As I'm currently traveling for work and bored out of my mind, I figured I'd write a little something on the perks and drawbacks of traveling. I know that some of my very few followers likely don't travel a lot (or at all) for work, so here you go.
I'm currently staying at the Westin in Cincinnati right on Fountain Square (aka in the heart of downtown). It's a GREAT location, and I'd definitely recommend the hotel - very nice. Maybe just avoid staying here during the summer - I'm only staying here two nights and both nights have had concerts from 7 to 10 pm on the square (like... right outside my window). Luckily I haven't had any work to do, but it's VERY loud and not all that enjoyable. It's kind of like sex boy is in the apartment next door all over again. Bummer.
Anyway, here's a few things I've noticed about traveling:
PERKS
1. Hotel points. Hands down the #1 perk. If you're going to start traveling for work anytime soon, BE SURE to sign up for like, every hotel rewards program you can think of. Marriott, Hilton, Starwood (they're the ones that have Westin), Choice... everything. It's basically free money, so why would you not?
2. Mileage. Making $0.55/mile is amazing. For example, my round trip to/from Cincinnati is banking me about $132. Considering it probably only cost me $30-40 in gas... that's awesome. Granted, yes, it's also paying for the depreciation on my car, which is actually pretty huge since my car is so new but... still. My car is kind of a sunk cost so... YAY PROFIT!
3. FREE MEALS. Oh my gosh, meal allowances are amazing. I'm even MORE jealous of people who have per diems but... you know. Can't complain. My company allows me to spend I think $20/day on breakfast and $45/day on dinner while traveling in Cincinnati. Awesomeeeeee. It's especially nice when you're with other people, so you can get some drinks or a bottle or two of wine and it's a great time. It's not so nice when you're by yourself because ordering a steak and bottle of wine and not having anyone to share it with gets pretty old pretty fast. Like... today I got Skyline. And wasted $34 of basically free dinner money. Meh. Anyway, it's awesome when you can spend it on alcohol/really nice dinners. Every night.
4. Variety. Traveling mixes everything up and is a nice break from the mundane work schedule. The days seem to go a lot faster and work doesn't seem quite as bad, for some reason.
CONS
5. Being away. Let's be honest, no one would rather be in a random city where they know no one by themselves for an extended period of time than be at home with people they love. When I'm traveling it feels like I'm back in college, doing the whole long-distance thing with Donny, only being able to catch up by phone every so often. Ugh. Enough said.
6. Access to the familiar. You just don't have the amenities you're used to having at home. For example, this hotel doesn't have Lifetime or E!. Who has the NatGeo channel but NOT Lifetime or E! ?? Slash... WHY would you have NatGeo and not those two channels? Blows my mind. I realllly wanted to watch some Project Runway reruns tonight but... alas. Always using travel-sized shampoo/conditioner is just sad, too.
7. Forgetfulness. You inevitably forget something important almost every single time. I haven't discovered anything I've forgotten yet during this trip, so that's good. Last time I left an entire drawer full of clothes in my hotel room. Thank goodness they found them and I was coming back the next week anyway, so I was able to pick them up. Phew. I've also forgotten contact solution, glasses, a toothbrush, and once I even forgot underwear. So horrible. Luckily a Walmart was close by. Eek.
8. Being alone. It's incredibly lonely if you're traveling by yourself. I just ate dinner by myself at Skyline Chili. How humbling/depressing. And now I'm going to sit in my bed for the next 4 hours, minus maybe a half hour to work out. Boringgggggggg. I'd leave and go exploring, but I would have to pay for parking twice and that just sounds like a pain.
All in all, I really like traveling if it's every once in awhile, and it's not for an extended period of time. Last busy season I had to drive to middle-of-nowhere Indiana every week for 5 weeks. It was terrible. Really terrible.
But these 1.5 week stints in places like Cincinnati really aren't too terrible :)
