I’ve always enjoyed travelling. The more you travel, the more you learn. I had travelled from Land’s End to John-o-Groat during my study time in the UK. I didn't have the chance to see Ireland though. Coming back in 1999, it took some nine years before the opportunity to see another country resurfaced. The country was China and the city was, of course, Beijing, attending an international conference, ICSR 2008. It was the first time for me in Beijing and I had very little idea of what it was like. One thing for sure, I wouldn't want to miss the chance to leave my footprints on one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China. The gigantic structure was impressive, but I only managed to reach the second beacon tower (or was it the first?) before admitting defeat. I wasn't in the right attire (an excuse), a pair of sandals instead of sneakers. Served me right.
Once resurfaced, the opportunity to travel abroad came almost every year. The trip to Beijing was shortly followed by a research visit to Nanzan University, Japan in March 2009 to meet one of the prominent professors in software engineering, Prof. Mikio Aoyama. There, I had the precious opportunity of presenting and discussing my PhD work with him and also listening to the presentations by his students. He also personally brought us to tour the Nagoya Castle and arranged the visit to Toyota factory in Nagoya, a famous brand hailing from Japan that needs no introduction. Barely a month later in April 2009, I found myself boarding another flight, this time to Sydney attending the ISTA 2009 conference. Just like China and Japan, it was my first time to Australia, but certainly was not the last. Presenting for the second time in front of the international audience, I had less butterflies in my stomach but the experience was equally great.
I gave birth to a daughter in August 2010 and the globe trotting activities had to be put to a halt. Research activities had to be adjusted accordingly and publications are limited to journals only. Not for long though before the itch to travel caused me to start planning for the next trip. I refreshed with an umrah trip in March 2013. Nothing to do with research, literally, but a lot to learn nevertheless. An accepted technical paper co-authored with my research assistant brought me to Singapore a year later in August 2014. With a four years old child on tow, Singapore was the distance that I was willing to tolerate to keep the blood pressure under control. Moreover, I had never been to Singapore, so why not? Singapore is such a small country and to cover the places of attraction was not difficult despite the extra load. Sentosa Island was not on the list though.
Five months later, I was on the move again. This time to Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan in January 2015 that was laden with snow at the time. I was there to attend ICMU 2015. The second time for me in Japan, with a totally different experience. First of all, because I brought the kids along with me and secondly, the northern island of Hokkaido was totally engulfed in snow. What a time to hold a conference, but they did anyway. It was an exciting trip for me (well, if you like travelling, every trip is exciting) as I had never seen so much snow before in my previous trips. Seeing the snow slowly building up from none to roof-top high as the bullet train sped from Tokyo to Shin Aomori was superb. Powder snow in Hokkaido is said to be the best for skiing, but I didn’t try anyway. It is the kind of snow that you can scoop into a bowl and pour some thick syrup and evaporated milk to become "air batu campur", a Malaysian favorite dessert. Don't try and don't quote me for this. The journey continued with a local train afterwards and in total, it took about eight hours to reach Hakodate from Tokyo.
In 2016, I found myself in Sydney again for the second time to attend PERCOM 2016. This time, it was for a longer period of time because the conference was held for a week. I came two days earlier so that I could have extra time to visit places that I could not make it to the last time. Three Sisters was one of those. Actually Sydney does not appeal to me. I had decided not to come back after the first visit. Well, in business trips, you don't have total control of where you want to go and personal preferences are of lower priority. The globe trotting activities continued in January 2017. Still pertaining to the research but of slightly different nature as I was not attending any conference this time. It was the research visit to the Singapore Management University in search for the higher profile institutions to partner with, a new task as a result of my secondment to a new business unit. With a delegate of ten people and a two-day-one-night trip, there were not much to see except, perhaps, Mustafa Centre? Under the same mission of trying to partner with the higher profile institutions, the visit extended to UK and Ire to meet the representatives from the Imperial College, King's College and University College Dublin. Yes, I finally had the chance to see Ireland. It was a fruitful visit with ties secured with two institutions. I also had the chance to visit my alma mater, the University of Southampton.
"Under the same mission of trying to partner with the higher profile institutions, the visit extended to UK and Ire to meet the representatives from the Imperial College, King's College and University College Dublin. Yes, I finally had the chance to see Ireland. It was a fruitful visit with ties secured with two institutions. I also had the chance to visit my alma mater, the University of Southampton."
Next place on the list is Volos in Greece. This time for attending a coordination meeting for the Erasmus+ funded project where I am a member. This was totally beyond my imagination. I mean, I know Athens, the Pathernon and the like, but I am the kind of person who can hardly appreciate a museum. So, if it was not because of the research project, Greece would probably be amongst the last on my list of countries to be visited. Recovering from the debt crisis, I could see a lot of abandoned and unfinished buildings along the roads. There is another side of the story of these buildings, but it is too lengthy to tell here. On the way back, we had the chance to join a free Istanbul tour trip during our 18 hours long transit there. Thus, another country added onto the list, Turkey. The longest stay away from home, thus far, was the two-month stint at the Center for Energy Informatics, University of Southern Denmark, working under the close supervision of Prof. Nørregaard Jørgensen our strategic hire professor to venture into a new research area. Not the best time for sight seeing due to the cold weather, but that was not the main reason anyway. At least I managed to step on the three main parts that constitute Denmark; Zealand, Funen and Jutland, an additional geographical knowledge for me.
After Denmark, it was Porto, Portugal. I flied to Porto in June 2019 via Zurich, spending less that 24 hours there before boarding on another flight to Porto. In 22 hours, I managed to visit and snap few photos at scenic locations to prove that I have been to Switzerland. Soon after in November 2019, I found myself in the cold weather of Hanoi, a bustling city filled with motorbikes. We learnt the precious skill of crossing the roads without waiting for them to clear, because they never will. We survived and enjoyed our time there a great deal. Within a month, I had the opportunity to commute daily across the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok while attending the SEGT International Conference held at from 11 to 14 December 2019 at Millenium Hilton Hotel. This time, with the family members tagging along and was just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that eventually hit the entire world. The first lock down in Malaysia started in March 2020, which put a halt to my globe trotting activities. Nevertheless, it is also me the room to finally pen about these journeys, which would otherwise be difficult as they continue to grow in number endlessly.
So, how many overseas trips can you cope a year? With many responsibilities at hand, one is enough for me. With at least one business trip a year, I have little room left for leisure trips overseas. Thus for now, it will only be business trips for me until God knows when. They were still enjoyable, nevertheless. These are the places that I might not be able to see, should I not involve doing research. However, unlike leisure trips, you don't just bring back home sweet memories with you, but also some 'homework' that justifies the smaller hole created in your wallet, rather than a massive one that takes years to recover, if ever. So, if there is no other reasons could persuade you to embark on this exciting research journey, perhaps this one could? Remember, when you don't get what you enjoy, make what you get enjoyable. Happy researching everyone!
Yours truly,
Hazleen Aris
October 10th, 2021
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