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’m now on my 7th flight for this trip and is in the middle of the journey to make my way back to Singapore. It has been a short but hectic trip for the past 8.5 days in US. I was in  Dallas for the first 5 days 4 nights for the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) conference. I didn’t manage to attend most of the sessions since I still have work meetings to attend, as well as socialising with my colleagues. My manager and my director drove over 3hrs just to meet me so I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with them over the 2 days they were here. I also helped out in the career fair and met several graduating students who were looking for a job in my company. 

Then I flew to Chicago and met up with Gulabi for 4 days 3 nights for my personal vacation. It was my first time going to both Dallas and Chicago. They are very different from All other states/cities that I have visited. Grapevine (a place in Dallaswhere I was mostly in) feels almost like Scottsdale but more green than brown. There are more greenery than desert sand. Chicago, on the other hand, was a pleasant city full of city vibes. It is similar to Singapore in terms of the road structures and public transportation. New York City is the closest match to Singapore except for dirty streets and public transportation. Chicago is much cleaner than New York. Chicago is a city of midwestern vibes which is a different change from what I am used to. I am used to the California vibes.

This time I didn’t manage to go to San Francisco. I have been going there for every trip to US except for this trip. Well, it is also my shortest trip ever with only 9 days 8 nights in US in total. Just look at the sacrifices I made for my new home. Lololol. It will be too much of a stretch to to extend further given that I have pre-renovation work to do before my renovation can start. I tried to clear as much as I can just before the trip and also clear quite a bit while in US. Every morning spent on catching up on vendor updates and every evening is spent on making deposits for booking the various contractors’ services. Just imagine how crazy it will be if I don’t have an ID. Lol.

Every time I come to US, I will gained a deeper appreciation of Singapore and how lucky I am to be based in Singapore. It’s a bubble living in Singapore and coming to US so often is giving me frequent reminders of how lucky I am.

This is a delayed post as I am only posting much later after my flight.

I am blogging now while on my second flight. Just like the first flight, my seat got changed again this time round. This time they announced my name and seat number. They didn’t manage to pronounce my name correctly but I roughly can gauge from my seat number so I went up to the counter as per their instructions.

Turned out that I needed to switch seats because my allocated seat was a bit wet. I got moved to the seat opposite row of mine which is also an aisle seat. When I reached my new seat, I didn’t see any wetness in my original seat. I was dissatisfied cause I noticed there was no one next to me in my original seat. Turned out that my new seat has an empty seat next to me and my neighbouring passenger in the same row while my original seat will have someone next to me. Haha, it all turned out well in the end.

I woke up halfway while I was sleeping then I couldn’t go back to sleep again. Suddenly I had this realisation how this trip, or rather these flights, is like a breather for me in the middle of the house chaos. I have been running nonstop due to renovations and work and have not been giving myself sufficient rest. Maybe this trip is sent to me from the universe or God(s) as an opportunity to rest. Well, I can’t be disturbed or cannot continue my house stuff while I am right above the ocean with no internet connectivity for 12.5 hrs. All I can do is to rest or sleep. No wonder busy people fly business class as this is an opportunity for them to really properly rest. Well, my company don’t send me on business class so here I am on Premium Economy. Not too shabby haha.

When I landed in Haneda airport, I was shocked that I have to take a bus from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 to get to my next connecting flight. Mind you, I am going to Dallas which is like 20ish degree celsius. No I am in Tokyo and have to step out of the terminal to take a bus to the other terminal. It was 5 degree celsius so it’s really cold. Luckily I got my cashmere jacket and my Hermes cashmere scarf in my hand carry luggage so I took them out in the toilet snd wore them. Unfortunately, that meant I missed the bus with other transiting passengers so I ended up waiting 15 mins more for the next bus and I have to take it alone. 

Luckily I wore my cashmere jacket along with my old fleece jacket and scarf during the ride because the bus had to wait for 4 mins before it starts driving off. The cold also seeped into the bus without any heater so it was almost freezing for me even with the clothes. 

It was a 15-min ride with the last part mostly in tunnel. It felt like those zombie movie whereby any zombie might jump out and attack the bus. It doesn’t help that I am the only passenger on the bus.

On a brighter note, my new Lojel Cubo luggage is small enough to fit into the bus seat and is very convenient to access my items like laptop and even non-laptop items in the main compartment. Definitely well designed luggage for the price tag (after discount)!

I’m now on my first domestic flight to New York. It’s my first time going to New York and I am there for vacation. It’s pretty exciting yet scary for me at the same time.

My flight was at 6am MST and I managed to finish packing earlier and checkout earlier as well. Fortunately my scheduled Uber ride came earlier as well so I ended up reaching at 3:45am. The baggage drop off counter was not even open at that time even though I slowly take my own sweet time to print the baggage tags and join in the queue for baggage drop off point. I heard that someone said the counter will open 2 hrs before the first flight. In the end the counter open close to 4am. I guess I am taking the first flight after all.

No wonder my colleague said that the airport will be quite empty after hearing that my flight is at 6am. No wonder my Uber driver is telling me that the first flight out of the airport is at 5am. No wonder when we drove past Terminal 4, it is nearly empty. I was shocked as I have never seen such an empty domestic airport in US before…

I even had time to finish drinking my fruit juice smoothies (2 packs as I did not want to throw them away) and half a bottle of water before heading to the security checks.

Wow, I just realised that my expected flight landing time in the transit airport is just 10 mins before the boarding start time for my next flight. 😮 Oh my gosh. Do I have to run again? 🙁