Business Trips are not glamorous

Sometimes for my job I have to take a business trip.  They are less and less frequent thankfully and I often opt out when I can.  However, when I do go somewhere, it is usually to a place that sounds nice.  Paris, Barcelona, etc.  I know my wife has a totally different image in her head as to what a work trip is like.

I was fairly recently in Barcelona for a week, which sounds quite nice.  Here are the realities.

1) the office is not IN Barcelona, it is in Sant Cugat.  Which is a fair bit outside.  Here are a few comparisons.  Its like saying you are in Stuttgart when you are really in Böblingen.  Or you are in Toronto when you are really in Brampton or even that you are in New York but are really in New Jersey.

2) flying many short connecting flights in economy on the cheapest possible airline ticket is not nice.

3) in Barcelona I stay at the hotel which is walking distance to work.  about a 15 min walk in an industrial zone.  I am not knocking the hotel, it is clean and relatively comofortable, but this is FAR from luxury:

My room is firmly decorated with Spain’s glorious history in mind:

 

and I would be remiss if I did not mention that the hotel is across the street from a power plant, offering delightful views…  Picturesque Barcelona at its finest.

 

So, each morning, I wake up at the normal time, stroll over to the HP site, which is quite nice.  But really just a typical factory site with some palm trees in front of the entrance.

   

It also seems that when in Spain, my head is even more massive than in germany.  Look at the size of this melon in my skillful self portrait.       When I am there, I am just staying someplace not as nice as my own home, and going to an office very similar to the one I see every day.  There is nothing exciting or glamorous about business trips.