This was the scene as I wheeled my case out the door of my room on the morning of my flight back to the UK.

I don’t know how many hotel rooms I’ve stayed in down the years but many times on leaving one, a weird melancholy catches in my mind. With rare exceptions it never relates to the experience I’ve had working where-ever I’ve been.

When I’m staying in a hotel for more than one night, I never get my room made over while I’m out during the day. When I’m working away from home I find it vaguely sad coming back to a room I’ve slept in to find no evidence that I’ve been there at all.

AXA. The Science of Risk. 2015.