Every trip is a chance for workaholics

By Patricia Li Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-16 19:23:01

Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

 

Tourism in China has been expanding rapidly since the early 1980s. For young people stuck in tedious office jobs or behind a study desk, there seems to be no excuse to reject a chance for recreation and adventure elsewhere. But some people don't like it.

I have a friend who is one of the anti-travel freaks. Working for a sports company that often arranges tours for athletes who fly around the world competing at tournaments, he has several chances for international travel each year. That makes me so jealous - what could be more exciting than free travel?

But he always tried his best to avoid the opportunity, for simple reasons. As the tour manager, his journey, from beginning to end, is always dominated by annoying tasks: booking tickets, arranging accommodation and commuting in between hotels and airports to pick up guests. For him, all the excitement, curiosity and relaxation in traveling to an unfamiliar place are worn away by the fatigue and pressures from work. The trips for him are just an extension of routine work. 

I agree that business trips involving intense tasks can be boring and tiring. On the way to the destination, you are busy pondering the strategies you will use in a tough negotiation or wording and phrasing your speech for a conference.  And in Chinese business, even your evenings aren't free, as you're expected to spend them at tedious drunken banquets with your hosts. On the way back, you are brought back to the work you have to deal with in the office.

However, I believe that even in a business trip with a packed agenda, one can still have their moments. It all depends on how you perceive the tours. It is demanding, but it still gives you chances to see and understand exotic cultures, to explore and discover things you have never known before.

Smart and shrewd travelers exploit the maximum value of business trips. For example, in journeys overseas, you will have the chance for duty-free shopping. You can happily see the growing numbers of air miles. Then there are also opportunities to apply for membership at fancy hotels. All of this will enable you great benefits in return - free tickets and hotel rooms.

I have a friend who has enjoyed free tickets and hotel rooms as part of her husband's business travel "bonus." The couple went to Thailand and Greece, paying almost nothing out of pocket. 

I am a fan of any kind of trip. My last business trip was a journey to Pakistan, not usually a popular destination for tourists. When visiting Peshawar, a city close to the battlefields of the War on Terror, we had the chance to talk to generals from the Pakistan army. That trip was exhausting, but I got treasured experiences that I could never have on a simple tourist trip.

I am planning a trip to Taiwan during holidays. I prepared it as a vacation just for fun until my travel mate suggested that we could use this opportunity to include business meetings.

I think she is right. A shrewd traveler should be good not only at getting the most out of business trips but also from trips for pleasure.

Then I was rebuked by my anti-travel friend. "Don't you think you are a stupid workaholic?" he asked.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.



Posted in: Twocents-Opinion

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