Kind of visiting Adelaide

I've been to Adelaide now. I was invited to give a talk and stay a night. And then I was invited to give a second talk the same day, but not to stay a night after all. Just fly in early in the morning and fly out in the evening. Their travel agent contact me with suggested flights. I ignored that request for a long time, because I'd never been to Adelaide, and coming and going in one day sounded tiring. But then I decided ... whatever.  If I went and returned in a single day, then wouldn't have to pack, and I wouldn't have to spend a night away from the family.

So I flew to Adelaide early one morning, arrived in time to give a talk, go to lunch, give a talk, attend a reception, and fly home. I saw pretty much nothing of the city. And by the time I was through I was sick sick sick. The migraine started in the morning, so I took medication to squash it. By lunch it was coming back, so I took the second dose to squash it. By the time I was back in the airport it was coming back again, but I'd taken the maximum 24 hour dosage. And instead of being able to go somewhere quiet after a long day and rest it off, I had to get on a plane and a bus and a train. I was wiped out with a massive headache for the entire weekend.

In retrospect, I should have known better.

I'm angry at myself for accepting the suggestion to commute to and from Adelaide in a day. The trip from Adelaide to Melbourne is more than eight hours by car, so it isn't a trivial journey even by plane. I'm angry that I didn't get to see anything of the city except the inside of a couple of university buildings. I'm angry that the department was too cheap to pay an extra AUD $150 to host a speaker in a reasonable manner. Or that I didn't just pay my own AUD $150 to stave off a weekend of migraine.

So I've been to Adelaide.

Very disappointed. Very.

To my future self: Self, you are older than you think, and even though it doesn't happen often, you get pretty bad migraines, and travel doesn't help that. So remember to travel smart and rest up and pay the extra money to make the travel more pleasant. Thank you, Self.