brendog

Always keep this in mind: The worst day travelling is 10x better than the best day spent in a cube.

JDiver

Bleeding braggart!

I think brendog's got it right. I've cut back a lot and am semi-retired, but I was still on the road heaps into my late 50's, and I've met a lot of interesting people, learned a lot form my clients, and enjoyed everything from zoos to symphonies on the road I'd never have had been exposed to working in one location.

Some of the road trips were memorable - but not uncommonly it might look like SMF-DFW-SJU <rent car drive to south side of island, provide training to perfume company> SJU-TPA <rent car, provide training for NOAA, drive to Homestead, provide training for vet med pharm company, drive to Boca Raton and train for Sony, drop car> fly MIA-BNA <rent car, provide training services> fly BNA-DFW <rent car, provide training on all three shifts>, fly DFW-SMF, reload... And in all of this I might chisel in some time to visit El Yunque or ?

Mostly, it's about attitude, maintaining some life balance and resilience (which is related to attitude and keeping a level of fitness via sleeping, eating and exercise habits).

j_the_p

I have been traveling 4 days a week, every week for the last 4 years. I love it. And I'm usually on long term assignments that see me going to the same city over, and over, and over. But what I appreciate is the people and the experiences. Working in an office in my home city would kill me. Working with a new team of client and colleagues every year is exciting. I guess it depends on the line of work too.

Yes, your health can suffer (I don't get to the gym as often as I should), and yes, your relationship with family back home has to be really solid. But it can work.

pragakhan

Have you seen the travel policy?

Does it cover all meals?
Does it have caps for anything?
Is there corporate travel manager, or website you must use?
Any mention of utilizing public transportation?
Does it mention utilizing first or business class under specific conditions?
Is there any comp for traveling or working after hours?
Anything about using miles for company travel, or giving miles to company?
Do you get a company card, or are you expected to cover your costs for reimbursements?

What are you expected to do when not traveling?

I ask all of these, because after years of hanging out on FT I have learned that a lot of companies have terrible rules and some here appear OK with them.

The truth is, without the flexibility to book my own travel, to stay loyal to certain companies, a great comp time and meal allowance I wouldn't be doing it. Travel for my company does not impact me financially at all and they are really flexible with my schedule and with that in mind, I am flexible with their demands.

Of course if your young and don't mind not having certain perks, it might be alright for you, but you do need to consider the logistics of traveling. After a couple months, you are no longer "traveling", you are simply working and all the travel related situations are just time consuming necessary evils.

mdt76

My personal $.02 is that it depends fully on attitude and control.

I have been ranging between 20% - 80% travel for the past 4 years, and only 5% - 10% business travel before that. Right now I love the heavy travel, but I make it a point to enjoy local food places in the cities i'm visiting and avoid the hotel restaurants for meals. Try to get some time to enjoy non-work stuff in the city, and I know that I can always throttle back when life requires me to be there for my family and friends.

I'm also lucky since I do have family and friends all over the country and in many other cool places (Argentina, anybody?)

One other thing to ask is if the 20% travel job would allow you to go up a bit, I started my prior role with 20% travel and was able to increase it to almost 60% sometimes because I felt a lot more productive working in the field with our sales teams and customers.

One final thing I will echo was the comment by pragakhan to check on both travel policies... nothing more aggravating than having onerous restrictions on locations you can stay in and airlines you can fly on that just add to the challenges of traveling nowadays.

Christopher

I think a lot must depend on the specifics of the travel.

For example, does 3-5 days a week mean that you would (typically) be going to a different place every day each week or that you might be away for up to 5 days in the one place?

What sort of places is the travel to? Making trips to Vancouver or New York or London is very different from making trips to Smalltown or Dullsville - easier travel arrangements, better accommodation, bigger choice of eateries, much more to do, etc.

Will all the travel be principally by air or will some involve long car journeys?

How much choice will you have about what hotels you stay in and what airlines (and what airline class) you travel in?

Will there be a supportive administrative person in the office at home to make travel arrangements, help when you need to change bookings at the last minute, and so on? (Even with on-line travel bookings, it can sometimes be tiresome trying to research plane tickets or find a hotel with free accommodation at the last minute while at the same time trying to deal with an irate client or whatever.)

And although your g/f is supportive, I think it would be good to have a better idea of how much you will actually be away - for example, "3 to 5 days a week" might mean that you'll be home each weekend, but equally it might not always - if you have a Friday meeting in Dallas and a Monday meeting in Houston, for example, the idea of travelling home and back again might seem distinctly unappealing.

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

dj506

A long time ago, I saw a commercial that said that business travel is a lot more glamorous when you are not the one traveling. It was apparently a bad commercial since I don't remember the product just the tag line.

So here's the viewpoint from a woman on the road 80% of the time. If you tame the travel job, you need a woman that is secure in herself and has great self confidence. The level of trust when travel is involved is HUGE. I'm not even going to comment on the basic travel issues cuz they've been covered. Is your relationship stable enough that you aren't worried she's bored and looking for companionship while you're gone? Is she convinced you aren't hooking up in the bar?

This was just a topic of conversation last night (with my team in a hotel bar). If you dont have this trust, throw every other recommendation out the window.

pragakhan

One piece of advice, I have duplicates of everything, so I don't have to unpack. Everything in my bathroom bag, from toothpaste to a razor stays put. I just wash my "work clothes" a day after I return and put them back in my suitcase (pants, shirts, underwear, even shoes).

This saves a lot of time since when I leave again I don't have to track everything down. When I run out of something at home I pull it from my bag and put new item in my bag.

If that makes sense.

mapu

+1

VivoPerLei

+1

Plus, you're never in one place long enough to start hating the people that work there.

tfly212

Lots of excellent advice so far...I would add a couple of things. 3-5 days a week is a lot of travel either way, but it makes a big difference if that is one city per week for 3-5 days, or 3 or 4 cities in that 3-5 days. Having done both, the multiple cities in a week world REALLY wears you down fast. If you have a few days each week in one place you get to maintain a semblance of a schedule (you can go to the gym in the hotel, aren't expected to do a business dinner every night, etc). Secondly, I have found that being a road warrior early on does kick start your career as you are exposed to a lot more than you would be in a single office. Good luck.

Indelaware

Congrats! There is nothing better than travel.

Enjoy yourself. Know that each day of travel is special. Take in the new places, the new people, and the thrills of seeing the world.

Know that the majority of people on FT like to rant and rave. As long as you remember that travel is a joy, it will be. Do not buy into the mentality that you deserve extras because you are lucky enough to have a job which rewards you with travel unlike the poor slob on the same flight that doesn't have the same job.

All that is ever needed in a flight is that it gets you from A to B safely. The middle seat in the rear row is better than being stuck at a desk on the ground.

All that is ever needed in a hotel room is that it is safe and clean and a bed which doesn't ruin your back. You don't need a suite; the fellow sleeping on the ground outside your window doesn't complain that his room is small, neither should you.

All that is ever needed in a car is that it gets you from A to B safely. If it is a different make, a different color, or a different size that is fine. The fellow by the side of the road with a sign asking for a life doesn't complain about his ride; neither should you.

If you keep these attitudes, your family and friends - including that girlfriend - will appreciate your travel tales and the knowledge of the world you gain from the world. If they don't they aren't the right friends or life partners.

toomanybooks

The advice about looking clearly at your standing with the GF is very important. Many many women will not put up with this sort of relationship for the long term. When you get home exhausted you are going to want to "nest" much of the time, and she very likely will not.

Traveling that much is quite a bit more stressful in all aspects of your life than a lot of people imagine.

Good luck.

babeavs13

I think this is a very difficult quesiton to answer since it is really a personal preference. I would also say that it's likely us FTers are a little skewed to enjoying our travel more than a normal person (not that theres anything wrong with that).

From my perspective, I was in a job were I traveled every week for about 4 years straight. I loved the first 2 years as I was traveling to a single city each week and the same city usally for 1-2 months (i.e. spend the week in NYC for 4 weeks straight, then switch to Chicago for 6 weeks, then whereever for 8 weeks coming home each weekend, etc.). The final two years of heavy travel were spent in a single city on the same project. The huge downside here was that I hated the city and the client was terrible so it really took a lot out of me. My company had a pretty strict travel policy with limited per diem, approved carries and hotels so I didn't have a lot of options to explore or have a good meal on the company dime. Eventually I left that job because I was sick of the travel.

My new position that I've been in for about 3 years now requires much less travel, say 20% or so and I find myself craving more. The main difference is that our travel policies are geared towards our comfort. I have no per diem limits (assuming reasonable meals), can pick my airline, flights, hotels, and I am usually traveling to different locations. I love the travel again and wish I did more.

Therefore, my advide as others have said before is to research the travel policy, know how long you'll be at a given location, and figure out home much flexibility there is in your travel schedule. I don't really think you'll know if you like it or not until you give it a try for a few months or years. That said, if you do want to try it now's the time as your young and don't have a family.

pragakhan

Ain't that the truth, the day after I get home I just want to be home, not running errands, not going "out"... Kids aren't even allowed to have friends over lol..