It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, I sort of got out of the habit of writing regularly and keeping the site up to date but now I have something to write about, I’ll try and keep it up.

So, referring to the title of this post, is it possible to travel too much? Well, this is a question that has popped up several times recently as right now, I find myself in and out of Lima, Peru every three weeks. From the UK, Lima is about 10,000KM away, as the crow flies, but the actual flight time is a to be honest quite eye watering. For economics I’m not flying directly, so I take a two and half hour ‘hop’ from London to Madrid and then its twelve and half hours across the Atlantic to Lima.

For me the biggest problem is boredom. Twelve hours or so in an economy seat is no fun and filling those twelve hours is pretty hard work. Most of the in-flight films, well, the ones that I actually want to see, I’ve now seen, and Iberia are not that swift at updating them, so the choice of entertainment is limited. I’ve tried filling my iPad with BBC iPlayer programs, a film or two, several hours of music too, but after eight or nine hours airborne with headphones stuffed in your ears, I find my auditory receptors need some fresh air and my eyes need a break.

Reading is a distraction for a while, and praise God for the Kindle, but again, after several hours of reading my eyes need a rest.

Sleeping is not easy either. Economy seats are narrow, leg room is limited and I find that being over 6’1" tall getting in to a comfortable position to grab a nap is nearly impossible. Of course, I do sleep, the effects of dinner and a bottle or two of vino help here, but I then wake up with numb hands as my elbows have been resting on the arms of the seat and restricts the blood flow to my lower arms giving me pins and needles.

Despite all of this discomfort and mild aggravation, the pleasure from actually being in another country and getting to see and enjoy another culture whilst being paid to do it, far outweigh fourteen hours in the air.

So, for me, the answer is a resounding no, you can’t possible travel too much.

See you at an airport soon!