Anyone travel a lot for work?

I used to travel within a territory of stores. I was a vendor for a product sold in big box stores. It was nice being in different stores everyday and interacting with people but the traffic sometimes sucked.

HiTempguy wrote: Also note that it makes it even harder to meet new women.

You're not doing something right, then. Meeting people was easy when I was travelling. Airport bars and planes were practically meat markets.

I traveled around the Country and the World investigating failures because that's where they happened. In an area where everyone dressed the same, has the same Ooyah mentality, I was the visitor. I had to win them over and change their point of view. My point Fritsch is networking. Be polite, be professional, take notes and smile. Sure, travel sucks. Going through Chicago in the winter messes up your days, through the Midwest during tornado season just bites, but at the end of the day Management recognizes the commitment and the time you've lost with family, the aggravation of sitting in the Philly NFG terminal for two days, and you will be rewarded or at least a knowing nod.

You will be rewarded.

Thanks. I will need to talk to the company and find out how the travel is organized, whether it is a few days at a time or everyday etc. I don't really have much to add but I am reading all the responses.

I guess one thing I don't like is that work would continue at the hotel for a couple hours.

petegossett wrote: In reply to bmw88rider: Runzheimer?

I did Runzheimer for a few years and now we are Cardata. I traveled 50-60+ nights a year for 14 years. My wife hated it - I didn't mind because breakfast and coffee was always ready for me. In the end I hated hotels but enjoyed the free SWA miles and free hotel rooms for family vacation.

I didn't mind fall or winter travel as evenings are slow but I hated spring and summer travel due to the sunset. If the sun sets when in Grand Rapids, Michigan in June at 9:30pm......I would rather be home gardening, riding bikes, walking, or going to a local car show WITH my family. In the winter it gets dark at 5:00pm so I just end up finding a local mall and walking laps for excersize.

I have a slew of hotel phobias that I love to pass along to freak out travelers.....

Here goes......my top 10.

1. The remote is nasty. Too much scratching here.

2. Never look behind the headboard or nightstand.

3. Never lift up the mattress.

4. Never use the hotel glasses. They clean them with the used towel from the previous guy. And that guy dried off "everything" with that towel.

5. Never use the glass coffee pot - see reason #4.

6. Never sit in the bathtub. Too many other liquids hitting it.

7. Never take the free hot tub upgrade. Too much funkiness occurred here.

8. Bring a t-shirt to lay on the pillow - too many sweaty heads on those pillows.

9. If you stay 2 nights use your stuff sparingly and don't let them clean your room. You use your towel more than once at home?

10. Totally watch where you set your toothbrush - too funky here too.

Tons of good tips above from the other world travelers. I've thoroughly enjoyed the work travel despite the loss to family time. A big part of it being enjoyable is the relationships I build and the new experiences you can have if you look for them. It isn't for everyone but it can be a part of a good job depending on the balance of things.

I travel for work quite a bit. Length varies. Usually leave on Monday, home by Friday. Sometimes longer. Average about every couple weeks. Last year (2014) only 8 trips but 1st was 3 month overseas and had 2 other overseas trips of a week to 10 days. Last year (2013) total was 19 trips. All in the States. Usually have to fly since it can be across country or out of the country. Nicer hotels make a difference. Sign up for rewards programs, gets you some benefits and treated nicer. Short trips, don't unpack. Live out of the suitcase. That way you don't forget anything. Long trips, unpack and get comfortable. Bring a comfort item from home, like slippers. If you fly and check a bag (I always check a bag, have some tools that can't be carried on a plane), a backpack to carry laptop/tablet/ereader, reading material (like GRM & CM, always in my bag ( )and a travel toothbrush & comb in case you get stuck without your bag. Happens once in a while. Twice for me in 6 years of travel for this job. As Lesley said, work out gear. A guy I work with has a workout CD he runs from his laptop in his room. I do simple things and use the hotel gym. If possible, try to see something local or at least local food. You learn how to order more healthy at restaurants and don't try to eat everything on the plate. My travel nowadays is usually nicer than my younger travels where I was sleeping in tents in the middle of nowhere And wearing a Kevlar helmet or flight helmet.

Box_of_Rocks wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: Also note that it makes it even harder to meet new women.

You're not doing something right, then. Meeting people was easy when I was travelling. Airport bars and planes were practically meat markets.

I never said meet new strange, I said meet new woman (as in, people I'd be interested in dating, not people I'd like to berkeley). The odds of somebody making a significant enough connection with someone in a bar or airport is small. Most relationships are formed through friends and family, therefore, you have a higher success rate.

In reply to bmw88rider:

Oh, I was referring to the mileage plan you were on. I was on a Runzheimer plan for several years, and it sounded just like yours - require the employees to have a newer car, but don't pay them enough to actually afford one.

In reply to petegossett:

I've been on that too. They keep saying it's not to pay for your car but to only cover the business portion of the car.

Lots of good tips, comments, and advice here from personal experience. Here's mine: I'm retired now, but my travel experience based on a career in technical sales, product management and marketing with an international company could be categorized as light to moderate, 2-3 times a month domestic travel, with 2-3 trips to the UK, Germany, and Italy per year. That was definitely manageable, and it broadened my horizons and enriched my life. I saw things and places, and met interesting people that I wouldn't have if I was confined to the office 100% of the time. But any more than that would have been too much ... for me. I had colleagues who were field service techs and project managers who traveled 90% of the time and loved it.

So I guess that's the key to your situation. It depends how you feel about it when you're doing it. You should at least give it a try and see how you react to it. After doing it for a year or so, if you find out it's not your thing, move on to something else. At least you tried it. But you might like it!

Datsun310Guy wrote: Here goes......my top 10. 1. The remote is nasty. Too much scratching here. 2. Never look behind the headboard or nightstand. 3. Never lift up the mattress. 4. Never use the hotel glasses. They clean them with the used towel from the previous guy. And that guy dried off "everything" with that towel. 5. Never use the glass coffee pot - see reason #4. 6. Never sit in the bathtub. Too many other liquids hitting it. 7. Never take the free hot tub upgrade. Too much funkiness occurred here. 8. Bring a t-shirt to lay on the pillow - too many sweaty heads on those pillows. 9. If you stay 2 nights use your stuff sparingly and don't let them clean your room. You use your towel more than once at home? 10. Totally watch where you set your toothbrush - too funky here too.

Bed bugs seem to be an increasing problem. Our airline pulled out of a hotel in the NE because of that. Never ran into that, personally, but I did find roaches trying to hitch a ride in my suitcase a couple of times.

BenB wrote:

Datsun310Guy wrote: Here goes......my top 10. 1. The remote is nasty. Too much scratching here. 2. Never look behind the headboard or nightstand. 3. Never lift up the mattress. 4. Never use the hotel glasses. They clean them with the used towel from the previous guy. And that guy dried off "everything" with that towel. 5. Never use the glass coffee pot - see reason #4. 6. Never sit in the bathtub. Too many other liquids hitting it. 7. Never take the free hot tub upgrade. Too much funkiness occurred here. 8. Bring a t-shirt to lay on the pillow - too many sweaty heads on those pillows. 9. If you stay 2 nights use your stuff sparingly and don't let them clean your room. You use your towel more than once at home? 10. Totally watch where you set your toothbrush - too funky here too.

Bed bugs seem to be an increasing problem. Our airline pulled out of a hotel in the NE because of that. Never ran into that, personally, but I did find roaches trying to hitch a ride in my suitcase a couple of times.

After having been through a bed-bug scare, I always check behind the bed/headboard and under the mattress. If there is evidence of bugs, I'll ask to be moved. If they can't, I'll ask for a refund and find someplace else to stay. If I can't find a new place to stay, then I'll put my stuff in the car other than my clothes on my back, a toothbrush, and what I'm wearing the next day. Throw all the clothes in a plastic bag and put the bag in the bathroom.

My thoughts echo the others. And in no particular order.

Now is the time to do it, young and single, enjoy the adventure.

25%-50% is always more.

When I consulted I was at 50% travel....ha. I was on the road 51 weeks a year. The only upside for me is company policy was that I was home, every weekend, no matter what, so regardless of the cost I got to fly/drive home for the weekend.

It can be a great opportunity to see new places and have new experiences. Or, like me, you could get a 12 month contract in Coudersport PA. A town with 2 "business class" hotels and "Paul's Citgo and motel" Aside from the company I was contracted to there was nothing in this town, the hotels existed for the sheer volume of IT contractors coming in to build out this data center. Some weeks you could not get a room (thus learning about paul's, sleeping in my car was a better option) There was NOTHING to do in the town, 3 restaurants (gets old when you are living off other people's cooking) all of which pretty much had the same deep fried menu. Movie theater was only open on weekends. Couple of bars but due to locals not liking "strangers" we were highly encouraged not to go to them. It was great for the client, we were bored so we worked, 16 hours or more a day.

Point is, sometimes travel is full of fun and exotic places and other times you are eating deep fried roadkill and sleeping in questionable locations for months on end.

I travel around 25% and I'm not a fan. It takes away from my fun car projects at home, which is my release, plus I just like being at home. I started out going out for 5 nights at a time and have cut that down to 3, which has really helped. I also get to book my own travel and pick the dates, so having that flexibility has made it much more bearable. I generally get to travel to nice destinations too, but that doesn't make up for the downsides IMO. If I was single and didn't have my home shop with a bunch of cars and bikes, wife, pets, etc I wouldn't mind it nearly as much.

In reply to JThw8:

If you are still stuck there - there is fantastic hiking, mountain biking and trail riding in that area (and hunting if you like) and you are only about 45 minutes from Watkins Glen so rent a cottage on the lake instead of a hotel, look up track days and stay for a few weekends. Commute into Coudersport.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to JThw8: If you are still stuck there - there is fantastic hiking, mountain biking and trail riding in that area (and hunting if you like) and you are only about 45 minutes from Watkins Glen so rent a cottage on the lake instead of a hotel, look up track days and stay for a few weekends. Commute into Coudersport.

I stopped that trip long ago. Agreed though it is some beautiful country if you like that sort of thing. Most of my time up there was in the winter months, I don't play outdoors in the winter.

I actually had a co worker at a later job and we were swapping stories and I mentioned this contract. He said he had taken a job with them, full time gig, all telephone interviews, he never went there. So he actually drives into town the day before he's supposed to start work and looks around and leaves, called his hiring manager on the way out of town to say he reconsidered.

I think one important question is how much do YOU like travelling now? If you are considering this job I can assume at least a little, unless they are offering you a Miata full of Franklin's. Traveling can certainly wear you down if you aren't used to it. One surprise for me is that I have less desire to travel for vacation, which complicates things with the ladyfriend.

For the past 5 years I have traveled about 3-4 months a year, sometimes 4 days at a time, sometimes 6 weeks, longer trips are always international. Work can take you to some different places and from the working side you get to see different things than any tourists do.

Depending upon how regular the travel is you may miss important social events (birthday parties, holidays, etc.) which can certainly cause family/friend complications. At first it was really hard to explain to my parents why I wasn't home for Christmas/birthdays/etc. but I was surprised to find out how much they, and I, have adjusted to it.

You asked about making friends while constantly traveling so I'm guessing you will be moving to a new area (or maybe you meant just at work?). Making friends in a place where you aren't constantly there requires you to go out of your way and sort of remind people you are there for events or you need to take the initiative and make plans.

Not sure if this was brought up but make sure you find out if there is additional compensation for traveling and how restrictive spending is. One perk for me is we get a flat per diem (depending upon the city/country) so I get to pocket a fair amount in some places. It would be a downer if you had to eat fast food 3 times a day just to stay under a budget.

Giant Purple Snorkelwacker made a good point, others did too. You also get a free plane ride/car rental to check out some really cool places so make some plans and make the best of it. Check out that obscure dirt track in the South East or the abandoned drag strip out West. I have also learned that a lot of off season tourist destinations are funner with less tourists and more locals.

For travel advice, a few hours online will reveal a lot of cool places. chowhound.com is great for food, everything from high class to greasy spoon diner. I have found a number of great places by reading through the comments sections on yelp and trip advisor. One comment lead me to find unmarked bar down an alley on top of a pizza place in Charleston. Ask on here too, any local that has similar taste can always point you in the right direction.

I also realize that I tend to be optimistic about traveling so take my opinions as you will. BUT if I still enjoy traveling for work, after needing to run uphill while a tsunami approaches the island I'm on then it must have some benefits. ADVENTURE!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to JThw8: If you are still stuck there - there is fantastic hiking, mountain biking and trail riding in that area (and hunting if you like) and you are only about 45 minutes from Watkins Glen so rent a cottage on the lake instead of a hotel, look up track days and stay for a few weekends. Commute into Coudersport.

In 1999 I had a couple of two-week trips to our factory in Germany. One in May and one in September. Our factory was a couple hours driving time from the Nurburgring. Both times I was there the Nurburgring had vintage events going on. I took advantage of my good fortune and the company loaner car and went. Even drove the Nordschliefe! Also drove along the Rhine through wine country and enjoyed a wine festival in the village of Rudesheim. Another time I had a business trip to a trade show near Stuttgart and one afternoon my colleague took me to see Hockenheim. Another time I had to be in Birmingham, England for a meeting. I went over early, went to a vintage race event at Brands Hatch, drove the next day to take a look at Thruxton, spent a few days in the Cotswolds, and then went to the meeting in Birmingham. When I was in Turin I visited the Italian National Auto Museum there. And domestically several times I scheduled sales trips to SoCal to coincide with the vintage races at the Naval Air Station in Coronado (Fleet Week). So business travel was very, very good to me.