I set up this blog ages ago when I thought I was off to Malaysia for six months, but since then the answer to “Where’s Matthew” seems to have been “he’s at home” or “he’s someplace nice on vacation.” One by one, I’m having to hand back my airline platinum cards, exchanging them for gold, silver, and eventually, blue. I was beginning to enjoy the quiet life, the regular hours, and even the quiet time on my commute.

Now it seems that there’s been a real shift, driven by the increasingly global nature of the projects we’re taking on at work. Three weeks ago, I was in Paris meeting with a number of the partners there – any easy trip, via the Channel Tunnel, that had me home in time for dinner.

Two weeks ago it was a quick stop in Washington to spend the weekend visiting with my parents, then on to Chicago for a week-long training course – great fun, but I never even got to see the outside of the hotel.

Now it looks like I’m about to head off onto a project in Singapore, directly after the wedding. Just what every bride wants to hear – you return from honeymoon with your new husband, only to be told that he’ll be halfway around the world until Christmas.

After Christmas, it looks like I’m likely (as likely as it ever looks, this far from the date) to be working on a project with a hotel group across Europe, so I will be spending both my days and nights in hotels, and presumably, a lot of time on trains. Still – it stops me from getting bored, and there are still plenty of duty free opportunities worth having.

One by one, I’m building a new arsenal of premium metal cards, too – AA platinum here, UA gold there. I’m even making good progress on my Eurostar “Carte Blanche”…