Unpacking My Bags

I had a conversation with one of my friends when we both started working… it was about people who travel on business. You see, during our younger (and ignorant) days, we both used to look at business travelers with complete awe… these smartly dressed people, going through airports, catching flights to ‘faraway lands’, carrying laptops (ok, during those days, very few people had them)… they all looked SO COOL!!

Then we started working, and were able to experience first hand what business travel feels like… IT’S TIRING!!

There’s a huge amount of time wasted waiting in airports, or on the road, most of it alone. Then of course, there’s frequency of travel. There was a time when I had a client in Kuching. What I did was I prepared everything on Monday, take the first flight out on Tuesday, then ‘worked’ until Thursday… take the late flight out that night itself… by the time I reach home, it’ll be close to midnight… Friday, I’ll be in the office, doing reports… rest over the weekend… Monday prepare for the next trip, and Tuesday, fly back out…

People who have never done business trips before may think that it’s ‘cool’ or ‘fun’… sometimes it is… you get to see different cities, meet different people… but for the most part, it’s tiring.

What I always look forward to at the end of my business trips is actually unpacking. It gives me that feeling of ‘yes, I’m finally home’… It’s a great feeling (for me, at least) to take all my stuff out of my bag(s) and put them where they belong (bathroom, wardrobe, drawer, laundry hamper, etc)… I have this feeling that when I’m finish with the unpacking, then I won’t be tired and uncomfortable and missing my loved ones anymore….

Now, last week I was back in KL…and I noticed something – I didn’t unpack when I got home… when I think about it, I haven’t unpacked for the past one year, since I went to Penang for work. My travel bag has always been left there with stuff in it… I take stuff out, and sometimes put stuff back in during my stay at home in KL… I do it for practical reasons… I don’t want to forget anything when I head back to Penang. Unfortunately, not unpacking has ‘emotional side effects’… I don’t get that full feeling of ‘relief’ when I get home…

Who would have guessed, a simple act such as unpacking has contributed so much to my emotional well being… I’ll definitely unpack properly the next time I’m home… though I better make a list so I won’t forget anything when I head back out…