The taxi picked me up at 4:30 am in the morning. The first leg to Amsterdam took a good 60 minutes, leaving Nuremberg Airport at 6:00am. Connection time in Schiphol for the intercontinental flight to Portland is a good two hours, most of which is taken by the security controls before boarding a flight to the US. When I’m lucky I have time for a quick coffee in the KLM Lounge and doing a first round of business e-mails and a quick call or two. The westbound flight to PDX takes about 10h 30 mins.
Delta changes its meal selection every three months, so doing this trip twice a month there is no surprise about the food I will get. I don’t even bother to take the menu any more. Another nasty disadvantage of a frequent traveler is the movie selection. Having roughly 40 hours of flight time a month there is also not much left to see on the inseat entertainment system. Typically I load a couple Netflix movies on my iPad and use this, normally watching one movie per flight while eating. After the food I usually take a short nap on the westbound flights which are day flights. Then I usually work the rest of the flight, which is quite nice as there is no telephone that disturbs, but a good WiFi connection so I have email access.
The Amsterdam flight arrives in Portland at 11:30 am local time (which is 8.30 pm German time). I pick up my rental car and do the 30 minutes drive to our office, where I usually arrive around 1pm. By then my day is already going on for 18 hours. Normally I work until 7pm on my arrival date, then head to the hotel, normally skipping dinner. By the time I’m settled in it is 8pm, which translates to 5am in the morning German time. On the next day! This is a 25 hours nonstop travel and work day, minus the 90 minute nap on the plane. I normally have no issues falling asleep, but it happens that due to the jet leg and 9 hour time difference I’m wide awake at 3:30 am in the morning. And another full day ahead. The glory of business travel. So for all of you who aspire a traveling job – be careful what you wish for 😉
I took this image with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 12-40mm F/2.8 Pro Zoom. Image specs are 1/15 sec @ f/3,2 and ISO 1600. Raw and monochrome conversion in Lightroom CC Classic.
I wish all of you a great and stress free Wednesday!
Marcus
Related Posts:
This is such a great image – it’s almost abstract.
Thanks, Marie, highly appreciated! Marcus
That is an awesome photo. I love your photography.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Aquila, this means so much! Marcus
That’s an awesome picture. And yes, I’ve learned that with jobs. Be careful what you wish for. There should be two colleges in life. One when you’re 18 to get a degree so you can work until you’re 30. And one when you’re 30 so you can now support yourself on the career you wish you could have had but were too immature to decide on at 18. 😀
Wise words, Kristin, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Wish you a great weekend! Marcus
I love this shot Marcus. It’s almost like a sneak peek into the lives of the flyers since the movie selections are so varied. It amazes me that the TV’s are so crisp. Mostly because nighttime photography is my nemesis.
I suspected that that much travel would be rough, but seeing it written out is still shocking. And to think I’m concerned about the fact that I’ll land in London at 8:00 am, which will feel like 3:00 am, my time and it’s likely I will have issues sleeping because it’s only an 8 hr 40 min flight and leaves at 6:30 pm, my time. However, I’m super excited that it’s a nonstop flight. We had rather long layovers in Iceland last year and the airport doesn’t have much to do.
Glad to hear in your comments that you get four weeks at home!! Take Care! – Amy
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Amy! Don’t worry about the flights, don’t think to much about it. It is a nightlight so you will get some sleep. A glass of wine with the meal helps :-)! Marcus
What a cool perspective in black and white!!
Thanks, highly appreciated! Marcus
Hey, I nominated you for the Liebster Award! More info here, on my site: https://chamomilemidnightrambles.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/liebster-interlude/
Thanks so much, and congrats to you on the award, well deserved. Your writing is awesome! Marcus
Thank you! I always look forward to reading your posts. 🙂
🙂
Great shot of the interior of the plane. First time to see such an interesting way of photographing a common scene.
Thanks, Tim. As the saying goes, as street photographer you try to find the beauty in the mundane 😉 ! Marcus
Marcus, you’re welcome.
Your statement is very true.
Something about the darkness of the modern age in this …
You’re right about that….thanks for sharing your thoughts! Marcus
nice capture, Marcus
Thanks, Arv! As always so much appreciated! Marcus
Beautiful photo!
Thanks so much 🙂
Yikes! What a grueling commute!
(But it’s a great shot)
Thanks, Richie, highly appreciated! Marcus
Marcus, take care of your health
Jim took the words right out of my mouth.
Thanks, Magnus, much appreciated! I know I need to take care. Marcus
Thanks so much for caring, Jim, it means a lot! And I know I need to take care. I’m not getting younger 😉 After this trip it’s four weeks at home! Marcus