Hello Paris

So I survived my six week traveling spree, and now have a glorious 8 days at home before leaving on another 2 week trip (1 week in France, 1 week in Russia).  I'm so relieved to be back home and sleeping in my own bed that even the grey skies can't keep me down.

A lot of positive stuff came out of my travels, namely some changes in my job functions that will likely mean even more travel abroad and less direct employee supervision, which should take care of most of my late-night meetings.  Having to supervise people who are working in the US and with a 7hr time difference has definitely been one of my biggest headaches over the past few years, so it's a welcome change.

Here are a few pictures to sum up my various trips - what a strange few weeks it has been, going from the "bigger is better" American culture to the middle of nowhere Morocco to discovering Taiwan and Bali.

Also, as a side note, this was my first big long-term challenge of staying fit while on the road since losing all that weight.  Before I left, I was feeling pretty nervous about it, as it meant a month and a half of eating 3 meals a day in hotels and restaurants.  It's still a work in progress, but in the end though, I'm fairly proud of how I did. C & I recently started doing TRX classes at our gym, and I soon realized it was also a workout I could do in my hotel room when no gym was available, so I purchased an inexpensive set of bands to keep in my suitcase.  Between that, 10 min abs, and a few other YouTube workout videos, I managed to maintain my weight for 5 of the 6 weeks.

Things kind of fell to crap the last week in Bali though despite my daily workouts because there was just so much fried food and rice everywhere.  I don't even really like fried food at all, but I was wary of eating some of the fresher stuff/street food due to the fear of spending my week in paradise cooped up in the hotel room with Bali Belly.  I also may have indulged in a few cocktails... So I gained about 1.5kg in the 7 days I was there, but now it's back to the grindstone and the extra weight should fall of quickly.  I guess that's really the moral of the story, isn't it?   Ie. staying on top of it and not letting small setbacks get you down.

PS. I was also nervous about being mega sleep-deprived after traveling through all of those time zones, so I purchased a new travel pillow to help me sleep on the plane.  I did a lot of research on frequent flier travel forums and finally found one that seemed to fit the bill. I didn't want one of those C shaped ones since I feel like they keep my head too far from the seat and don't stop me from falling forward.  The squarer foam ones looked more comfortable but would also take up a good chunk of my carry-on space.  So I settled for this pillow.  It looks a bit silly, but when it's blown up, it's sort of like sleeping on someone's shoulder, and it was nice to be able to wrap my arms around something too.  It honestly helped me get the most sleep I've ever had on any long-haul flights, and as an added bonus, it's easy to pack and even fit in my purse. Something to think about if you fly a lot or have trouble sleeping on planes...