There's not too much to hate about it, really, starting with the fact that someone else is paying the entire tab, as well as hosting you at better hotels and restaurants than you would typically seek out on your own. Well, the restaurant thing not so much necessarily; when on the road and given a chance to choose the stereotypical Relatively Fancy Local Restaurant over the usual middle-of-the-road chain place, I go for predictable over chance for greatness basically every time.
I work harder, and longer, on the road than I ever do at home, but it's energizing to put your ability on the line in front of colleagues and clients. Or just to see colleagues and clients, since I spend 99% of my time isolated at home.
And I also have to admit that being away from home, and free from the domestic responsibilities that usually wrap themselves around work's demands, holds a good measure of appeal. Love my kids, love my wife, don't mind taking a break from it all once or twice a year.
This week I am on my first business trip in more than a year... and I am also clearly being punished for looking forward to it just a tiny bit.
If you are reading this more or less in real time, you're aware that travel throughout most of the country is in upheaval right now due to a severe winter storm covering almost all of the US that actually has a winter. Here are a few... ah... highlights of my trip so far.
* It's a 2-day trip from NY to MO, so I have to travel on Sunday to get there in time. It's hard to fly directly to Columbia, MO, so I have to fly into St. Louis, then drive more than an hour. I pick the latest possible flight so I can spend the most time with family... but I miscalculate the total length of the trip and there's no way I can get there before 11. Local time -- midnight body time.
* Southwest allows you to check in online 24 hours before takeoff, and I actually check in 23:59 before, putting me in the "A" boarding group. This allows me to get a really choice seat, but does not in any way prevent the mom with the crying baby from sitting across the aisle, one row back.
* Baltimore/Washington International is not known for even the level of cuisine I favor on trips. The best possible choice for fine dining turns out to be... Quizno's.
* I get to St. Louis and head for the baggage carousel; as I walk up, about 8 bags come tumbling out, none of them mine. I sit down to wait for the rest of them. I watch the carousel for probably 20 minutes until it dawns on me, with nearly lightning speed, that there ain't nothin' else coming. I go to the baggage office; they have no clue where it went but they take my contact info. They think they can get it to me sometime on Monday.
* Since I am delayed picking up my car by my absorption with luggage, by the time I drive halfway across the state to Columbia, I arrive mere moments before midnight. A good preparation for my 7:30 meeting the next morning. On the bright side, it won't take long to choose my wardrobe.
* We get to our meeting Monday morning, and practically the first thing our host says is, "There's an enormous storm coming tomorrow; if you don't get out today, you might not get to leave till Thursday." We stumble through the meeting till the first break, but instead of using the restroom, we all get busy trying to change our flights. I get a 4:15 out of St. Louis (and let Southwest know I'm coming to get my bag, so don't send it!).
* The meeting breaks up and our team takes off. I stop for lunch at the hotel, then I start out for St. Louis. As I get on the highway, my cell rings... it's an automated message from Southwest to tell me my flight's canceled. I circle back to the hotel but I can't reach the airline to reschedule; I can't even get through.
* It's pretty icy on the windows (the roads are surprisingly drivable), but the luxurious rental Toyota Yaris I'm driving has no scraper on board. I use a plastic bottletop. Oh, and here's a quote from right before I left the house on Sunday: "I'm not going to need a hat or gloves."
So here I am in St. Louis; I hope to be going out tomorrow afternoon (through Orlando, since at least there's no ice or snow there). In the meantime, here's a tiny measure of good news that struck me just a little while ago: I have no meetings tomorrow. I have no children to get me up tomorrow. I'm at least planning to travel virtually all day tomorrow, so while I intend to get some work done in the morning, there's really no schedule-based urgency.
In short, I need neither a mechanical nor human alarm, and I can basically get up whenever I want to. And I have absolutely no clue when that happened last.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment