awake or asleep? I sure feel like I should be sleeping, yet, I'm eating dinner. Or is it lunch? Well, it isn't that huge of a deal since I'll be moving time zones again tomorrow.

3). Work til you drop. You've flown thousands of miles to get to Shanghai to conduct a couple of meetings. That's only about two hours of facilitation time -- nothing terribly demanding. Yet, when you're not in a meeting room, you're on-the-go, scurrying into a taxi, throwing dirty laundry into your ever-growing bag, and exchanging your yen for yuan. It's the end of your day in China, but only the start for California. There's just enough time for you to attend meetings over the phone that are being run back home. And there's just enough time for you to do some work. Soon enough, you find yourself working round the clock.

4). Fat or fit? No one can turn down a $2.00 seafood vegetable noodle meal or a $1.50 xiao long bao dinner. Neither can you decline a client invitation to the nearby sushi restaurant for sashimi, saba, or sake. Soon enough, you'll find the sake bombing you, and not the other way around. Alas, you consume all the complimentary breakfast buffets with both hands, and stock up your tummy at each of the dozens of airport lounges you've gone early to peruse. When you do get the chance, you visit the hotel gym to squeeze in a decent workout. Only then, do you discover the jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, and swimming pool. Within minutes, you find yourself sweating from bubbling jet streams instead of the treadmill.

Despite the headaches from travelling while working, keeping track of incessant receipts, and printing out a seventh boarding pass, the pictures are worth more than one thousand words. You can capture sights that many cannot see, you can savor the tastes of cultural foods that even Silicon Valley restaurants may not get right, and you can hear the rhymic, musical language rolling off the tongues of natives. I'll return home, tired and sleep-deprived, but alive with enriching experiences that give me more perspective than I would have gained from my regular 15 minute drive into work in Santa Clara.