Ya know when you thought, “Oh I want a job that travels! I would love to be a traveling business professional! I want to explore!”

Pause.

Now that I have traveled for work, and more specifically, spent 12 nights in October not in my own bed… I really don’t know what I was thinking….

Just kidding.

Travel for work is awesome. All you have to do is your job, and everything else is taken care of. Your gas gets paid for, your airline ticket gets paid for, your food, and sometimes even your beer or wine get paid for. Either the company pays from the get-go or you are reimbursed. It’s like you aren’t even spending money.

You get to visit some cool places too! I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma for 6 days for my first “business trip” in 2017.  We stayed downtown at a nice hotel. I was pleasantly surprised with the city and enjoyed all the restaurants, shops, and museums we visited…though I was appalled that in 2017 there are still places that don’t brew Sweet tea. If you are ever in Tulsa make sure you stop by Glacier Confection, and send me a treat for recommending it!

A year later, our client organization had their conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Being from Cumberland, Maryland, only about 2-3 hours away, it was nice to revisit and actually spend a night (or 5) there, in the Hershey Lodge. My family was able to visit me, which was wonderful, and when it was time to head back home, my suitcase weighed 10 pounds more than it had on arrival, due to all the chocolate I was gifted. Next year, for that conference, I will be heading out to Spokane, Washington. The furthest west I’ll have been!

I’ve had my share of “day trips” to Auburn, Birmingham, and/or Montgomery (all Alabama) in the last year or so. Drive (or ride) up that day, work, may or may not stay the night, then head back. They aren’t too bad. Just makes for a long day. Most recently we worked in Auburn for a week at a time, for 2 weeks in October. It made for a very different experience. I stayed at the "Auburn Hotel" as a guest, where I worked at for three years while in school. I was surprised at check-in to be staying on the “Executive Floor” and when I arrived to my room and saw a VIP amenity.

I guess I finally made it…

Totally kidding.

But I did have time to visit with friends I hadn’t seen and dearly missed. It was nice to hit my favorite spots and even take some recycling to the drop-off center like I used to. I had missed Auburn.

Through all this, there was work. Hard work. Emotionally, mentally, physically draining work. Plus, travel already takes “it” out of you. I really like my sleep...in my own bed, with my own pillows and covers, and a comfortable room temperature. I don’t think I had ever experienced this type of tired until I traveled and worked at the same time.

It’s all worth it though. It’s so nice to go somewhere “new” (even if the location isn’t new, the work/client is different), to be able to show my value to the team, to experience variety, and to feel accomplished when it’s over.

So, after a week of recovery time…I think I'm back to normal.

Gotta keep on travelin', movin' on down the line...