In your experience, what % travel has been easy to manage, even a bit fun?
At what level does travel become harder to manage and much, much less fun?
What % travel do you consider intolerable?
Discuss.
:matrix:
Right now I travel about once every 6-8 weeks, about once a quarter to corporate and sprinkle as many conferences or training trips in as I can. Usually I am gone for a full week. With a family I think its a good balance and travel is still a vacation from my weekly grind.
I feel once a month would be OK but a little too much for me (assuming being gone the full work week or more). Anything more than that and its gonna be a big deal to my wife and family. If I was single then I could see me traveling more and being fine with it.
I was just talking with a sales guy who bemoans how often high travel can burn out his brightest SEs and that he gets left with guys that put up with the 50%+ travel because they're oblivious to the stress it's putting them under.
I like the idea of travel when it's to an exotic destination. I don't get so excited, though, if it's to Keokuk, Iowa. Sure, I'd like to see a new place... but... Iowa?
As far as other aspects go, yay me getting to fly business class and rack up air miles and hotel points on the company dime. But, I can do the same thing on vacations and with credit cards attached to loyalty programs.
Travel too much, and all those points and miles won't become vacations. They'll become preferential boarding, terminal club entries, room upgrades, things like that... because travel too much and your vacation becomes a time when you stay home.
Now, I do know one guy that does 100% travel for his work. Whenever he comes off the road, he stays with his parents for a few days and then he's off again. He's very very single and pretty much resolved to never finding fulfillment in life through a family of his own, so he puts himself into his work, which is organizing a global extracurricular study program and competition.
I got off a 6 month period where I was doing ~50% travel, that was just to much. I wouldn't have minded if I was single, but now that I am married I don't see me doing that again.
no travel here, I'd hazard a guess at 10-25% travel being comfortable, that's like 4-10 hours a week, 1/2 day to a day at alternative work site.
For me and my family I would say more than 25% would start to get problematic. If I was single I would probably prefer a 50% or more travel average. I think another side of travel is more often but shorter trips or fewer trips but extended stays.
I enjoy travel, but hate flying. Mainly because at 6'4" 390lbs I just don't fit on airplanes. Seeing new places is cool. Getting there sucks. My current job has gone from 25-33% down to near zero travel as we get remote/OOB management setup correctly. I really only travel for training now. My brother did 100% travel for three years. He didn't mind it, but he is a life long bachelor.
-Otanx
Quote from: Otanx on April 20, 2017, 10:55:52 AM
My brother did 100% travel for three years. He didn't mind it, but he is a life long bachelor.
-Otanx
a buddy of mine did that 100% travel thing, saved enough frequent flyer point to take his So to Hawaii first class very cheap. moved on soon after getting back from vaca.
Quote from: Otanx on April 20, 2017, 10:55:52 AM
I enjoy travel, but hate flying. Mainly because at 6'4" 390lbs I just don't fit on airplanes.
-Otanx
Damn and I thought I had it rough. I am only 6'1" 290lbs and sometimes have trouble fitting myself lol.
No picnic at my 6'4" 240-lb frame on a plane. I love bulkhead seating, buses, trains, the front row in an auditorium, ANYTHING with legroom!
My travel was nice cause I could do it by train.
6'3 320lb
Im 5'9 with a 28" inseam on my pants. Im lucky if my feet touch the floor on the plane :D
Quote from: that1guy15 on April 21, 2017, 09:55:39 AM
Im 5'9 with a 28" inseam on my pants. Im lucky if my feet touch the floor on the plane :D
Here, let me help you fill up that seat, please scoot over after lifting up the armrest...
Quote from: deanwebb on April 21, 2017, 10:26:28 AM
Quote from: that1guy15 on April 21, 2017, 09:55:39 AM
Im 5'9 with a 28" inseam on my pants. Im lucky if my feet touch the floor on the plane :D
Here, let me help you fill up that seat, please scoot over after lifting up the armrest...
:haha2:
Quote from: deanwebb on April 21, 2017, 10:26:28 AM
Quote from: that1guy15 on April 21, 2017, 09:55:39 AM
Im 5'9 with a 28" inseam on my pants. Im lucky if my feet touch the floor on the plane :D
Here, let me help you fill up that seat, please scoot over after lifting up the armrest...
Im still a bigger dude with pretty broad shoulders. So my torso is usually pretty cramped.
Quote from: deanwebb on April 21, 2017, 10:26:28 AM
Quote from: that1guy15 on April 21, 2017, 09:55:39 AM
Im 5'9 with a 28" inseam on my pants. Im lucky if my feet touch the floor on the plane :D
Here, let me help you fill up that seat, please scoot over after lifting up the armrest...
hahaha
I've been traveling around Europe for the last year doing standardizations. I'd say between 20 and 50 percent per month on average but there've been a couple of months where I was just doing designs and making orders.
The travel itself is great, but too much of it starts to weigh on your personal life. All the home work piles up so you have to make up for that in the weekends. And I have two small kids so it takes a lot from them and the wife.
For dinner, we get a fixed budget of €30, multiplied by 1.2 in more expensive countries. Except for some countries like Sweden (expensive for drinks) and Switzerland (just expensive overall) this buys you a very royal dinner, especially in Eastern Europe. That took its toll on my health though, at one point I was 10kg heavier than the year before... 5.6" and 75kg though :whistle:
Quote from: SimonV on April 27, 2017, 01:14:20 PM
5.6" and 75kg though :whistle:
Here let me also help you to use the rest of your seat!
Saw one job that said 30% travel but talked to a buddy of mine who works there who said it's closer to 90-100% due to shortages and growth. They'd *like* it to be 30% travel at some point in the future, but they ain't there yet.
I'm thinking 100% travel would be a bit much, especially if it's to different client sites every other day/week.
Now I want to see this movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbbXGW5czKo
OK, so I watched "Up in the Air", a movie about getting fired and 100% travel.
I already knew I didn't want to get fired.
Now I'm sure I don't want 100% travel or anything close to it. Just seeing airport after airport... that hit home hard. Doing that every day, every single day... if my whole life fits in a suitcase, where is there room for the people I love? Not for me.
EPIC GRAVEDIG
Well, I'm doing 100% travel for this month, although it comes out to something like 30% - 40% for the YTD. Bracing myself for impact and doing a laundry load on the road...
Quote from: deanwebb on April 05, 2019, 08:38:53 AM
EPIC GRAVEDIG
Well, I'm doing 100% travel for this month, although it comes out to something like 30% - 40% for the YTD. Bracing myself for impact and doing a laundry load on the road...
when I was a renter, there was a pub right next door to the laundry place, made for easy laundry on weekends. Place made hand squeezed screwdrivers and had good food. yum, those were the good old days....
This wash will be done in the Scranton Homewood Suites, should anyone want to book travel to visit me on Laundry Day. :P
At least, as a fan of The Office, I'll get to check out Steamtown Mall, Cooper's Seafood, and Alfredo's Pizza Cafe (the GOOD pizza place in Scranton!).
I go to our Sri Lanka office every now and then. That is fun because of meeting people and the evening meals / drinks. But it's not fun because we're expected to leave 9am Sunday morning to get there Sunday night / Monday morning around 2am local time to start at 8/9am local time. The return trip is usually Friday afternoon and land late Saturday night / Sunday morning so it takes its toll.
In the past I've usually left for somewhere, sometime from Monday and then I'm back home Friday night latest. This is very manageable because you get your downtime at the weekends. For example I was working at the mining sites and so I was sitting on a plane at 6am about to take off on Tuesday and I was returning home Thursday late afternoon.
It makes it even easier when the Financial dept. arrange the hotel, meals and transport which is kind of expected to arrange the hotels and secure them with the company credit card. It's not fun having to use your own credit card and then put in a expense form when you return to claim it back. By then, you will probably be charged the monthly interest fee for using the card, which I've not managed to claim back.
I prefer my own card, even though expenses are a hassle. I like the points for my hotel loyalty, as those turn into places to stay when I do self-inflicted travel for vacation. :)
I typically prefer my own card, and doing my own booking. My company will reimburse me for the trip before I leave if the charges are done before. So I can print out the flight, hotel, and rental car stuff when I book, and submit that. I also just get per-diem for food so I don't need to submit receipts for that, but I have to wait till I get back. I also get my 2% back this way.
Working on Cisco Live approvals now, and am asking for mileage, and driving out instead of flying. There is some nice diving in San Jose area so I want to drive and take all my SCUBA gear.
-Otanx
Got a video up on IT travel, made 7 this morning because late check out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDReZ11-L0
In which I reveal that I carry a purse!
I too like the expense report option. I earn enough points that my wife and I rarely pay for a flight or hotel anymore as long as traveling in the US.
Quote from: Otanx on April 12, 2019, 09:35:10 AM
Working on Cisco Live approvals now, and am asking for mileage, and driving out instead of flying. There is some nice diving in San Jose area so I want to drive and take all my SCUBA gear.
-Otanx
Side note, I'm a qualified wreck diver (PADI) with nitrox cert. Dont think I'd ever do a wreck dive and penetrate, very scary :mrgreen:
I love diving, dived egypt, australia, indonesia. Do you dive on your own? I want to try out the re-breathers they have now. They use the underwater jet-ski things here in australia.
I got Master Diver last year with SSI. My wife and I go out together as often as I can. Even if it is just a shore dive from the swim beach at the lake. I am with you on the penetrations. No plans to do that or cave. I am eventually going to go tech with the final goal of a long dive on the USS Oriskany. I want to drop down to see the props at 210', and spend some time swimming around the flight deck. The rebreathers are pretty cool. A couple friends got them. I just can't drop 8 to 10 grand on one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_(CV-34)#2004_%E2%80%93_artificial_reef
-Otanx
Nice! Good luck with tech diver :) That does seem interesting to me.
And now part two, Airplane Food:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWiXdJm2QN4
did you see userfriendly comic strip for today?
Quote from: ristau5741 on April 22, 2019, 06:10:00 AM
did you see userfriendly comic strip for today?
I hate when people steal my material!
Moar Travel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEu9K9iF2dw
LOL @ your crazy eyes
:smug:
Got vids 5-7 in the series uploaded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75ej_Gy3Xa4&list=PLFApnthtJFdMu_xpahRP88jgmy1HF4Xy0&index=6&t=0s
I love the preview image on the videos. It could be a IT guy passionate about his profession, or a crazy conspiracy guy talking about chem trails.
P.S Awesome shirt. I have the same one.
-Otanx
Lol, yes, I love me that shirt!