My friend John landed in Japan yesterday (or today, depending on how much you believe in the conspiracy of time zones). After working for a certain financial firm for over five years, he was finally sent to Tokyo on his first business trip. I would be very happy for him, if I wasn’t so busy being jealous.

When other kids were growing up dreaming of being sports stars and fighter pilots, I dreamt of being a powerful businessman. This was long before I knew what business was or that capitalism was a term of questionable integrity. All I knew from watching TWA commercials and primetime television shows was that there existed a profession in which well dressed men got flown all over the world for free. They even sat in a different part of the plane, and while I wasn’t exactly sure what they did with all the women they met at the hotel bars, I assumed it was fun.

Unfortunately, my life took a different direction. Somewhere between “I like to read; I’ll major in English” and “You want me to be at work how early?” I made a wrong move. Or several. I settled into a small law firm where I learned to appreciate traveling to such exotic places as Midtown and, once, Staten Island. I got to take a ferry there. It was a pathetically exciting day.

I don’t regret any of my choices, but part of me still longs for the opportunity to use the phrase “in town on business” – to show up in a city you’ve never been to before, to meet people you normally wouldn’t meet, and do the same thing you’ve done every other day of your normal office life only with everyone around you going about their normal office life. It is a type of travel unlike any other – not for education or relaxation or celebration, but for a purpose. Where perhaps in other circumstances you might feel compelled to linger in front of David, when you are in town on business you cast only a sideways glance. You are busy, and have no time for the distractions provided by a change of scenery.

In a way, it is the most pure form of exploration – not a contrived trip to a museum or guided tour of an ancient battleground, but a rapid absorption of a new and strange place simply by being yourself. To not go out in search of the place, but to let the place come to you. And, of course, to get paid to do it.

- by Dan Murphy of [redacted] fame