January – bleak, dark gray, depressing … That’s how it is for many of us in the Pacific Northwest. Especially the dark gray. To me, it used to be the middle of the busiest traveling season of the year back in the day when I was still the editor-in-chief of a German trade magazine. Because the most important trade shows of the year took place in a time window that lasted from November through Easter. Which meant I was away from home for days on end with only a couple of days in between to catch up with desk work in my office and to do laundry and pack another suitcase at home. Did I hate it? I loved it. Because besides the extreme time management it demanded, traveling came with a lot of extra benefits. That of exploring places I might otherwise never have traveled to.
You bet that I always had at least one pair of very comfortable walking shoes with me. Because the best way to see a city is still on foot. It is a very thorough way, too, because it is slow. Of course, you can always add in a sightseeing bus which takes you around to places of special interest in a faster way. Hop-on busses such as in New York City or in Madrid, Spain, are wonderful, especially since they have tour guides onboard. So are the river boats on the river Seine in Paris, France, and that from Westminster Bridge to Greenwich on the river Thames in London, UK. You can rest your feet while getting regaled with historical facts, anecdotes, and statistics.
A great way to get around are also day tickets or 24-hour-tickets for public transport; besides being very affordable, they offer you transport whenever and wherever within the city limits of your choice. Unless you are in China and you can’t read the letters nor understand the language. Then, you better take a cab. Have a business card of your destination with you (or have somebody write it out for you) – and one of your hotel. And have somebody with you who talks the local language. Otherwise, you’ll end up stranded in the middle of the road, getting nowhere. English is NOT understood everywhere.
Explore parks and museums, churches and temples (if you know the customs they ask you to consider), explore markets and stores. Above all – try the local fare. If you are not invited to business dinner after business dinner, this is an incredibly authentic and delicious way to discover what makes the local people tick.
My business days as a journalist don’t involve traveling anymore. For now, that is, because who knows what’s in the books for me?! Ever since I came to Washington State, my radius has become smaller. But that doesn’t mean that it is less exciting. For one, I explore our state with my husband in our private time. And apart from that, I have had the opportunity to explore our country businesswise. And I did just that – explore in my private time, this time even in the company of wonderful friends who also traveled for business. A hop-on bus simplified our walks all around Manhattan Island in New York City. We saw the Mall of America and the strange inner city of Minneapolis, MN, with its skywalks that deprive the streets between the business buildings of any life (at least in early spring). I enjoyed the bohemian atmosphere of downtown at a confluence of three rivers and took a cogwheel gondola up a steep hill to take in the entire panorama of Pittsburgh, PA.
Looking back, I realize how much I have seen that other business people may never have seen because they went back to their hotel after a trade fair. To rest their feet. To have a hotel meal and a drink at the bar. Nothing wrong with that. But though I shredded my feet on cobbled stones and miles of asphalt even after a day of walking exhibition halls, I’m sure I had the better time. Taking in the local flair, eating at mom-and-pop restaurants the locals frequent, and breathing the air that smells so different everywhere. Especially outside business.
