My 15 to 20 roundtrips constitute a rich reservoir of real experiences, involving many decision and lessons.

k_ctbz

By default, the same flight would inflict

• either huge $cost in terms of biz class seat
• or heavy stress on my “system”

My ctbz provided big savings on $cost and wellness. Looking back, I think my planning was (extremely) elaborate:

• I learned from experience and optimized on transport cost, to the extreme. eg: I remember pulling 3-piece luggage on the street of White Plains..I had no choice but pull 2 pieces at a time.
• Unable to sleep while sitting up, I learned from experience and optimized rest before and after the long leg of the connected flight.
• I learned from experience and optimized/maximize the amount of family time, usually 9 days +/-. Also minimized forgone billing.
• .. Many would point out that contractors are unlucky as we can’t afford to take these unpaid leaves, but looking back I have no regrets.
• I learned from experience and optimized for tech learning, workout/stretch (dangerous?), blogging on the trip. I hand-picked reading materials for carry-on. See Q2.
• I had to prepare for temperature change throughout
• ^^^ Overall, I score myself 98 marks on ctbz/optimization and planning

Q3 (paradox): why did I /endure/ so much suffering [lost sleep, stress, headache..] , when I (supposedly) had a basic ffree and carefree ezlife?
A: I wanted to keep my U.S. job while keeping my GC alive. Without the GC, without the U.S. as alternative to SG, I would lose one major defense/cushion for family livelihood.
A: SG job market was/is tough and very limited. It has major impact on family well-being (beyond livelihood). In my previous SG jobs, I had work hazards in the form of traumatic experiences, deep scars, low self-esteem, job insecurity.

So the elaborate planning was part of the grand total cost of setting up my 2nd base i.e. the U.S. (SG being home base). This grand total cost covers IB4US and c++US periods. “Headache” is a common phrase to describe the elaborate planning but actually tongue-in-cheek.

Paradox –> My carefree ezlife was not so adequate, so comfortable after all. I still needed to sacrifice quite a bit for my family’s future.

Q2: what’s the total non-financial cost of each trip? Lost sleep, physical fatigue for sure.
A: I had lots of fun on each trip, starting from the night before. My elaborate planning was kinda active learning by experiment.
A: I had heightened/elevated motivation for tech learning on the trip.
A: I had some workout on the trip, too.
A: I needed to take precautions to avoid many common missteps, but the stress profile was kinda mixed positive/negative