The story of how a "completely free" company trip was the most boring one yet

Does your company have company trips?

For me, while it's nice to be able to go on a trip, it's an event that I'm honestly not that excited about because I'm with people from work.

I have been on company trips a few times in the past, and among them, there is one that still sticks in my memory.

That was a company trip with the concept of being "completely free."

It sounds good at first glance, but in reality, it was just a matter of leaving everything up to each individual, and it was the most boring company trip I've ever had.

Of course, I think part of it is that I'm not very good at finding and booking activities at travel destinations myself.

Even so, I felt that "freedom" and "leaving it to others" are completely different things.

This time, I would like to write about what I thought during that company trip.

For that company trip, a junior colleague at the company was in charge of organizing it.

However, that junior colleague is not the type to usually step forward proactively.

I remember being a little surprised, thinking, "Oh, this person is doing it."

I thought at the time that they probably took it on because they were asked by their boss.

The concept announced at the briefing before the trip was,

a completely free company trip, no matter what

that was it.

The company would arrange the flights, hotels, and the banquet where all employees would gather.

Everything else is free, so the content was to spend your time however you like.

When I heard "completely free," I didn't think much of it at the time.

However, as the trip got closer, I started to think it was a bit of a hassle.

Since it's a resort area, there are various activities such as marine sports and sightseeing tours, and each has different providers, prices, and locations.

However, I had to find, compare, and book all of those things myself.

I'm not very good at that kind of thing.

Searching for "what's good," looking at reviews, comparing...

Honestly, I felt it was a bit of a hassle to have to think about all that myself for a company trip, but I managed to find and book something anyway.

And to my surprise, the weather was bad on the day of the trip, and all the ocean activities were canceled one after another.

The diving I had booked was, of course, canceled as well.

From that point on, I really had nothing to do.

It was raining, and nothing was decided for what to do next.

There was no communication from the organizers at all.

In the end, I just wandered around town or went for a massage to kill time.

Even though the company trip lasted about four days and three nights, I feel like the time I spent wondering "what was I doing?" was longer than anything else.

Looking back now, perhaps the phrase "nothing was decided" describes that company trip better than "completely free."

Of course, if you are someone who likes planning trips, I think you could have enjoyed the freedom.

But for me, I would have appreciated it if they had at least decided on things like "those who wish to can participate in these activities" or "we have prepared a few recommendations."

The word "freedom" sounds nice, but for some people, it results in a situation where they have to decide everything themselves.

What I felt during that company trip was that, for some people, complete freedom isn't freedom at all, but just being left to fend for themselves.