Jobs that involve lots of travel -- what do you do?
Dec 19, 2006, 9:10 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: IAH
Programs: UA MileagePlus Silver
Posts: 15
Jobs that involve lots of travel -- what do you do?
I searched FT and found a few related threads -- some of which were rather old, so...
I'm curious, especially since I'm still an undergrad.
What jobs do you all have that involves so much travel? My brother used to work for Accenture and did DFW-SJC every week for a while, but he changed to something involving less travel after he and my sister-in-law started a family.
I'd love to find a job that involved traveling very often. I've heard it gets old after awhile, but at this point it sounds fantastic to me!
I'm curious, especially since I'm still an undergrad.
What jobs do you all have that involves so much travel? My brother used to work for Accenture and did DFW-SJC every week for a while, but he changed to something involving less travel after he and my sister-in-law started a family.
I'd love to find a job that involved traveling very often. I've heard it gets old after awhile, but at this point it sounds fantastic to me!
Dec 19, 2006, 9:30 am
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,716
Consulting and accounting type jobs often require a lot of travel. Also jobs in sales and those people who install things like information systems or provide field service for equipment travel a lot. Needless to say, people in aviation travel the most 
Dec 19, 2006, 9:40 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Biloxi, MS (GPT)
Programs: AA Gold, DL FO, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,278
I'm a software consultant and have traveled 75-100% Mon-Fri for over 8 years. A full-time travel job can be very rewarding if (and only if, in my opinion):
(1) Your personal/family situation supports it (unattached, attached but childfree, or attached/childed but with incredibly supportive home situation)
(2) You make it a POINT to explore and exploit the cities/towns to which you travel beyond your hotel and its nearby shopping areas - if you limit your movements to only the immediate locales, you're wasting the diversity opportunities that your traveling provides you
(3) You make SURE you attain status with one or more airlines, hotel, and car rental chains; as you've read here in FT, this is a MUST if you hope to do better than just "survive" during your travels
(1) Your personal/family situation supports it (unattached, attached but childfree, or attached/childed but with incredibly supportive home situation)
(2) You make it a POINT to explore and exploit the cities/towns to which you travel beyond your hotel and its nearby shopping areas - if you limit your movements to only the immediate locales, you're wasting the diversity opportunities that your traveling provides you
(3) You make SURE you attain status with one or more airlines, hotel, and car rental chains; as you've read here in FT, this is a MUST if you hope to do better than just "survive" during your travels
Dec 19, 2006, 9:42 am
#5
Original Member, Moderator: Hotel Deals and MilesBuzz
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 14,257
I'm a medical insurance consultant and work with large corporations, union groups, third party administrators and local/city governments. I travel every week and have logged 164 flight segments in 2006. It's not too brutal as I'm home every weekend unless I opt to stay someplace (visit family, FT Doo, etc)
Dec 19, 2006, 9:50 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: DFW
Programs: DL PM, .6MM; AA Plat; Marriott Platinum Premier
Posts: 4,891
i am a software consultant / independent contractor. as i have been in the game for a while, i pretty much insist on out-sunday-night, back-thursday-night schedule. Am willing to compromise by being available for conference calls / remote work on Fridays. Its tough on the family life, but there are ways to cope with being away so much (eg: my wife and daughter sometimes tag along and then we make a 2 week trip out of it). Even though I managed to get PM on DL for 2007 (by a strange fluke), I currently drive to & from TUL (~300 miles each way), as the reimbursement for driven miles gives a greater return than the monetized value of miles / segments I would earn by flying.
Dec 19, 2006, 10:06 am
#7
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: toronto
Posts: 914
i am a software consultant / independent contractor. as i have been in the game for a while, i pretty much insist on out-sunday-night, back-thursday-night schedule. Am willing to compromise by being available for conference calls / remote work on Fridays. Its tough on the family life, but there are ways to cope with being away so much (eg: my wife and daughter sometimes tag along and then we make a 2 week trip out of it). Even though I managed to get PM on DL for 2007 (by a strange fluke), I currently drive to & from TUL (~300 miles each way), as the reimbursement for driven miles gives a greater return than the monetized value of miles / segments I would earn by flying.
Been doing this travel for pretty much the last 10 years....with the occasional lucky breaks of having local clients.
Dec 19, 2006, 10:12 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: South Bend, IN
Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 18,562
I am a lawyer for a large aerospace company. Specifically, I provide legal support to our commercial division sales force on all campaigns/contract issues involving customers based in Japan, South Korea, northern China (Shanghai and Beijing, mostly), Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
The amount of travel ebs and flows, but I should do enough each year (on paid J tickets) to get or keep top tier status on one airline/alliance.
The amount of travel ebs and flows, but I should do enough each year (on paid J tickets) to get or keep top tier status on one airline/alliance.
Dec 19, 2006, 11:23 am
#10
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ?
Posts: 7,544
I'm a healthcare IT consultant, as is my wife. I fly Monday mornings and Thursday evenings, and she flies Sunday evenings and Thursday night redeyes. We've both met several people who share our same itineraries week after week and whom we know only through travel, even though we all "live" in the same city. The weekly-traveler, consultant "community" is an interesting little subculture all its own; someone should write a sociology thesis about us if it hasn't been done already.
Dec 19, 2006, 11:37 am
#12
Suspended
Join Date: May 2003
Location: NYC
Programs: United 1K, HHonors Gold, MR Gold
Posts: 1,628
I'm a lawyer who almost never travelled when she worked in the private sector (Dead Horse Creek in New Jersey and Burlington, Ontario don't count). I started globe-trotting about 5 years ago when my work for a public sector financial regulatory authority shifted towards international policy. Now I work for an international public sector organisation.
Dec 19, 2006, 11:46 am
#13
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM MM SC; GE; Bonvoy Titanium; IHG Diamond
Posts: 2,310
I'm different from the corporate road warriors here - I travel because it's my business. I own a tour company and escort my tours, which takes me to Italy about 6 times a year. I also work for other companies as a freelance tour director, which is mainly domestic U.S. and Canadian travel - they're motorcoach tours, but sometimes I have to fly to get there. So I don't log as many air miles as the corporate people, but I love what I do - when my friends are sitting at their desks, I'm on a tram at the bottom of Yosemite or in a winery in Tuscany or on a boat in New Hampshire... and being paid to do it.