On Travelling

As a dreamer of dreams and a travelin' man,
I have chalked up many a mile;
Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks,
And I've learned much from both of their styles.

— “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” Jimmy Buffett

I use train tickets and boarding passes as bookmarks, which of course makes me a weirdo in a couple of ways: I still like paper tickets and boarding passes when I can get them, and I still read books made of paper. It's nice, though, to open a book and find a memento that “reminds me of the places I've been” (a quote from another of my favourite Buffett songs about travelling).

I've been fortunate to have had jobs that allow me to travel, as travel expands the mind in ways you can't appreciate until you've experienced it. From that first trip to Amsterdam for a month at age 26, porting a point-of-sale system to a new device platform for Albert Heijn, to that two-month trip to England to design a self-service kiosk for Post Office, Ltd., and the many trips around the Asia-Pacific region since I moved to Singapore, it's been a joy to make new friends and lasting memories while collecting stories and experiences.

If you're new to your career, and you have the opportunity to travel as part of your job, do it!

Note: This article first appeared as a post on LinkedIn.