Business travel, how glamorous

So I had to go to San Luis Obispo for work this week. Not a bad place to be when the temps in SLO were mid 70s, and Michigan was as below zero over-night.       

Anyway, people will often say "oooh, you get to travel for work? Must be nice".  Well, on rare occasion it is nice, usually it's just work. Sometimes though, it is the suck. Case in point, my week in SLO this week.   

I got up at 4 am MI time to make it to the airport. I get to the airport and my flight is delayed 20 minutes. I instantly know my week will start off screwed up because EVERY TIME I have to go though Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) I have a ver short layover, maybe 45 minutes. On top of that the way Delta/MSP does things, you land on one end of the airport, and your connector gate is always on the other end. That usually means 1/5 miles to walk/run/tram to get to your gate. Well, when you have 45 minutes, and your flight is delayed 20 minutes you know you stand a real chance at missing your connector.    

Yup. I missed my connector. That caused me to get rebooked going through a different set of airports to get to Santa Barbara (SBA) to drive 1/5 hours to SLO. Fine.  I finally get to SBA and my bag isn't there since my bag took a TOTALLY different route, different carriers even!  So, Alaska Airlines (AA) was to be my last leg from Seattle (SEA) to SBA. Well, AA saw that I didn't show up for my flight and decided the wise thing to do would be to just hold my bag. So, not I have to go meet a customer without having a chance to get cleaned up and refreshed. Not a big deal. But, Tuesday I have to go to work wearing the same clothes from Monday. Time to turn the underwear inside-out haha.    

Fast forward to Friday, time to come home. I can't wait to get home and squeeze the wife, hug the kids, and pet the dog.  I drive 90 minutes to SBA and get there early. I'm told that my first flight is delayed 20 minutes. Here's the rub. My flight out is United, the rest of my journey (LAX to Atlanta [ATL], ATL to Flint [FNT]) is all Delta. I look at the airport map and see that I'm flying in to one terminal and my outbound terminal (Delta) is FAR away. I'm not going to make it to my connector....again. I call my corporate travel agent and tell her I think I need a plan B. She says there's a flight leaving LAX 20 minutes later, might be just the time I need to make it. I agree, thank her profusely and ask to be booked for plan B.   

Well, the 20 minute delay becomes 30, and there's not even anyone at the gate in SBA. I call the agent and tell her that we need a plan C. She books me on a deferent flight, with a seat reserved on yet a different flight, plan D. Plan C is only a possibility because that flight is delayed, and maybe, just maybe I can make it.

So, I finally get from SBA to LAX, jump on a shuttle to the other terminal, and get inline for security. I'm watching the time tick away, knowing plan C has already boarded. I make it through the grope-fest that is a TSA check-point. I deal with it since I've been away from my wife, this is the most attention my genitals have had in almost a week. I make it through security and decide not to even tie my shoes, can't afford the time. I want to go home.     

I make it to the gate with no more than 30 seconds to spare. They were reaching for the door to swing it closed as I ran to the gate yelling "I rushed through the genital-groping to get here on time, please let me on" or something like that. WHEW! I made it.

I get on the plane and can't believe I am going to make it home tonight. Plan D was the red-eye out of LAX, getting me home 1 pm Saturday.  So, I'm sitting there, getting situated, they close the airplane door. As soon as it closes, it opens again. The pilot says "sorry folks, 2-hour delay. The snow in Detroit has almost shut the airport down. They are down to 1 runway. They are stacking flights all over the place trying to make it work. We could end up being delayed more than 2 hours. I'll let you know."    

They let us get off the plane but I told the stewardess that I wasn't going to get off. I don't want to run the risk of slipping on a wet floor in the airport, getting knocked out, and missing my flight. She laughed and brought me a vodka and cranberry juice. She was elevated to the Best Human on Earth at that point.   

So, after 2+ hours, we left. I got to Detroit Metro Airport and my luggage was.....not there. Yup, still back in LAX. Guess where my winter coat is....up, in my bag.   

After a very cold wait outside for the rental shuttle I get my rental car and drive up to Fenton. So, here it is, Saturday morning. I'm in Fenton, MI, my luggage is, somewhere, and my car is at the Flint airport.

Ahhh, the joys of business travel. Or I should say, air travel.    

TL/DR: excess polar bear fur is clogging up the drains in the ocean, causing rising ocean levels, not global warming. The earth is flat. You should really read more.

I traveled a lot for work, mostly deserts in the middle of summer.  When I left Ft. Hood once I got bumped to 1st class for the flight from DFW to Chicago which made the trip back in Cattle from Chicago to Albany that much more unbearable.

"Ooooo, you're so lucky...."

I traveled a lot of overnights for 14 years selling hoses/expansion joints - I guesstimate I was gone a solid three years for that time.   

Usually I got nutty on Friday's if I was traveling back late from a trip.   I cherish Memorial day weekend and once I was on a delay in Baltimore hoping to get back to Chicago on that Friday before 10pm. 

My current job has almost zero overnight travel and I find I don't miss the glamour of traveling - nor do I miss the added calories as most guys feel they will jam the company back on the dinner expenses.    

When I was traveling for work, the common phrase among my co-workers was: " You know what the best thing about ???? is, packing your E36M3 and getting the hell out!"

I actually don't travel a lot for work now, but I just took two trips in two weeks. 

Last week I went to Temecula, CA.  Left Atlanta on Tuesday morning and flew the red eye home Friday night/Saturday morning.  This week I went to Dallas.  Left Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and flew home yesterday morning.  And of course...I come home to a wife who has a cold...and when she gets even the slightest bit sick, she's a mess.  Awesome.

Yeah, it's not as much fun as it used to be.  Besides missing the wife and kids, it's just really long days.  When I was in Temecula, I got up at 4am local time.  On my computer by 4:45am working.  Worked until 7:45am and went to my training.  Left training at 5pm and was in my hotel room by 5:30pm, working until 8:30pm.  Went to bed, rinse, repeat.  Then work while in the airport waiting for my plane.  Did a similar thing for my short trip to Dallas.

Woohoo, fun...

The rental car I got to drive home last night STINKS!!!! 

It smells like someone took old, nasty tobacco, rolled it in old underwear, smoked it in the car, then sprayed new car scent to cover it up. 

The clothes I wore home smell nasty!

At the company holiday party I won a $750 flight voucher.  I really want to visit my friends who recently moved out to Montana... and while I can now probably get most of the flight for free, I'm still contemplating driving out to Bozeman MT. 

From Philadelphia.

Driving is just so much less aggravating.

Travel has been a big part of my whole life, including spells of work related travel. Sadly, mass air travel has turned into a concerted dehumanization effort aimed at generating profits for both airlines and peripheral industries. I am up to 600 miles before I will fly rather than drive.

I traveled a lot for my first career, racing harness horses. Almost all by road. Never really appreciated how lucky I was until reading your post. The travel requirements were a major factor in my decision to work on cats and dogs instead of horses after vet school. 

I'm lucky to live in Florida. Sixty miles to the hotel this afternoon, one night away from home, dinner on the company, and home for dinner on Sunday. 

I'll end up with ten hours of continuing education, plus work in one or two kart tracks. 

I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner tonight. I say "supposed to" because last night's flight back was canceled due to snow. He made this morning's o'dark-30 flight by the skin of his teeth but is now stuck in D.C., waiting on the inbound aircraft.

And, yeah, on the way back from Solo Nats I changed planes in Minneapolis. Super-tight layover. Before landing, a flight attendant briefed me on the quickest route--right, left, down some stairs, right, left. Fortunately I had a great blocker through the airport--I just followed that pink suitcase. If she zigged to the left, I followed. She was like Cole Trickle. Somehow we both made it to the gate just in time. 

My best Atlanta layover experience. As usual, when you hit the gate, you look for the monitor in full-on panic mode. This was before the app. Then I saw my departure gate: the very gate I just landed at. Of course, I have also had to make the mad dash from one corner of T to the other corner of E. 

In the end, it beats having a boring job. 

In reply to DrBoost :

Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. 

RE: DavidS

If you ever find yourself on a long layover in Atlanta, go to the international terminal. It's much more comfortable than the other terminals, and because of the international travelers, there's a better choice of places to eat. 

Oh, and more/more comfortable places to sit as well. 

DrBoost said:

The rental car I got to drive home last night STINKS!!!! 

It smells like someone took old, nasty tobacco, rolled it in old underwear, smoked it in the car, then sprayed new car scent to cover it up. 

The clothes I wore home smell nasty!

Usually I would drive around and come back and tell them I need another car as it sounds like the brakes are dragging. 

Lol - I travel a lot for work.  Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, Frankfurt, and Detroit are often enough to have a nice rythym and mix of meetups with friends etc. 

And yet the travel, airlines, and hotel ish is a drag.  Spent a week in Italy sick as a dog and utterly miserable.  Sadly I was really looking forward to that trip...

Business travel ain’t fun. But is it better than peddling a desk job?  Grass is always greener I think.  That’s why those who are chained to the desk won’t to be you and you want to be them. 

DrBoost said:

RE: DavidS

If you ever find yourself on a long layover in Atlanta, go to the international terminal. It's much more comfortable than the other terminals, and because of the international travelers, there's a better choice of places to eat. 

Oh, and more/more comfortable places to sit as well. 

Oh, yeah, I have gotten to chill there, too. You are totally correct.

Many, many years ago, I had like a 6-hour layover in Atlanta. I forget where I was going. Anyway, I took MARTA to my friend's house. Then we drove up to Marietta to visit R Speed. After that we did BBQ in town before he dropped me back off at the airport. 

I picked up a chassis brace at R Speed, too, and totally walked through security with it. Different times. 

DrBoost said:

The rental car I got to drive home last night STINKS!!!! 

It smells like someone took old, nasty tobacco, rolled it in old underwear, smoked it in the car, then sprayed new car scent to cover it up. 

The clothes I wore home smell nasty!

I've had a couple nice rental cars these past weeks.

In CA, I had a '17 Volvo S60.  Really nice car.

In TX, they gave me a '18 GMC Canyon.  Nice truck, and it would have run step for step with my FoST, I was shocked how fast it is.

In reply to DrBoost :

Work hard, get successful and eventually you might be flying corporate Jets.  There you drive up to the small terminal, get out, hand your keys to the valet and walk the few feet on the red carpet to your plane.  Somehow your briefcase arrived before you and are next to your seat.  Any bag is already stowed.  

As you step in they fire the engines and as soon as you sit down the plane starts moving. The stewardess asks you and any guest with you for your preference which likely they already know.   But by that time you’ve taxied and are taking off.  

Here comes your coffee and the kind of roll you like as well as whatever your guest wants. You and your guest discuss the reason for the trip and you figure out what terms etc need to be written in the contract.  

Details are scribbled on a piece of note paper and sent through legal and financial for final polish.  You land and tour the factory or whatever with final notes and details handed to the tour guide.  Dinner at a country club and maybe a round of golf. Followed by a trip back to the airport where a duplicate of the morning occurs.  

A nice folder with all the contract terms spelled out is presented, signed and hands shook  followed by a landing, brief walk to your freshly washed and waxed car and home in time for dinner.  

In reply to frenchyd :

lol.  I think the successful guys like Cuban swear by private jet travel.  Their own private jet. 

Atlanta's delta sky club is waaaay better in terminal 5 too. Worth the walk.

I also am at about 600 miles before I fly. Luckily my trips these days are on the same schedule each week and direct.

Now excuse me they are telling me airplane mode now....

One of the nice things about being in Chicago is that I can be extremely picky with my flights. Although it limits me to United and American,  I am usually able to fly direct. I have found that most of the issues that come with flying are due to connecting flights (or security). 

mtn said:

One of the nice things about being in Chicago is that I can be extremely picky with my flights. Although it limits me to United and American,  I am usually able to fly direct. I have found that most of the issues that come with flying are due to connecting flights (or security). 

Southwest, and Midway, open that up to a bigger even still map and Southwest has much less bs than most everyone else.

I tell the boss I'm happy to travel, provided I can drive!!

A few years ago I had to attend traing in Chicago, ( I'm in the Detroit area) . Boss was there Monday-tuesday, I would take Wednesday-thursday. I bet him I would drive there Tuesday night and be in my hotel before his 5pm flight got him home. I roll out of Detroit at 4, in the hotel by 8:30. He's still stuck at O'Hare...  

In reply to nutherjrfan :

When Caterpillar was ready for a new jet they upgraded that little Lear for the Gulf Stream  the Buyer of it?  Paul Neuman  for Neumann’s own. 

I don’t blame him, those leather seat were so buttery soft!! Just sitting in them was a sin. 

In reply to DrBoost :

Next time you have go to SLO or Santa Barbara, look into the air bus from LAX. Then you only have to deal with LAX, which may be another thing. Runs on time and more relaxing. Can hook up with rental cars when you get to final destination. I grew up between SLO & SB, mom still lives there and travels back to see me every year. She does the air bus to LAX from Santa Barbara. When I visit mom I take the air bus also. Don't have much good to say about Santa Barbara airport anymore. There are air buses that run to/from SLO and/or Santa Barbara with one or two other stops in route to/from LAX. California is the only place I've seen with these air buses, a bus service that specialize in transporting people to major airport.