[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

Most of you who read my posts know I can be pretty direct on some subjects and am not unknown for upsetting one or two people. Many threads are about sophisiticated subjects like whats the best first class seat.

Well back to the real world, how do travellers cope with those nights when on the road things get tough.

I am mid trip in Asia, Friday night, pouring down with rain in a city that never sleeps, the hotel is empty, I dont fancy eating and quite frankly am ready to get on an airplane back to London. Am utterly bored and fed up.

I miss my family and however much good business potential there is over the next few days, I am seriously thinking of calling it a day.

Surely I am not the only one that feels like this, how do you guys and gals cope. I stay in a hotel that has an exec lounge and its usually buzzing, great place to meet someone for a drink, put the world to rights etc.

Any remedies – I am in Bangkok and soi Cowboy and Nana are not the answer – or am I just getting too old for this.

Anyone fancy starting a club for business travellers to meet. The best I have ever done is bump into a fellow poster in T5 and what a really nice guy he was.

I am sure I will feel better in the morning.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Martyn

Keep yer chin up 🙂

When I feel like that, I get onto Skype and have a video call with my loved ones – it’s not as good as being there, but it perks you up.

Then I get a good book and relax, or if I can’t relax, I do some work to make the time pass.

Mid trip = worst over, all downhill from here on, you’ll be in 62K before you know it 🙂

[Potakas]

Martyn,

I’ve been in your place on the recent past. We all like the nice hotels, 62K or 60J 😉 but seems that there is no fun when we are alone without the family or friends.

Before going to NYC I was so exited about the place, the Job and the experience, when I arrived there I realised that there was no fun at all, being there alone without to do anything in the night.

It is just strange/boring to go out for a drink in a city that you don’t know anyone and the Hotel’s bar is never enough in terms “I am going out for a drink”.

What Disgusted said about the Mid trip is true, though it didn’t stopped me last year, from buying a £300 oneway ticket on easyjet just to arrive home two days earlier.

Stay safe,

[VintageKrug]

Once you’ve called home, draw a nice bath and download The NewsQuiz followed by The Archers Omnibus onto your iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9yq

You can now also download much of the back catalogue of Desert Island Discs.

Bottled Blighty!

[Tim2soza]

Been there many times, know how you are feeling.

Apart from the already suggested Video Skype back to Chez Sinclair, try and find ‘Have I got News for you’ to watch. I never travel without a copy of the Private Eye to keep me going.

And may 62K become 1K on your way home.

[Binman62]

That why I gave it up…No longer travel for business purely personal and with family. I can recall waking up and staring at the roof of a 747 for the 5th time in about 3 weeks and thought what am I doing here.
The worst for me was many many years ago in a hotel in Freetown. It was a dump but the best dump in town and I was sitting amid the stains and pubic hair from previous occupants. As I strolled onto the balcony I saw, to my utter horror, the QE 2 sailing out towards the Atlantic. I had not see it that close since the day it was launched when I was just a child and I have never felt so home sick or alone as I did that day. It was before Skype Ipads and mobile phones and calling home was a very expensive lottery.
Frankly business travel is a young person’s game and it can be great fun, but it is neither as glamorous or as exciting as many would have you believe, which is probably why the merits of 60B versus 2A and other guff get so many posts.
Good Luck
PS caught up with he Queen in Manila some years later and had lunch with the Captain and told him of the story. They had had to reroute from Suez to Southern Africa and up the west coast as a result of the first gulf war. Freeetown was a refuelling stop and no one got off….lucky them.

[TominScotland]

Martyn, thanks for a post with which many of us will empathise. I am currently in a hotel room in Hong Kong, having forgotten to switch my phone to mute so woken by an inane call from someone who, until about two hours ago, was a friend. Nothing glamorous about this lifestyle, really. Mind you, I am staying in the new 4* Hotel Icon in Hong Kong – just opened and part of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and located in Hung Hom. Fabulous design in the public areas and excellent features such as free wifi and snacks. Well worth checking out at http://www.hotel-icon.com/.

Mind you, Martyn, we could have met up for a drink tonight somewhere half way between BKK and HKG, say in Ho Chi Min City……..

[CallMeIshmael]

Firstly, serious respect for having the courage start this thread.
Secondly you are by no means alone.

1) Skype – great to talk. Video skype even better

2) Have your wife get the important people you care about in your life to make a 1-5 minute each recorded message for you. It is good to share. Be up front – you miss family and friends when away and need them to record a fillip.
Play a few of them on your phone, puter, tab when needs be. (Toshiba S30 Camileo – great Flip type phone size video recorder is great for capturing these, far better picture and sound quality than any 3g phone).

3) Change your accommodation! Consider joining a club (eg British Club Bangkok) which has an extensive reciprocal club with accommodation network. I have found these clubs far more friendly, fun as most have schedules of activities, frequented by expat types and families as opposed to transient businessmen.

4) Make time to attend a Stephen Gilligan Generative Trance course.

http://stephengilligan.com/blog/
http://www.stephengilligan.com

It works. I wish I knew this stuff when I was in your position. I really understand where you are coming from Martyn, both because my job required one round the world trip involving 6/7 stops every quarter; 2 NYs per month, 2 European capitals pm.

Now, semi –retired, I observed similar themes from some of my exec clients. I asked my fraternity for solutions – they came up with Stephen Gilligan. His stuff works.

5) Be confident and secure in yourself to say Sod it and get first available flight home. You are valuable and valued. BREAK OUT if needs be.

[FlyingChinaman]

Martyn,

The ability to acknowledge one’s vulnerability is a sign of maturity and it makes you a brave person in my opinion.

We all go through the phase of career advancement and our spiritual void from chasing solely on the material things.

It is very important to obtain a balance and I am sure you know how to approach this situation.

It is a great idea of creating a network where business travellers can sometime meet others and to share their experience or grievances during their road trips.

Thank god I have friends (not business acquaintances) in just about most of the places I am visiting so I am never alone!!

Having homes in many places also helps!!!

[Inquisitive]

Dear Martyn, please do not dispare if you are not ‘Nana’ type in Bangkok. I am similar – but i manage to spend spare time, if any, very usefully during Business trip. Buy a phone card (or if money is no concern, use mobile) and call your relatives (including distant ones) and friends. If you have not talked to some of them for a while, this is a good way to fix a broken communication “…. I am at Bangkok on business trip and suddenly saw this …. that reminded me of you and thought I call you…”. The time zone helps to call Europe, if you are in Asia. Or take a good massage in Bangkok – not from funny places, but at your hotel. Most good hotels in Bangkok have that facilities and no hanky-panky. Across asia there are many night time activities that is enlightening. Night zoo, Concerts, Drama, Going up to a tower restaurant even if you are not intersted in eating or just take a $100 taxi ride. The hotel conciergy is the best friend. If all fails, order the best single malt the hotel have and after 2-3 pegs, you will start dreaming. Best of luck.

[stevescoots]

I Understand what you are saying.having just done 3 weekes round the world, 9 days at home and now just arrived in Asia again. not popular at home!

I spend about 8 months of the year away from home. iof that 8 probably 5 is in Asia the rest elswhere. What I started to do early on was make connections in cities/countries that I knew I would be going to or at least a good posibility I would in the future. I generally used Expat forums and forums that I had interests in, like this one. Lurk around them a while to see if there is a reasonable probability they are not axe murderers etc. the expat communities are a very good source for finding things to do other than just sitting in bars. I have done so much in HK, China and the US based on thier recommendations.

I have made some very good friends around the world this way that actually have similar interests and generally dont bore you to death. I hate having to spend all my time on a trip with customers, it means I cant relax. This way it means i dont have to spend night after night alone staring at ceilings or peeling labels off beer bottles!

I also cram fill my BBC I player. Make sure you do not have web connection when watching as the region monitor deletes the files! I now avoid doing any work on the plane when travelling unless its very urgent, all the mundane stuff I save for when landed to fill time.

Having an apartment to live in when in China means I have a huge amought of “cough” DVD’s to dive into + an abusive amount of alcohol.

Oh, and sometimes i skype the other half too haha. Seriously though, I plan to do this for another 3-4 years before toning it down and I am already looking for someone to replace me so I can kick back into semi retirement

Please god not the Archers, it strikes fear into my very soul (a long story from my childhood)

[VintageKrug]

Linda Snell should be running the country! Such a waste! 🙂

[seasonedtraveller]

First thing Martyn is to try remain positive…. I have been in a similar situation and I always find the weekends much worse. In my younger days Soi Cowboy etc may well have provided some entertainment as did solo sightseeing, but those days are long behind me.
I recently purchased a Samsung tablet and installed skype – this allows me to speak to my kids (and see them at the same time via the built in camera) without running up huge bills.
I also find that loading it with classic episodes of Python, Milligan and recently, ‘It aint half hot mum (with Michael Bates)’ puts a smile back on my face.
Good luck
ST

[robsmith100]

Martyn, that’s why we have whiskey!…lol just kidding 😉

It appears we both share the same problem except my travel these days limits me to the UK and not for extended periods of time.

Like others have already mentioned Skype & msn messenger is a great way to keep connected to the family back home. Alternatively there is Facebook…. a bit sad i know but then a again lot of my friends use this tool to keep in touch with people share photos, thoughts, movements and organise events.

Does your hotel have a gym? If you are lucky you may find someone to talk to in there like the fitness instructor or other travellers.

Go to Youtube and watch clips of classic British sitcoms, Fawlty Towers, Porridge, Only fools etc.. or listen online to a UK radio station, I quite like LBC.

Tried reading a book?.. I am reading Flight Catering by Professor Peter Jones as was mentioned on a previous thread and actually an interesting read (will post a review in time) but to the disappear of my colleagues at work What is strange more people who come to my desk to visit, before they have said anything actually pick it up and start flicking through it and question me on the book 😉

What about doing more social events with your local clients/customers (if you company’s business code of conduct allows it)

As you are in the far east, have you tried perhaps taking a yoga, tai chi or meditation class? I download some free podcasts through iTunes and they really do help especially to fall asleep.

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