I’m currently sitting in Aberdeen airport waiting to board my 9th flight of 2019. This time I’m heading to Heathrow and then on to Singapore, where I’ll stay for a week before leaving for Hong Kong.

This travel thing has become almost second nature; I’ve got packing down to a fine art (if you don’t own packing cubes, then I suggest you buy some before your next trip), my travel outfit is now a signature combination of comfort, warmth and don’t-talk-to-me chic, and for the first time in my life my suitcase is 5kg under the baggage allowance.

I’m feeling good about this leg of my Fellowship adventures. I’m glad it’s only a two and a half week trip because the few days I’ve had at home disappeared way too quickly, and honestly, I spent a lot of time on the sofa doing accidental naps between the hours of 4pm and 9pm. The time I spent at home was a bit weird in terms of my thoughts too – I’ve had a lot of ~feelings~, including but not limited to: exhaustion, anticipation, surprise, dread, anxiety, pride, nostalgia, and excitement. At one point I was genuinely thinking about not going back to work in March – for no reason other than I didn’t think I’d be very good at it because I’ve been working on a different project for the last 6 weeks. HOW RIDICULOUS. Anyway, I’m pleased to report that my brain has calmed the F down, and I’m now excited for the 13 hour flight I have ahead of me (long haul flights are one of my favourite things), and I’m also excited to be getting back to real life on March 1st.

I do plan on making a few changes to things when I get back from my next adventure, but they’re little things that I want to allow myself time for. Things that got lost in the pre-Christmas rush, the pre-thesis hand-in rush, and the oh-my-God-it’s-2018 rush before that. 2018 was good, but I want my 2019 to be less frantic and more evenly paced.

I plan on implementing that even pacing into my Singapore/Hong Kong trip. There are a tonne of places I want to visit, people I want to speak to, and facets of my project that I want to explore further – but there is also a dog petting cafe 20 minutes from my hotel, and in the name of self-care, I will be visiting at least once.

If you have any recommendations for science, art, things to see, things to eat, or just places where I can interact with dogs without looking like a weirdo, please leave a comment below and let me know 🙂