Bangkok for a month

    There had been word that I might be sent to Bangkok for two weeks to do some work for one of our projects (the nature of the work is irrelevant to the discussion, but it's well within my scope of responsibility).  That had actually died down, and I though I would be able to get out of going.

    I really have no interest in going to Bangkok, ever.  I mean, you're asking me to go to a city where the first thing anyone thinks of when it gets mentioned is underage hookers and STD's.  So far, when my coworkers have been talking to me about it, the only things they've said are to make sure I "wrap it up" or I'll come back with a "laundry list" of diseases.  I don't even do one-night stands... as if I'd ever hire a hooker in Asia (or anywhere else).  Seriously, why the fuck would I want to go there?  I don't even like Thai food.

    Anyway, I awoke Monday morning to check my email and immediately became nauseous to find out that indeed I did have to go there for two weeks, and by the way I have a call with the customer Tuesday night PST to go over the details.

    During that call, the customer asked that I stay for three weeks, not two, because the last similar effort of two weeks didn't feel like it was long enough.  By Thursday, my manager suggested that I take more of a leadership role around this task and a related one, and turn the trip into four weeks so I can supervise the whole thing.

    So, in the course of four days, I've gone from "dodged it, don't have to go" to "have to spend a month in Bangkok."  And what can I do?  In this economy, how can I say no?  And the revenue I bring in for my team is important right now, and for all I know landing this work could make or break the year for us.  And how would I look at the annual reviews if I didn't?  The work itself is fine -- I appreciate that my manager wants to put me in a position to demonstrate more leadership -- and the customer really is great to work with.  I know that there will be a little bit of language difficulties, but the technical skill of the customer's team is quite high.  I just really wish I could do it from Seattle.

    Right now, as long as I don't think about it, I'm fine.  When I do think about spending all of March away from home, in a country I never wanted to be in, it just makes me sick, really.  I'm just thinking I'll try to get a lot of reading done while I'm there, I guess.

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Update: February 15th, 2009

    You know what?  I'm really embarrassed by this blog post.  I'm really embarrassed that I still react this way to being put into uncomfortable situations.  Foreign travel is difficult for me, it always has been, and although I've come a long way in terms of it, it's still a big challenge for me.

    I'm also not so chickenshit that I'm going to delete this, though.  Whatever.  It is what it is, I'll leave it there.  It says far more about me and my limitations than it does about Bangkok, and if I've offended anyone I truly apologize for it.

    The final story... I'll be there for the first three weeks of March.  The customer has been awesome to work with, and I'm really looking forward to digging in to the work with them.  Two good friends of mine who know what I'm about have told me that they love Bangkok, so I'll be following their advice in terms of non-work time.  I can't avoid it, so I may as well start to get excited about it. :-)