I have to admit, my work sometimes can be tedious and a little boring (especially since I’ve been asked to do more supportive tasks for different projects, which is mostly GIS and spreadsheet work, and my main focus isn’t on LiDAR* work, which is what I really would like to do). It’s a lot of data collection and organization.
The upside though: I still get to go out for field work every once in a while. In other professions, you’d probably call it business trips, where you stay at hotels and attend a bunch of meetings for several days. Most of our ‘business trips’ end up in nature somewhere (mostly), so in my field, we call it fieldwork.
Earlier this week, I went to do fieldwork in Sonoma Valley for three days. I know. It sounds awful, doesn’t it? I am sure you must feel very sorry for me. [\not]
It was actually really nice. I was out there by myself. I got to drive around to different locations to collect data, and I even visited some wineries (not to drink wine, though). To be completely honest, I have gotten paid at my job to do many things that were a lot less fun than this field trip.
I enjoyed beautiful views along the way, actually listened to a podcast (the one I mentioned here), because *gasp* I actually spent a decent amount of time in the car and had time to listen to a podcast. Yes, okay, okay, I can actually see now why this might be something for people with long commutes.
Where the river meets the sea.
Do you get to go on work trips sometimes? Where do you go?
*In case you don’t know what LiDAR is, look here.