we'll always have Paris - as long as there's a DVD player around

My niece's job involves regular periodic travel to Paris. Sounds exotic and glamorous, doesn't it? Lots of people would be thrilled to be required to visit Paris on a regular basis, all paid for by work, no less. Well, unfortunately, it's not quite that "dream come true" for her. Her visits to Paris are strictly work only, with no time to play before or after or even while she's there.

She told the story not too long ago about one particular trip to Paris. She was in her hotel room relaxing for a bit before going to bed, and she had brought her portable DVD player with her. She was watching "Sex and the City". And she said there's a scene where one of the characters is in Paris, by the Eiffel Tower, which is brilliantly lit up at night. And my niece recognized the irony of her being in the same city as the Eiffel Tower, but instead of being able to see it for herself, she was watching it on a little DVD player in her hotel room.

My brother has told similar stories about his business travels. He's been to England and Germany and France (not Paris, but Toulouse, where coincidentally, another friend had previously spent a lot of time for business as well), but he's never had the opportunity to sightsee in any of those places. He's there for work, and about the most local flavor he gets is dinner and maybe drinks in a nearby restaurant.

I would think it would be hard to be at all these places and not be able to have any time to just explore.

But then, the only "business trip" I've been on is driving to San Bernardino for a convention. Ooooo, yeah, glamorous indeed.