First, I don't really have accumulated vacations yet and therefore it is hard to justify the extra days on the basis of work to do (trying to explain that I needed to work from Bali for a few days didn't work...). Then, the few extra hours of free time I had were indiscriminately filled with more meetings!! And this included even the weekend!
So, yes, I went to Indonesia but no, I did not see much around me besides the hotels I stayed at, the research center where most meetings were held and the cottage where the weekend meeting took place. Well, the cottage had a great view and we even got to go hiking one day!
The view and Mt Salak as the background.
But I think I've learned some positives as well. First, since I was there for meetings with "locals" I guess I also got to try some things that tourists don't really experience. Like local food, lot's of local fruit, some local nightlife and local people too! Again, food! All those coffee breaks and lunches definitely introduced me to a variety of Indonesian delicacies and boy are they good!
So not too bad, just left me with the definite intention of going back and experiencing more of a very interesting country!
That's a lovely picture!
ReplyDeleteI kid with Aditya - when we were students we had lots of time, but no money to go anywhere, and now we have the money, but only a piddly two or three weeks to travel a year + visit family.
(This is truly a privileged whine.)
Hi Gori!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand. But I did do a fair bit of traveling during my studies (budget travel, based on hostels and backpacking) so I can not (yet) complain.
And moving to Europe also increases the days off per year considerably!!!