Yesterday I had to travel to the city for a meeting that went for the whole day.
The day was longer – metaphorically – than my normal day. Technically my work day is said by the “powers that be” to be seven hours and if travel was added in I’d be away from home for just under eight hours; my real work day is about nine and a half hours with travel adding about 45 minutes. Today was about eight and a half hours including travel. But the day felt longer because I am not used to sitting at length in an air conditioned room where I cannot open the windows and feel fresh air.
But there’s something to be said for travelling to a different site – and using a different form of transport. I normally drive to work, and the journey takes me anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes, depending on traffic. While the train trip added an extra 40 minutes each way to my journey, I always love the view as I cross the bridge. (What bridge? you ask. Only one bridge. The Sydney Harbour Bridge.)
Today was a beautiful day – clear and warm. The morning view of the Opera House is always cheering.
And the view from the room was equally cheering. Simply gorgeous.
Can you spot the little harbour in the shot below?
And here’s the Anzac Bridge.
The skyline of the CBD, including the Sydney Tower, which will always be Centerpoint Tower for me, as I’m old-school.
Have I said I love the trip over the bridge? I like the view to the west, without the Opera House, just as much as the one to the east.
Looking west at the reflection of the sun:
And the boats in Lavender Bay, just next to Luna Park:
Time to type this post, and read a few blogs, and then I’m home. Much more productive travel time than sitting in the traffic in my car. Although I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, a change is as good as a.
Do you get to mix up your travel or work sites? Do tell.
lucinda sans 
I only get to travel now to training courses in this job – I travelled more when I worked in Fashion.
Your pictures of Syndney are great – my Russian neice lives in the Manly area with her new husband – they married at a yacht club on the harbour but sadly we could not attend. She travels to work each day by ferry across the harbour – that appeals to me in preference to driving.
Manly is beautiful. And the ferry trip would be a lovely half hour trip to start the day – if the water was calm!
What did you do in fashion that needed travel, if you don’t mind telling?
I was a designer for New Look patterns now part of Butterick and Simplicity patterns in America and most of my trips were to London to the Fashion shows though I did go to the Paris shows once. We also went out on location to do the photo shoots for our catalogue and to places like Brighton (on South coast) to put on exhibitions.
Ah, we didn’t get New Look but had Butterick and Simplicity here. I used to love looking through the pattern books with my mother when trips to the haberdasher were common and our department stores had a section for material and patterns. It all seemed so glamorous.
The era before cheap Asian clothing! When nearly everyone’s mum sewed.
I travel occasionally for work-related training and work much shorter days when I do. My typical hours are 7-5:30 (the last hour being the additional work I volunteered for) but trainings are often 8-3 with an hour for lunch. Working just those hours feels so decadent!
Oh, I know that decadent feeling. When I leave on the time everyone thinks I work, ie after a seven hour day, I feel like I’m paying hooky.
Do you cross the Bridge every day? In our 2 years in Sydney, it never got ‘old’ crossing the Harbour Bridge and looking out over that endless expanse of blue. It is such an experience to see it in 360 degree reality.
I love the productivity time on public transport…but then the time spent in connections and so on in our inefficient system does away with the pleasure of being able to work / relax while someone else drives.
I hardly ever get to travel off-site for work so it’s same old, same old every day!
No, I don’t cross the Bridge every day. Maybe twice a term. But the trip across the Bridge never gets old for me either, after a lifetime of living in Sydney (admittedly the Western and north-western suburbs).
I don’t have to change trains and walk to the station so don’t have to catch another mode of transport which makes it more relaxing. Still, it’s not all roses. Sometimes the smell or the noise of people really annoys me. Badly. Enormously. Kick them off the train level of annoyance.
I have meetings 2-4 times a month at other libraries in the city and I always appreciate getting out of the office. Plus there is usually time to sneak in an errand on the way to or from a meeting. Plus there is usually a cafe en route! And the meetings end early to allow us travel time. I could go on.
I don’t get the time for errands, more’s the pity. Nor cafes. But that’s OK – don’t do coffee.