Travel & laptop!

Ah, the laptop. When you don't travel, a laptop is a status symbol, a neat toy to show off your position in the corporate hierarchy; Once you start travelling, you curse the day the damn things were ever invented. You just can't win; The three factors that are most important to you, low price, low weight, and large screen size, are mutually exclusive. Generally, low cost and large screen size win out, unless you're either rich or have much better eyes than I do, so you wind up lugging around an 5kg "phone book," which, after you add to it the charger, digital camera, paperwork (always in your laptop case), etc, you are carrying around 15kgs of trash, then you show up at the appointed office for your mtg, and it's the wrong gate to that office! You have to wind back 2kms around the large boundary wall, with this "heavy weight" hanging off your shoulder, trying to not get run over by VIPs riding around in those stupid cars. Add to this the uncomfortable hotel chairs,and your back is screwed, while you're hunched over the desk, trying to sit up so your back doesn't twinge and knock over your glass and spill it on this black beauty laptop keyborad with the litlte tiny keys, and you cant' type on the damn thing nomore! AARRGHH!

Travelling can be weird sometimes

I've gotten to a lot of far-away places I'd probably never have visited on my own (Russia, Cambodia, Lebanon) which is cool.
As for the wierd part, most of the time we just work ourselves silly, from morning to very late at night, sleep, and start over again.
On one particular trip we managed to get everything done early in the day, and had nothing to do by evening! So there I was with 2 colleagues trying to figure out how to entertain ourselves. The wierd part was that even though we spent countless hours together working, we had no idea how to socalize together. It was wierd, we were like junior high school kids "What do you want to do?" "I dunno, what do you wanna do?":-)

Mistakes we make when travelling on work

Paper problems - Many of us, forget to keep adequate photocopies of important documents such as passport, or hotel booking confirmations while travelling. Some of these documents are important to validate your bookings or claims, lest your bags or originals get misplaced.

Burying it deep - We either are completely reckless about our documents or are extra cautious. I find that people dump their passports, etc, right at the bottom of the hand baggage fearing that it will get stolen. And then they have to dig through all that mess to pull it out at the immigration desk - now, how many times have you yourself witnessed this?!

Not confirming - Many rely heavily on agents or subordinates and assume that details like transport, etc, will be taken care of. Hence do not carry telephone numbers of the contact in that city, or detailed directions to the meeting place or hotel , not checking transport schedules or confirming meeting details before leaving can cause trouble

Flight trouble - Many arrive late for check-ins and end up with middle seats which are uncomfortable. Sometimes they even miss the flight

Forgetting essentials - Forgetting to carry enough business cards, and laptops and cell phone chargers or plug pin adaptors is a very common mistake people

Cheap thrills - People generally tend to go in for the cheapest hotel deals, airfare, packages... everything. Cheap deals usually offer substandard service, one can actually land up spending more in irritation and distance and time

Not tagging your luggage - These days luggage and other travel accessories have the same designs the world over, this can be very confusing. "On one of my trips I took off with someone else's bag that had the same initials, look and feel as mine. I realised this only after reaching the hotel, due to which I was late for a very important dinner meeting. Since then my luggage always has a ribbon on the handle and my business card in the tag

Carrying too much - Many people carry more baggage than they are able to handle. This does not allow you to roam around freely in immigration and security. Also they fail to confirm with the airlines about baggage restriction - Many people want to carry laptops, handbag and their blazers all at the same time... relax and keep your cabin luggage light

Roaming reckless - Many people forget to carry their credit cards. Even if they do, they carry only one, which may not work due to some reason. Some international credit cards require that you call up the bank and activate the roaming feature, failing to do which your card will not work in another country, people also forget to check if the card is valid and has enough credit left before setting out.

Homework not done - Inadequate research about office timings, holidays and weather conditions in your destination will leave you high and dry. Also not knowing about how much you will need to spend, and if your bank has branches and ATM networks in the place you are heading to, will leave you without money in a strange country or area. Travelling is a skill you need to perfect, especially if your job requires it. The more you travel, the better you'll get at it. Till then, PLAN your work trips better.

Architecture Thrives

I found myself narrating to a friend that I was most fascinated with the structures of buildings in America- and this friend said to me- anybody who is caught seen looking up in NYC is a tourist!J And I thought it would have been a camera that would be a dead giveaway!J

Well its true, I was fascinated with the architecture in NYC! I mean wow! Such fabulous looking unique from each other in design, buildings! Awesome


I discovered New York is home to the world’s first tall commercial buildings and has a heritage of skyscraper history like no other city.

Since the occupied Dutch days of America – the city of New York has not lost the aggressive, business-like spirit they planted there.

Tall, creative, unique, inspirational, wow are some words that I used oft when in NYC, looking up skywards, completely in admiration

Architecture Thrives -NYC

I found myself narrating to a friend that I was most fascinated with the structures of buildings in America- and this friend said to me- anybody who is caught seen looking up in NYC is a tourist!J And I thought it would have been a camera that would be a dead giveaway!J

Well its true, I was fascinated with the architecture in NYC! I mean wow! Such fabulous looking unique from each other in design, buildings! Awesome


I discovered New York is home to the world’s first tall commercial buildings and has a heritage of skyscraper history like no other city.

Since the occupied Dutch days of America – the city of New York has not lost the aggressive, business-like spirit they planted there.

Tall, creative, unique, inspirational, wow are some words that I used oft when in NYC, looking up skywards, completely in admiration

Call home from the other side of the world

Every morning I would wake – to tiny sun rays creeping through the windows, I would leave a wee little space open between the sheers and the heavy curtains – for a bit of light to streak into my room, so that I could wake up to Bombay evenings while in New York morning!

And surely the sun would wake me, then the cheery sound of my familys voice who would enquire most diligently as to how I was doing, my heart would be crying being away from them, my mouth would be telling them stories of everyday NY!

And thus would start my day in the bustling city of New York

Midtown Manhattan

An enviable address indeed!

The core of Midtown Manhattan is referred to as The Plaza district where I was staying while in NY. It is the most expensive real estate from a commercial perspective

Timesquare the epicenter of theatre culture , Fifth avenue, Hudson river, Central Park, Columbus circle, Diamond district, East river, MoMA, Carniege Hall, Times Warner center, Madison Square garden, Trump tower, Bloomigdales , Saks , Macys, Tiffany, Broadway, 34th and 42nd streets, Empire State Building, Rockefellar Building- phew I am out of breath- Midtown is THE place to be in!


Amidst this plush world there also exist Flea markets – these, once upon a time were a source of local color, There are so many of them now, that any sense of novelty is gone, and they create clogged streets and unbearable traffic. The worst part, however, is that they are uniformly bland. Though the five boroughs are filled with an incredible diversity of businesses and artists, the overwhelming majority of street markets seem to have the same few items for sale, such as tube socks, LP’s, old broken cupboards, knockoff purses and gyros

Amidst bustle: call it noise or call it energy, NY streets always flow with people in a rush, shoppers with their trolley bags – a concept I have seen only in NY: as if ready to catch the next flight! People are always shopping, eating or window gazing in this magnificent city.

Dinner in New York

Its early yet but its now close to 40+ hours without sleep and my god I want to now have a shuteye! And I honestly wanted some home food, tender care and a good bed to sleep in!

So our limo driver kindly drove us to a place, which converts to, a street full of bars and lounges by night and this far in the evening it was still quiet n peaceful. The same street at night is crawling with youth, music, beer, and much noise fun and laughter

Our limo driver took us to a Indian restaurant which looked more like an Irani dukkan minus the pav, and the white eggs on the counter of the shop owner! This shop had a giant fridge with all beverages and a open style buffet

The food looked Indian all right but tasted- not IndianL I was very disappointed as good food is my way to eventually fall asleep, well, anyway, had food, and moved back to the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel looked even more tinier, the corridors dark n a bit suspect, I snooped and looked around my room very carefully before I turned the locks on and almost wanted to get out n go back into the crowds for lack of me feeling safe here!

No sleep! So TV it was! Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Hollywood’s perfect men, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and more of the same- and at some point my eyes slowly started turning down and I distinctly remember seeing the clock just above the TV- 3 am! Definitely time to sleep!