Travelling

I think travelling is over-rated. It is true that every time one travels, one tends to get new perspectives when they come back but more often than not, it breaks the routine of life so much so that the things that you have been training for or saving for the whole year gets wipes out within the few weeks that you spend overseas.

Actually I enjoy the act of travelling which means that every time I enjoy, I get to sleep in hotel beds and not make my beds and someone will do that for me. I like the fact that I get to try all sorts of different types of food and sometimes, over-eating comes with package. I also get to see how different people lives and how lucky we are in Singapore.

But the difficult part of travelling is getting to the routine that you have been trying to trained yourself for. Take for example, you goes to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. And just for that 2 whole weeks, you skipped gym because it's travelling and travelling should be relaxing.

You lose the momentum for the entire year just because you put yourself on relaxed mode for 2 weeks. And when you switched off for the 2 weeks, everything else gets looser as well. The marathon that you are training for gets switched off. And based on experience, after switching off for 2 weeks, getting back to your normal training mode takes at least a month, which means that you lose one month.

At the same time, the financial goals that you have been saving hard for as well, can go in a flash, as you want to experience memorable moments, you spend as well on things. Just because you are on holiday, your purse strings get looser and suddenly, you begin over-spend. And at the same time, your weight goals goes haywire as well. Faced with a full-on American breakfast everyday for 2 weeks, who wouldn't put on pounds that you have been desperately trying to shed the last few months. You gained back whatever you shed and more within a matter of weeks.

It is easier to lose sight of your goals when you are travelling because it is justified by "because you are travelling and so you must let loose mentality". This is regardless of whether you are travelling for leisure or for business. To compound the matters further, you are always in different time zones and therefore the routine that you have build up over the course of the year to build up to something get screwed up as well- putting jeopardy to your best-laid plans.

Well, I don't know about you, the last few times that I travel, I have made sure that the hotel comes equipped with a gym. And I make sure that I visit the gym at similar intervals as what I would have done should I be back home. And if the gym is not well-equipped, I still try to make sure that I will get the similar amount of activities on other machines should I be back home. In other words, no treadmill, means cycling for the same amount of time.

When faced with buffet after buffet of food, I always take everything just to make sure I don't missed out on anything. But I take lots of vegetables, fruits and fish and a small portions of other food. Drinking is almost unavoidable but I just drink for the occasion- like a gala dinner or so, just to show that I enjoying myself to the host.

When it comes to spending, business travel means everything is paid for. This means that you can avoid spending on food, hotel and air tickets, and means that your spending is minimal if you can avoid buying big ticket items like handbags for girlfriends or wives or liquor at the duty-free. What's more, the more liquor, you buy, the more you drink hence the less you buy the better. If it is more leisure, I am very upfront with my guest that I can spend that much especially when it is coming near to the end of the trip.

Some people save money on trips just so that they can maximize their enjoyment when they are overseas hence they maximize everything when they travel- in terms of food or experiences. What they don't realise is that this mentality will result in the "let loose" mentality which means losing their important cultivated habits in pursuit of goals. This lost in routine is really quote detrimental in your pursuit of long term of goals.

Hence the next time, you travel, try to keep your routine up otherwise, making up for it when you come back home is going to be one long hard slog.