24 Days of Blogging, Day 5: Travel as Teacher

I have traveled as part of my work for several years, but it wasn’t until 2018 that I travelled for a living. My work has taken me away from home for trips of varying length at an average of three times a month and about 70 nights of the year. As I waited for my flight today to bring me home for the rest of the calendar year, I jotted down some of the things I have learned from this nomadic lifestyle.

Here are a couple of my thoughts in no particular order:

• No matter how organized I am, having a place for every bit of clothing and equipment, something will be forgotten and I will have to improvise (or drive to a Target in the middle of downtown Baltimore late at night to purchase ties). Also, despite highly systematized organization, something will be left behind. I have lost a pair of glasses, a mouse, a car mobile phone holder, and countless charging cords and plugs. It helps to learn detachment from material things.
• Not all rental cars are made equally, and an uncomfortable ride can make for a miserable trip. Also it has been an ongoing challenge to figure out how to sync my phone with the car’s sound system, and I once had to take the vehicle manual from the glove compartment to find out where the release for the gas cap was. A heated seat and heated steering wheel is a luxury beyond all price (of course my feeling about that may have been influenced by 6° temperature in Gallup this morning).
• You can get a ticket if you go 95 down Interstate 40 (to be honest, I think I was going 100). Luckily I was on Native American Territory, so my fine went to the tribe and no report went to my insurance company.
• TSA Precheck is worth EVERY penny. Same is true for the United Club. Little conveniences and comforts along the way go a long way to preserving sanity. Plus there are always free plugs in the United Club, and maintaining power in devices while crossing the country is an art and a science.
• After a while all hotel rooms feel the same. When I traveled infrequently, I would wake up wondering where I was. Now I more or less expect to wake up in a hotel. The free breakfasts at Fairfields etc, are consistently bad, but I always eat them. A waffle is always worth the time. In Holiday Inn Express, they have a magic pancake machine where you push a button and freshly cooked pancakes come out the other side…worth the price of admission.
• There are almost always people who are willing to help if asked (this might be my white male privilege speaking).
• No matter what challenge is thrown my way (from being stuck in a logjam of delays to having my rental car stuck in mud on the Zuni reservation), if I take a breath and roll with the punches, I can get through anything

I am going to savor these next few weeks of being at home and then Come January 7 (brrrr). I will be on the road again. It is harder than I thought it would be, but I’m tougher and more resilient than I thought I would be.

I welcome your comments.

Image: This is my current status on Marriott (less the night I just spent yesterday). What does this status get me? Two bottles of water when I arrive!!!  I was impressed with myself, but my boss has lifetime platinum status thanks to over 600 nights total!  That’s 2 years in a Marriott, folks.