“A perfect evening” series

For some, work travel is an exhausting trudge through busy airports, sad suburban highways, and soulless hotels. For others, it is an opportunity to collect as many frequent flyer miles and hotel points as possible to facilitate their personal travel. For almost all, it is a trip to a new city or country where you get all the hassle of going there, with none of the joy of getting to know the place you are visiting.

Corporate auditors and travel agents have long regarded any personal time taken on a business trip as a skim off the top, or an untoward way to take pleasure out of something paid for on the company (or client) dime. But quickly, they are catching wise to the power of combining business and leisure travel to save money (e.g.: flight tickets from Monday-Saturday or Sunday are often a lot cheaper than those returning on Thursday or Friday) and entice employees with benefits that incur negligible or no cost on the company.

Through a combination of creativity and strategic scheduling, business travel for me has been an invaluable gateway to get to know new places, reconnect with old friends, visit cultural institutions, see plays, go shopping, eat great food, and meet some memorable new people.

Photo: Adam Jaime

Photo: Bundo Kim

Many gay guys I know have shared this experience, baffling their coworkers who want nothing more to get back to the airport and “back home” when the last meeting is over. In a comfortable hotel with a nice evening activity and a great place to have dinner, I am at home wherever I am.

This series, called “A perfect evening” is meant to inspire you to make the most of your time on work travel, and give business travellers something to look forward to after the day’s work is through. Designed to give options for those precious evening hours before dinner, all in one walkable area, we hope these pieces help you to actually see the places that work sends you to visit.

Who knows, you might even make your colleagues jealous enough to join you.