Chowder's Notepad

Travel

I got the idea for a travel post from Jim McKee’s comment on my Missed Opportunity post. He’d love to get a job that has some travel involved. I’m all for it. I say “Go for it Jim!” I think everyone should travel. You don’t have to do or go anywhere fancy or elaborate. Just get out there. It’s a great big world worth seeing.

I love to travel. I think it started when I was young. We were taught to stay close so we wouldn’t get lost or kidnapped. (The kidnapping thing was just to scare us into listening and staying close. Sadly, it’s a real concern today.) Sometimes it was just to the store but other times it was to local attractions. My parents were always working so we’d go on short excursions with them. Our Godmother was the one who would take us on day trips to attractions that were a few hours away.

Why travel?

1. New stimuli: The new places, food, language, customs, people, and landscape. The new sights, sounds, and smells. It’s fun to learn your way around a new & different city/country.
2. Traveling gives you good stories. My friend D used to wonder why I always had a story on hand. Travel. We all need to get out and experience the world. Travel helps to make us better rounded and interesting.

Internationally I’ve been to:
the UK, France, Hong Kong, Aruba, Grand Caymans, Tahiti, Cancun, Canada. Someday I’d like to go to Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and the Mediterranean countries.

Traveling abroad gives me the chance to appreciate what I have. It reminds me of how lucky I am to live in the US and have opportunities to better myself (and to buy stuff). For example, in Europe and Asia not everyone owns a car. Not everyone owns a house. Not everyone can move around the country. Or go from job to job. There just isn’t that sense of freedom. The biggest difference I noticed was space. In a lot of those places it seemed like you were living right on top of one another. Everything was teeny, tiny, cramped in Europe & Asia. The shower stalls, the hotel rooms, the restaurants, people’s apartments. We have space in the US, it’s cramped in the rest of the world.

Domestically I’ve been to many of our states.

I drove across the country with D when he got a job in Seattle so I got to see a bit of the west. When I was a trainer I got to see a lot of the major metropolitan cities. I’ve been to the southwest (Grand Canyon, Arches NP, etc) and northern California (wine country) repeatedly because those are 2 of my favorite places in the US. Absolutely breathtaking scenery.

Business travel is a different beast. When it’s for work you’re on the clock. You have to get there by a certain time. You’ll be expected to perform.

The good side of traveling for work is it’s on someone else’s money. You can go to nicer restaurants, you stay at good hotels, you meet all kinds of people, new stimuli, change of routine, etc.. When traveling for work there’s the added challenge of deadlines, hitting milestones, and the need to think on your feet. When I’m brought in, I tend to be a focal point at a site. I’m looked at as a subject matter expert. Whether I’m doing the work or just planning/supervising the work. It’s quite good for my ego: “I’m the hotshot brought in to make it happen.”

The negative side is the long hours at work, strange hours you might have to work, strange places you might have to work, time away from family and friends, the added challenge of deadlines, hitting milestones, the need to think on your feet, the spotlight because you’re the hotshot brought in to make it happen.

There are cities I’ve been to that I’ve only seen the airport and the office. For example, I have no idea what Charlotte, NC is like. And the airports. They’re a mess. I understand the need of security. Why doesn’t everybody else? Why are people still trying to bring knives on to planes? Why do you think that huge 100 pound bag that you can barely lift is going to fit in the overhead compartment? I hate to be exclusionary but air travel was better 15 to 20 years ago when fewer people were traveling. Now all these clueless people are traveling and it gets annoying when they’re holding up the security line with their forbidden articles or the boarding process with their 5 oversized bags.

So Jim, if you’re OK with change and diversity/adversity then traveling for work might work for you. If you’re someone who enjoys routine and doesn’t respond well to change then traveling for work will definitely NOT be for you.

posted by ChowderHead @ 10/17/2006 01:30:00 PM