TRAVEL SERIES

I Went For A Conference And This Is How My Dream Came True

I went to work and enjoyed a vacation too

My adventurous journey to Newfoundland

I was invited to go to Memorial University in Newfoundland in Canada to be the keynote speaker at a conference on women entrepreneurs. The university was very keen to hear the Indian story.

I was offered a two and fro air ticket and stay and dearness allowance per day when I was in Newfoundland.

Who could refuse such an offer?

My host told me that I could make a stopover at Toronto before going back to India.

I was always very keen to see the Niagra falls and so in this work journey I decided that this was a great opportunity and I must extend my visit by mixing work with a short vacation and visit Niagra falls on my return from Newfoundland.

The university was supposed to have a meaningful discussion taking into account the different regions in the world. Academicians, consultants, and other experts were to congregate and have a two-day conference.

The days of the conference were the 25th and 26th of March 2018. Easter in that year was on ist April 2018.

I was supposed to reach Newfoundland on the 23rd of March.

Guess what? I spent the whole night at New Delhi International airport as I was greeted at the airport with a delayed message. The Air Canada flight had some technical snag.

I was frozen at the airport as they had kept the temperature really cold at the airport and I sat in the lounge all night. I could not leave my luggage unattended according to the rules.

In the morning at 7.30AM, the flight took off. At Toronto, there was again a delay because the morning flight in which I was to go had already left and there were no flights after that to Newfoundland as there were snowstorms and blizzards and they could not risk taking off there.

Ultimately instead of 7.30 AM my flight took off at 11.30 PM at night. I was already on the next day since there was a time difference between India and Canada.

I was tired of the adventure. No one came to receive me at Newfoundland due to snow and ice all around but arrangements had been made and a small bus was arranged that dropped me at the hotel.

I was from New Delhi. We are spoiled here completely as we expect that a person from the hotel would come and help us with the luggage. Nothing like that. I had to carry my suitcases up to my room. There was an eerie silence again we are so used to crowds and people in hotels in India, but Newfoundland is small with hardly any population so I could see no one around..

I sent a message to my host. Professor Jose Lamb that I in case I am asleep at 8 AM to please wake me up. I really needed three hours of sleep.

He returned the message with “No worries, you be ready at 9.30 AM I will pick you up.”

The conference and meetings at Memorial University at Newfoundland

I was ready before time and Jose picked me up. He first took me for breakfast. I was clad in many woolens as I was told that I should be prepared as the weather showed Minus 17 degrees Celcius. See the picture below as to how cold it was.

Everything outside was ice. I was walking on ice. There were boulders of ice in front of houses and there were ice-cutting vans with their machines cutting away the ice from the front of people’s homes.

In India, it is not so cold to have ice formation like this. There is a lot of snow in the hilly regions that I have often experienced but nothing compared to the sight I saw. I was fully clad in a jacket and cap and all.

The conference was a wonderful experience. Everybody was very welcoming and so eager to hear about India. Three days at Memorial University were just too good.

I spoke about the world position the condition of women and the types of entrepreneurial preferences in India. I had done a sample study on 100 women in a cross-section of Industries.

The conference got over all too quickly. We made our collaborations and fixed further meetings. I met the dean and director of the various centers in the university. As a group, we visited the incubation center.

I already loved Newfoundland even though it was so cold the air was clean and pleasant. This journey was so fruitful

Toronto and Niagra Falls Vacation time

I always loved to do work and vacation together. This time I had intentionally designed it so to visit Niagra Falls.

I had two friends in Toronto who were my schoolmates but were quite junior to me.

They booked a hotel at Niagra Falls and picked me up from the airport. The flight was late and they whisked me away straight to Niagra falls.

I think I was very excited and probably took the work invitation to Newfoundland to see Niagra Falls.

However, work and leisure were a wonderful combination. We drove to the Niagra falls and loved it.

Two and a half hours later we arrived at the Niagra Falls

We stayed for one night at Niagra Falls.

I had dreamed for years to go there and never got a chance to do so earlier. What a lovely work vacation it was. It was cold as you can see but amazing.

Such a display of water and a stupendous scene. Niagra Falls was Magnificent, beautiful, awesome, stunning. It was my dream come true.

My learnings from mixing work and vacation

• If you ever get a chance to mix work and pleasure, my sincere advice is never to hesitate to do so.
• Work has its own pleasure. I loved to be in Newfoundland. I saw a new place and it was a very exciting place. Not many people from India had been to Newfoundland or heard of it and I got an extraordinary chance to do so.
• Travel is fun, be it for work or for pleasure and if you mix the two you are completely relaxed.

To conclude

My travel taught me that it could turn out to be quite an adventure with delayed flights and cultural differences, but it made my dream come true.

Travel had been too difficult with cancellations and new flights and catching up sleep due to time differences but the rewards were immense both at Newfoundland and at Toronto and the Niagra Falls.

My advice is that you always learn a lot and if you have a chance to mix your travel with a short vacation always jump at the chance. It completely relaxes you. I always think of the quote below when I travel.

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” — Anthony Bourdain

Before I close I would like to give a shout-out to a young writer whose writings are mature and interesting. Read the article from VRITANT as to how you can combat both forgetfulness and content overdose

Tagging Sharing Randomly for her excellent prompt on mixing work with vacation

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2022.

I invite you to join Medium by clicking my referral link. ‘Join Medium to Become A Member’