Dominic14

Fair point.

JonWB

If a company is stumping up for J/F travel you can be sure that you will be putting in the hours/effort to compensate for the cost (unless your base salary is 6 plus figures, in which case no-one would accept the job without it).

I work for a consultancy. I was very lucky to ask and be moved to a 4 day per week contract in Jan 2008 as a senior manager. I am now permanently in London and hardly ever travel, but if I do it is pretty much on my terms. I haven't worked a weekend in 3 years.

Whenever a recruitment consultant rings the first thing I say is I don't work Saturday/Sunday/Monday. Not great for aspiring to be a director/partner at my current or future employer, but then I don't want that anyway. I make more money on 4 days per week now, since I have the time to structure my finances such that (a) I pay less tax and (b) I make much better financial investments.

We have people flying to Umea in Sweden on a weekly basis, they have done this for 18+ months from London, some of them joined us as grads. It is a killer, nightstop in Stockholm at Airport Hotel on the way, get home late on a Thursday/Friday from Sweden (providing there is no misconnect in Stockholm), plus at least a 40 hour working week on top (often more).

Nearly all travelling is dead-time, it is so unproductive compared to how you could use your time and invariably it is your time the company is encroaching on.

Whilst I'm happy to fly F/J on longhaul holidays (I've flown from T5 3 times, 2 in F and 1 in J all longhaul), I would absolutely hate to work for a company with lots of longhaul travel thrown at me, where I didn't have control of my working week, the time zones jet lag etc.

I would suggest the best thing to do is look for companies or a career that will sustain 6 to 12 month placements in a variety or locations worldwide, then travel short distances from that location.

The biggest problem we have is with people attempting to sustain a London base while working in in Europe every week (Paris/Brussels via Eurostar is an excepiont). It rarely works, granted some consultancy work has to be like that as it is short term work (up to a month or few months), but the work we do is typically 2-3 years, so people have been much happier when they have actually accepted up front the need to relocate or turn down the project.

FT makes it a doddle to take 3 or 4 trips a year in longhaul J/F at economy level pricing. Ttravelling in J/F for leisure is so much better than travelling in J/F for work.

Dominic14

Thanks John. I understand that you would be required to work many hours. I dont have a problem with that as i'm young and driven at the moment. Relocation is also something I have considered. I do take your point about the hassle of connections on short haul flights. Ive often had problems in sweden before.

Of course enjoying J/F for leisure would be fantastic, but not an option at the moment.

ardboe

As an Irishman I don't think I could survive.

Dominic14

better make it a short business trip then .

Amelorn

I have been considering this as well. As I am unfettered by a wife or children-creatures, I would not mind international business (travel) for a few years after university.

27R

J/F? Not a chance these days, if you work for the BBC anyway. More like working twelve hours in London, then an overnight flight in Y, then fifteen to twenty hours once you get there - and not in an office but on the streets of whichever sweltering disaster/conflict zone you've been sent to. Theoretically we're allowed J if the flight's over six hours and we're expected to work on arrival, but in reality that only applies to the very top tiers of management, who often need to fly in J on day flights because they have terribly important meetings the next day.

Gosh, I'm bitter these days! Seriously, don't bother with broadcast journalism these days - it's getting crapper across the board, not just at the BBC.

(ajamieson, this is not to end up in your esteemed organ!

stowaway

Consulting is great to do for a few years. Not all consultants fly in the front of the plane though so make sure you find a company with decent hourly/ daily rates (which usually means they make their clients pay for business class and have the funds for internal - company paid - business class trips for training or bid work).

You may also want to think about an industry. I have mainly been working in Oil & Gas which means you usually fly business class or first (long live client health and safety rules) and you get to some bizarre/ interesting locations you wouldn't normally visit when redeeming your miles (Baku, Brunei, Doha, Kuwait, Indonesia (not Bali or touristy), Oman, West Texas, Northern Alberta, Alaska, Kazakhstan etc etc). So that may also be something to consider when picking an industry or consultancy.If you don't like those type of places be sure to find an industry that is more based around capitals (finance, media, techno).

I really enjoy getting someone else to pay for me to go visit places I wouldn't normally get to. The only problem is that as a consultant you often only see the hotel and airport.
Some consultants (pure strategy/ management) tend to have shorter trips and shorter client engagements. Others may have longer implementation type projects (means you have more time to explore but also more time away from home -and you could be stuck in say Baku for more time than you care for).

Finally I have come to hate regular short haul (weekly Monday - Thu/ Fri in Europe, or 3+ countries in a wk) but still love the regular long haul trip. However, as mentioned before when you do 2-3 long haul trips per month the fun & novelty quickly wears off...

Consulting is ideal to get a lot of exposure to companies, industries (you may not have to pick one just yet) and travel. And best done before you settle down.

Jagboi

Depends upon who you work for. I've been to lots of crappy places in the middle of nowhere, but always in Y. A few of our project managers went from YYC to Pakistan in Y, and had 3 layovers of between 8-15 hours each. No lounge access, so that meant sleeping on the airport floor. Have to love corporate travel departments that enforce "lowest fare" rules. Naturally, all that flying is also on your own time.

The glamour ( such as it may be) wears thin very quickly.

HAM76

Wouldn't work for me... I've quickly established the rule that traveling is either on my time and my terms or their terms and their time. I travel the way I want without charging the client, or I travel the way the client wants, but charge them my regular rates for the time...

Jagboi

That's a big difference between being a consultant and an employee. I never had a choice of on whose time travelled or in what class.

LTN Phobia

Dominic14

I'd like to present a somewhat different view of travelling for work if I may.

I used to travel for work. It was over-rated to be honest. Destinations, hotels and the mode/class of travel were not always to my liking, and it was quite disruptive because I did not have the full or near-full control of my schedule.

Nowadays most of my travels are personal and semi-personal ones (work-related but I choose to do it), so I get to choose where I go, which airline I fly with, what class, and where I stay. I am much happier with travelling than I used to feel when my travel was largely dictated by work, although even then I had quite a big say in where I went but within the boundaries of my job (but tied by the travel policy how I travelled and where I stayed).

The trick is to get yourself a career that:
1) earns you enough to travel in your free time
2) gives you the flexibility that allows you to travel
3) you control your own travel otherwise

That way, you get to do what you want.

I have some friends who travel a lot for work, and some are so miserable about travelling but feel they have no choice since they have their family to feed and mortgage to pay, and it's hard to change career at their age. You definitely do not want to be there. If you are able to choose your own travel, you get no such problems.

nth_utsera_sth_utsera

Am sure John Simpson must get put in the pointy end or be subject to a fair few UGs on the basis of the columns he writes for High Life. I wonder if he's a Prem?

nbevan

I am involved in computer-related research and consultancy. I have always taken career choices that maximise travel (e.g. international consortia, international standards, international clients) and travel about once a month. I have never grown tired of travel. I always find time to see the place or area I am visiting (e.g. arrive early in the day, leave late in the day, or stay the weekend.) I recently had a great paid holiday in Guatemala on a drug trial (which I heard about at the Adventure Travel Show).

johan rebel

Shipping, in the most literal sense of the word, both cargo and pax. Involves almost incessant travel, but obviously most of it not by air (some 45 flights per annum on average). The advantage is that my comfortable and furnished accommodation travels with me most of the time. Beats a hotel any day.

Johan