I’m on my second business trip for the year and yes, I am back to US again. This time it is earlier than the usual time because I managed to get selected for the last minute slots available for Grace Hopper conference in Chicago this year. So I am flying to US earlier and staying for a month until I am done with all the work required in US. Technically I can fly twice for conference and work but nope, I am not subjecting myself to such long hours of flight 2 times in a month. Lol. Doing that for twice a year is already making me question reality. It’s a blessing to represent my company in both Women in Cybersecurity and Grace Hopper conferences this year. I’m thankful for the opportunity but a part of me is like…. Why am I doing this to myself because I really do not like long and numerous flights… I had 8 flights when I flew to US in April and now another 8 flights in November. Well, at least it is a month duration so it is not as jam packed.

However it is also because it is 1 month long that makes me quite anxious. It is my first time preparing to fly while staying by myself. It is also my first time leaving my house unattended for more than a day. Maybe I should have tried something like 1 week vacation first before doing this 1 month business and vacation trip.

I haven’t got chance to blog about my trip in April and I don’t think I blog about my last November trip and now I am off to US agin. Wah everything is very delayed… This time round I will be in 4 states/cities in 1 month, starting Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and finally ending in Phoenix. Yup, that’s like east coast to west coast then centre of US. Quite like an US tour. Now I feel like some singer/musician flying around for tour performances. 😀 Nope, I have not change my job hahaha.

I am going to Chicago for conference then work for a few days in Chicago office before starting my vacation in New York City and San Francisco. Then I have to head to Phoenix to work in the Scottsdale office before heading back to Singapore. Well, I have to take vacation in the middle because I am only expected to be in Scottsdale on end of November and my conference is on the start of November in Chicago. I do want to visit New York City again, in particularly Central Park since I wasn’t able to explore more of Central Park last November. I was having a massive blood flow from my menses – like need to change my pad every 30 mins. So I got no choice but to listen to my body and cut short my Central Park exploration. Very glad that I am going back now again.

I fell sick yesterday. I spent most of the day sleeping and now I’m not feeling that sleepy to sleep. I will be back to work tomorrow though so I do need to sleep earlier. I think I have been lacking sleep due to the amount of housework and my new job responsibilities.

Well, I got promoted to MTS2, or rather Career Ladder 7 (the new terminology) after close to 5 years. That also helps to reduce some of the financial burden I have since a job promotion means more salary. Haha.

I need to prioritise my sleep more and stay healthy. Being sick while staying alone is especially lonely. In fact, staying alone is already quite lonely. Oh well. Today I realised the single lady owner of another unit in my floor is renting out 1 of her bedrooms to another female tenant. I’m surprised that she can somehow manage to store all her stuff in 1 bedroom when I am struggling with 2 bedrooms and to store all my stuff. Lololol. Well, she has 2 toilets for her house since she got the bigger unit while I have only 1 toilet. At least I can still sustain for now. Hopefully I can sustain without the need to rent out any of my rooms because I am really struggling with space.

One of my neighbours who is staying in a 4 bedder in the same condo project as me is renting out 1 of their bedrooms to a male tenant. They are a family of 4 and they are also renting out a room. I realised the ability to not need to rent out is a good spot to have. Privacy is really a privilege.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! This CNY has been peaceful so far. I managed to avoid my sister and brother-in-law so far so it has been peaceful. They came over and I went hide in my bedroom until they left. I’m definitely putting boundaries to protect myself and to prevent a repeat of last year CNY drama. My sister also didn’t give me red packet (angbao) via my parents so it is like saving money for them. My parents also didn’t give me angbao either so I am helping them to save money.

It’s not like they were looking for me when they visit either. My sister brought my nephew to my bedroom door and knock on the door when they are about to leave. Needless to say, I ignored the knocks. When my nephew said bye to me at the door, I also replied and wave towards the door too. It’s unfortunate but I need to set strong boundaries to protect myself. I would love to meet my nephew in person someday but I doubt it will happen anytime soon…

I received a call that my Hermes mini constance bag is back from Paris workshop after 5 months on the CNY eve so I went down on CNY Day 1 to collect it before heading for my gym workout. Haha. I’m getting more disciplined in exercising. 😀 Very happy that my bags are all united now. I should spend some time to take a bag family portrait haha.

I had so much epic-ness in this trip which I think I should blog about before I forget.

(1) The first has got to be me falling sick (runny nose) before all my flights. It got me really worried about the blocked ears from the changes in air pressure during takeoff and landing.

(2) Then I almost missed my flight for the SFO – PHX route which I blogged about it here.

(3) Next is when I forgot to check what time the departmental store is closing and almost couldn’t get to the pick up point for my hotel shuttle bus. I blogged about that in here.

(4) My transit flight for DTW – LGA is like 10 mins after I am expected to land in DTW airport from PHX. Again, I blogged about it in here. Luckily it turned out to be okay.

(5) Then there was an epic deplaning incident for my flight DTW – LGA which I blogged about it in here.

(6) As usual, I had a bit of nose bleed when I was in Scottsdale. Happened on the day 4 or 5. Then it nose bleed more in New York. New York winter is no joke.

(7) My hands became red from the cold exposure within the first day. I went to Uniqlo at Hudson Yards to get the cashmere gloves. However, it might be a bit too late but applying the Kiehls Ultra Facial Cream on my hands help to control redness from getting worse.

(8) I was the last to board the JFK – SFO flight which I blogged in here.

(9) I had to give up my Popcorners and Sulwhasoo skin care bottles due to luggage weight limit and space constraints.

I didn’t sleep much before my return flights. For flights to and from US, there is a strict criteria of 23kg per checkin luggage. Basically I exceeded the weight and have to keep sorting out the stuff in both luggages in order to hit the weight limit. I also ran out of space and have to give up bringing my Popcorners and some skincare bottles (wth skincare) back. In the end, I am only left with 3hrs of sleep and I only managed to sleep for 1.5hrs. Luckily I couldn’t fall asleep too much as my alarm clock was so soft and I won’t be able to hear it if I am in deep sleep.

Then when we carried the luggage downstairs and when it finally reach outside the apartment gates, one of my luggage flew out and ended up on the road. It was such a funny scene that both Gulabi and I laughed.

I was lucky that there aren’t many people at bag drop and I remembered to print both of my boarding passes because flights outside of US always need physical passes. It would have been tricky if I forgot to print the passes.

I had more than 3hrs of layover at Narita airport this time round and was able to do some shopping and have a good meal (instead of depending on plane food) before I board my second flight back to Singapore. With the weakening of Japanese yen, shopping at Narita airport is really good.

For example, a 75ml Chanel Comete perfume costs S$375 is now about S$255 at the airport. That’s like a S$120 savings!

I also managed to find a store that sells Fancl and managed to bulk buy my cleanser. 😀

I don’t think I ever want to try 8 flights in 2 weeks again. By the 6th flight, I felt so done with flying liao. But I still have 2 flights to go before I can go back home. I wish I can just teleport home at that point. Lol.