The business of travel
August 6, 2007 | Filed under: BlogHer, Gruyere With That Wine, Mmhmm That's Right
First off: Y’all are awesome and so willing to share. Thank you.
Second: Behold the powers of my laziness. I’m a cross-posting machine.
Third: Please read this. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you might piss your pants in front of several elected officials.
“Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.” ~Margaret Fuller
At my former place of employment I did a lot of scheduling and booked a lot of travel. Sometimes to places that I wanted to visit like Jackson Hole or Italy and other times to less extravagant places like some random city in Ohio or the always exciting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I would get jealous of course, when it came to the trips to Juneau or Florence because I’ve always wanted to travel to Juneau or Florence and wouldn’t it be glorious to get to do so for BUSINESS?? I wanted to travel for work. I was bored and restless and thought that some travel would do me good. Now would be an excellent time to become delirious with laughter because apparently when I had these thoughts I was either drunk or high. Or both.
A few weeks ago, I happened upon this post from Pink Lemonade Diva in regards to a quick business trip she had to take, while the soon to be Mr. PLD travels several times a month:
People who don’t travel for work think that traveling for work is alluring. I’m one of those people. We hear Jim’s stories about trips to Ireland, Holland, Puerto Rico, and think “how cool” without noticing that he’s not tan. He’s Diamond, Platinum, Preferred and I don’t know what else. He’s in a hotel rewards program for people who have stayed in the hotel at least 75 nights in one calendar year. That’s not alluring – that’s annoying
Because there was a time when business travel looked sexy and there was something about expensing a few nights at the Fairmont or a Kimpton property – with FREE bonus happy hours – would be wonderful. I would could write off meals in fantastic cities while earning bonus frequent flyer miles. Let it be known that I moved in May and since May I have managed to earn three Southwest travel awards, 12 drink coupons, and I keep all of my liquids in a 3oz container or less inside of a quart sized bag. I’ve learned the art of removing my belt and getting it back on once through security quickly enough to then get my shoes on without exposing my ass to those in Security line 3. I can pack 9 days worth of clothing in a carryon. I rock.
I love my job. I love my job more than anything and it’s the perfect job for a 20-something who is young and has drive and has no problem waking up in the middle of the night not knowing where exactly she is. I don’t have a family or any real responsibilities I only have to worry about myself thus business travel is easy for someone like me. Yet my youth still leaves much to be desired because I still get tired, weepy and cranky. I can’t handle 7 AM flights and my arm is starting to hurt from dragging that damn suitcase/computer bag around (P.S. Macbooks, while lovely aren’t exactly light) around and maybe one day, I’d like to actually unpack. I’ve heard good things about padded hangers and would love to be able to use mine.
After August 12 I get to spend two entire weeks at home. I might take a day trip or two. But will most likely catch up on sleeping in my own bed, where I know that Dateline won’t be able to find anything mysterious with a black light. All I’m saying is that for two blissful weeks I get to be at home. I’ll make good use of my gym membership and God willing, I’ll actually unpack because there’s something about having to step over a rather large suitcase every time I want to go from one side of my room to the other. The other day it was my big toe versus a stray high heel. Guess which won.
bloggadocio says:
Hello all you new readers!
Oh, and heather, not sure what you’re traveling w/ but you’ve got to forego the standard issue work-issued computer bag for a Spire Boot. My macbook (work) and G4 (personal) slide right in and out so i cruise through those X-ray trays.
PS - how about the pleasure of offering all your sleepover guests hotel size toiletries?
A spire boot? Do tell! My work/laptop bag was just my normal giant Coach bag with my laptop in it’s sleeve. After blogher I started using my AOL bag because it was lovely and holds a lot of crap and my time getting through security has been expedited. Seriously, I’m so good at that shit I could do it with my eyes closed. TSA should use me as an example.
Abi says:
This reminds me of a business trip to Miami. We left the hotel complex once for a dinner and were working from sun-up to sundown. While it was nice to spend an evening in the arts district having that fantastic dinner, the rest of the time I was in AC so cold I might as well have been back in DC. Also, the coffee was not very good. That is a very serious sin when traveling for work, bad coffee.
Oh, or when I went to BYU for a conference: no coffee allowed on campus. NO COFFEE. ARGHAGHAGH.
I just had to make an impromptu purchase of a cardigan because it’s so freaking cold here. Ahhh, Boston.
Abi says:
Oh, and no tea. Somehow it makes everything worse when everyone is really chipper and nice and smiling all of the time and you can’t have a cup of coffee or a Diet Coke because that would be disrespecting the beliefs with others.
It would have been a lot easier if they’d been surly, those conference assistant kids.
I will never understand the whole I’m in a fantastic mood at 5 AM thing without caffeine. Nope, don’t get it. But God, love ‘em.
Marie D. says:
I hate business trips. Liked them a bit at my previous jobs, when our annual meetings took place in 5 stars hotels near the beach in Barcelona. Now I get to go to Finland. In October. No daylight and freezing. I hate business trips.
See, this would be where I shoot myself in the foot with a response because Barcelona? Awesome! Sign me up. Until I got there and was trapped inside some hotel conference center for like 5 days.
Dagny says:
My second dad has always traveled quite a bit for work. He hates the idea of staying in hotels if he really does not have to. His idea of a vacation is to stay at home.
When he returned home from trips, he was tired and cranky. What I really noticed is that everyone else around him suddenly had to make adjustments. Often it was like he was a stranger in his own home.
That’s when I decided that business travel wasn’t really all that glamorous. Unless you’re single and a natural nomad.
Being home is AWESOME. I’m single and I do like to travel. But I’m recently finding out that a weekend in Oklahoma City FOR FUN is a little more appealing than a week in DC running all over the damn place. But you do what you gotta do. And I really do love my job. I’d just like to unpack, ya know?
Cassie says:
Between Jan 15th and March 15th this year, I think I traveled something like 6 of 8 weekends for work, and wasn’t able to take any comp days in the middle except when I came down with the flu because I was so run down. You’d think that it would be AWESOME traveling all the time, but then you figure out that being holed up alone in a hotel room in a strange city is not nearly as great as it sounds.
Yeah, I’m 25 and while I’ll probably travel for a few more years for work, I definitely need more days home than on the road.
Nic says:
I think my travel total is at 20% this year. Of course, it was crammed into Feb, March and April so it was a wee bit overwhelming. Since moving January 1, I have been at home for seven consecutive days only 6 or 7 times. The last time was over Memorial Day weekend. And now, this week. I’m SO excited to sit and relax.
Also, I got back last week and still haven’t unpacked.
Actually, I have two open suitcases on the floor with clothing spilling out. Nice.
I should probably spend part of this week unpacking.
Nic says:
Oh, for your laptop. I know the shoulder pain. I’ve recently been toting it in its Tom Bihn sleeve inside of a large Vera Bradley bag. Which, while on the extreme side of Ugly, is working pretty well. But! But! I have recently made the decision to upgrade to a Lodis bag: http://www.ebags.com/lodis/audrey_collection_large_tote_bag/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=77307
I love it and it’s pretty and it’s a ridiculous expenditure. But I need it.
Abigail says:
B, I want your job.
Shash says:
Heather, my husband travels a lot for his job too, and without his platinum status, BlogHer would have been wicked expensive for me (read: cost prohibitive), and we wouldn’t have gotten to sleep in the swanky suite they gave us at the Marriott (see: flickr). I’m incredibly grateful that all of his traveling becomes such a benefit to us when we travel as a family. It’s a nice bonus since we don’t get to see him every day.
Glad you made it home safely.
Shash
Arjewtino says:
So…naked pillow fights: fiction or reality?
Courtney says:
I went from begging to go to a work convention because it was super cool to going to 3 of them annually (with a different employer) where 2 of the 3 are international trips.
I used to yearn for the mystique of the trips–doing something “important”.
Now? I dread all the work I do to prepare for it. I leave behind my husband and our comfy bed, and I become homesick all too easily.
It is a “perk” and “glamorous” to discuss - but when it comes time to leave for the airport? Forget it. I’m ready to head home.