Joy of Work

The considerable amount of time we spend working is part of our lives, so it shapes us and we should be able to enjoy it.

And it's also quite fun to reminisce about past work experiences and what has endured in some form to this day.

This time I want to share some bits of my experience working as a consultant.

Learning to fly

It is quite typical for a consultant to work on-site for whichever customer needs them. The pandemic may have changed the standard a little, but I think now the requirement to be on-site is quite common again. Especially if you do not have small children, this can be an attractive lifestyle: Travel to various countries for free during the work week and come home to the other side of the continent for the week-end.

You get to know different countries and the people living in those countries. I mean the "normal" places in the countries and people in common day situations, not just holiday resorts with their employees. I had the chance to improve my English including comprehension of its various possible accents. I even got to learn a little Swedish and experience long summer days and long winter nights in the north. Every IKEA shopping brings nice memories :)

Flying and travelling in general taught me some useful skills, like planning... and being prepared for plan B or C execution :) Missing a connection flight in Amsterdam multiple times made me one of the first customers of the Booking.com platform that I like to use to this day. I learned that travelling without a check-in luggage and reserving aisle seats can help to get to the destination ASAP.

Frequent flyer and hotel guest programmes allow you to have free flights and hotel nights for your vacation, too. Travelling has many fun moments as well like dropping your ID card at a foreign airport and being able to collect it again the next week because fortunately you still have a passport. A sushi bar that has run out of rice or trying to overcome the astonishment from the flavour of vinegar crisps or salty liquorice...

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