I have hit the sweet spot with work travel. I don't have to travel too often as for it to become a painful chore, nor so infrequently that it becomes some overly precious experience to be obsessed over. It was a good position to be in. I felt I appreciated it whenever it happened and yet it didn't interfere with my life. I think it's a very rare position to be in. Most people I know usually sit in the other two camps. I have friends who have to travel weekly for work and it seems they truly hate it and the impact it causes on their day to day lives. On the other hand, those who don't travel at all (the position I used to be in) seem to often have an overly idealised of work travel.
I was told I needed to go to Greece for a work event. I wasn't complaining about this at all. I had never even been to Greece and the idea that I was being sent there for work was something beyond what my younger self could have ever imagined or even dreamed of. With my own ticket booked, I went online to search for a ticket for Veronica as well. Looking at the ticket prices, I was shocked to see that the first class tickets were only ever so slightly higher than the other options. It seemed like a mistake. I looked more closely and decided that this wasn't the time to question and so I quickly booked. Never look a gift horse in the mouth after all.
The day of our departure came quickly. I had managed to keep everything a surprise from Veronica. It wasn't until almost the last moment as we were checking in that she realised, when I directed her from the usual line towards the fancier line that had its own carpet. This was a one off treat for her and a nice early birthday present!
One extra perk of this was it meant we were able to visit the first class lounge at HKIA. Neither of us had ever been, and I was able to go in with Veronica as her guest. It was a beautiful lounge, very understated and not at all flashy or ostentatious. Whoever had designed and created it had clearly followed a brief of maintaining class. Yet, as nice as it all was, I didn't think it was necessarily the enormous leap above other lounges we had been fortunate enough to visit. It seemed a ridiculous thing to think, but I guess once all the key factors of food, drink and comfort have been addressed, there are only so many degrees that you can ultimately improve them on.
The seat on the plane was a different story altogether.
We boarded the plane and immediately, there was Veronica's seat. It wasn't one of the closed suites you sometimes see these days, but it was instead an enormous open planned "area". Calling it a seat didn't seem accurate. There was more than enough space for us to both sit comfortably, either next to her or seated in front of her on her personal ottoman. The space was so large, even her entertainment screen seemed a little bit too far away. I let Veronica get settled as I made my way further back.
The flight went quickly, and we were soon in Doha. Our stopover was short, but we still had enough time to go for a walk through the lush and surprisingly large rainforest they had inside the terminal. I often read and hear people compare the airport in Doha to Changi Airport, but for me it's not really a fair comparison. Much of Changi Airport's attractions aren't even in the airport, but rather are in the shopping mall which is outside (though conveniently located very close). It doesn't seem like a proper comparison to be judging an airport with an airport plus a shopping mall.
As we arrived at our gate in Doha, we saw the flight attendants frantic. We gave them our boarding passes and they immediately began to scribble all over them. There had been an aircraft change and all the seating had been thrown into disarray. We boarded the plane not knowing what would be awaiting us, but were very pleasantly surprised to find that we had lucked out with a QSuite plane.
Arriving at Athens airport, we jumped in a cab which took us to the hotel outside of Athens. By some strange coincidence, we had managed to chance upon a local Athenian taxi driver who was married to a girl from Hong Kong. We chatted on the whole length of the drive to the hotel. He gave us tips on how to deal with issues in Greece and told us all about his family. It was a nice start to our time in Greece.
I showered, got changed and said goodbye to Veronica. She would go and find her own fun for the evening. I headed downstairs to the lobby to find my colleagues waiting. The work would start the next day. This evening, we were all headed off for dinner together to reconnect and to enjoy ourselves before we started.
It seemed a long time since we had left Hong Kong.
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