THE Lowly Peon

On the Road Again! 
06 May 2010, 6:56am

Ah yes, it feels good to be back on the road. After my trip with daisy to California in February, I've had a stagnant few months, staying mostly in Hangzhou. I've taken advantage of mostly every opportunity since then, going to Korea to see maggie33, and quick trips to Suzhou or Shanghai with daisy (both within two hours of here). I love Hangzhou, I love my life, but I still have the itch, or what Joni Mitchell calls the "urge for going".

And at last! I am going to be back on the road in a few days. Our Guangzhou office finally got their act together, after — no joke — over 18 months of postponing what was meant to be my first domestic Chinese trip. I'm going first with a fellow IT guy to set up the network, and then daisy and my friend/colleague will be coming two days later. We'll all get to hang out there for a few days, then Daze and I will extend our trip into the weekend so we can spend some time geocaching.

I've thoroughly enjoyed planning the trip since it was confirmed this morning (and I admit that I got a bit trigger happy yesterday, and booked my hotel even without confirmation). It's so simple, this trip, but it's still been really exciting to think about being back on the road.

A big perk is that I'll be staying at the Hyatt, which, as I've ranted about before, gives me some pretty sweet deals. They have a promotion now where after any two stays (at any Hyatts worldwide), I get a free night at any Hyatt in the world. I stayed recently in Seoul with maggie33, which means next week will be the second time. So I'm going to use the free night to stay at the downtown Hong Kong Hyatt with daisy at the end of the month. And we'll be going to Guangzhou for work twice more in May, the stays for which I'll use to stay at the Park Hyatt Chicago! One night there is going for about $500, and we'll be staying for free! (I just called, and they said I'm likely for a room upgrade as well, since I'm a platinum member).

This traveling does kind of mess up my grocery schedule (as the place I order from only delivers my imported avocados and cheese on Sundays, meaning I need to wait a week if I'm not around Sunday night between 3pm and 8pm, much like the cable guy). And it can be a drag living out of a suitcase, or constantly having to carry a bag around. But man is it worth it!