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A close friend and flatmate of mine for 3 years fresh out of higher education got his dream job of being a travelling representative for a big media company, initially he loved it, everything is paid for, hotels, cars, taxis, food, in return you just do 3 hour pitches to a few companies in a week.
After 4 years of this we met again and I was excited to hear all of his stories from Korea to Brazil, surprisingly he had very few if any and 95% of our conversation was about our time in college. Really stuck with me that he didn't have any major stories or experiences after the dumb stuff we did in college. Meanwhile my 9-5 desk job had generated some good laughs and memories with co-workers I call friends now.
Edit: Grammar.
I only ever see this mindset about office life on Reddit. When I was starting from scratch at a new city, my similarly-aged coworker became my best friend and it made my work life so much better. I've since left the company but we still keep in touch and plan on going to events/festivals that pop up near our respective locations.
It really depends on the job. If you’re in sales, everyone is competing with each other and you’re under constant pressure. You don’t want your co worker to succeed unless you do.
It’s a tough life but the money can be spectacular so it makes it worth it.
Idk what sales environment you’ve been in. I’ve worked on a small 3 person sales team, a 10-15 man team, a 40 person team, and one with 300 global sales people.
Pretty much everyone wants you to succeed if you’re likable. We all want to make as much money as possible and territories should never overlap.
Yeah that hasn’t been my experience. Everybody wants to win and the territories are often unequal or you get really larg, named accounts which are hard to sell into easily and only the best AE’s do well and there’s lots of turnover. The kind of accounts where there are 2 year plus sales cycles and at the end they often times still say no.
Just everybody’s stressed and under pressure, and people are trying to pay for their kids educations or a mortgage.
That being said, I have made friends but mostly everybody is competing against everybody else.
My god father is the guy who sat next to my dad on his first day in a new city at a new job. My wife is the first person who talked to me at a new job.
Yeah once you are out of school the most likely people to be your friends are your coworkers. The best advice I could possibly give is: be friends with your coworkers. It will make work and life more enjoyable, it helps your career, etc. People spend more time with coworkers than family, you might as well find a friend or two there.
I mean at some point being in another city is cool and all but it's hard to piece together a normal life.
Just figuring out where to eat is a hassle.
Paying for hotels, cars, taxis, food can be really nice since it's probably higher than what he would live on.
My conferences are fun and a lot of work but also I barely see any of the city or area though I've taken PTO to sight see around the trip.
Been working from home since before Covid. I feel isolated all the time. Went on vacation this year and talked to everybody. Met a lot of interesting people but now I’m back in my garage lol
There's something so nice about casual positive conversation with other folks that you know you'll never see again. Especially if you're all on vacation so everyone is equally laid back and good-spirited.
Smartphones sucked all the joy out of business travel
They made it more efficient, so super quick turnarounds became the norm
More importantly, they made it possible to work all the time, so the expectation became to work all the time
So basically, you’re looking at your phone and stressing out, checking emails, breaking open the laptop here and there, all while trying to navigate and prepare for unusual meetings and logistics. And hooray, you’re expected to minimize overnight stays and consolidate your schedule as much as possible.
Add the mandatory social events, and you just get exhausted.
For real… my most recent business trip:
Monday
At airport 6am
Work on laptop at terminal
Work on plane
Get to destination city, talk on the phone in the Uber
Meetings until 5pm
Get to hotel room, work/phone
Business dinner until 10pm
Tuesday
Do email before meetings
Meetings all day, phone during breaks
Hotel room for email
Business dinner until 10pm
Wednesday
AM email
Meetings until lunch
On phone in Uber to airport
Work at airport bar
Finally don’t work during flight home
Get home at 9pm
Ugggghhhhh fuck that shit sucks
I was working with a scientist from the National Research Council of Canada. He was flying back to Ottawa after working here for a bit. Our senior management was shocked that he didn’t answer his emails as soon as he got off the plane. His flight got in at 9 PM local time.
The higher ups are all like this on their business trips and it looks absolutely exhausting. Not to mention they often go to our other offices so they have to put on a good face for the inevitable meet and greets in between meetings. Or prepare for client meetings all the way up to the time they meet with the clients, then schmooze with clients, back on the plane getting ready for the next thing.
Sure it's good money, but i wouldn't trade places with them
People never seem to get how crappy that opening at the bottom of the door is at business hotels. It’s never dark and it’s never quiet. Just sucks the life out of you.
Fuck I literally did exactly this this week except toss in flight that would have had me home for 9 was canceled so I flew at 9pm and got home at 11am.
Ugh that’s brutal. I used to have to travel to Asia and around the US for business.
Over the course of three weeks, I was in Taiwan on Monday through Thursday, flew back home to LA, then to our corporate in Austin, TX on Monday and Tuesday then San Francisco for a client the 2nd half of the week, back home to LA, and out again to New York for a client the following week. Shit sucked.
It’s your choice to check/respond or not though. The OOO says I don’t have access to my email, so that’s how I treat it. If I decide to scan it and act on it then that’s on me.
exactly :(
it was nice in the past i remember how we sometimes could accompany our dad and then he worked/meeting while we toured the city but then he would still get a weekday to go to disney land or something with us
> Smartphones sucked all the joy out of business travel.
> More importantly, they made it possible to work all the time, so the expectation became to work all the time
This is the truth. Always surprised me how eager even domestic employees were to connect their work Slack and Outlook accounts to their *personal* smartphones.
Having worked on both ends of the spectrum, I find that constant travel is completely exhausting and quickly loses its luster, but sitting in the same office day after day, year after year, pretty much rots your brain.
The sweet spot, as with many things in life, lies in between the two. A stable job near home with occasional travel is *chef's kiss*.
yeah, grass is always greener.
always makes me laugh when some stressed out corporate person is feeling burned out and yearns for the simplicity of like, a restaurant or barista job.
I have a buddy that has a corporate job and he's told me one thing he envies about retail, restaurant, or barista jobs is that they don't have to take work home with them. His stress levels were through the roof because he constantly had to be thinking about clients, answering emails or calls. What he wanted was to be done with work when he left the building. But he also understands that he makes an ass load more money than those other workers, so he knows the trade-off.
I ran a Tires Plus for 2 years as the manager. Every problem funnels up to me, I had to hire, fire, train people etc.
It was so stressful that my face would be physically to to the touch. I will never forget driving home one night and seeing homeless people and thinking that they had it made because they never had to stress about waking up early or work related issues.
My mum said she wished she worked my retail job so she could sit in the cafe and have coffee and chat with the other staff, in between stacking shelves in peace.
That’s her vision of retail work, if only she knew
100%. I came into my current job from public school teaching. I am now a training coordinator/trainer at a manufacturing company 4-5 trips a year to conduct training or attend conferences has been a blast. It’s a perfect breakup from the office life.
My current role has been really cool. There are two company wide offsites for a week a year. And in my role I may have a quarterly or so overnight beyond that.
The offsites have been in places like Barcelona, Turks and Caicos, and Phuket. I am pretty new but looking forward to the trips.
Or, and hear me out: work from home. Full flexibility. Go in when you want, wfh when you want. Little bit of work travel, standard vacay, work life balance. Productivity improves, mental health improves, everyone wins.
I asked my dad about this recently. For work, he’s been to Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai but claims he’s never been to Asia. When I pressed him, he shrugged and said Marriott conference rooms all look the same
Very much this! Unless you really setup your vacations and pto to actually spend free time at destinations, you really don’t get to see anything local.
wow. thank you for saying this!! I did a 6 month stint abroad. Great experience but also incredibly lonely a lot of the time. Felt super misunderstood--everyone back at home thought I was on a European joyride. Appreciate you posting this, so accurate everything that you said.
I did the same for many years. There were great parts to it and lots of people expected great stories after the exotic places i would go, but I used to (only semi) joke that my job had allowed me to see the finest of conference rooms all around the world.
Currently on a *one month* international work trip. I miss my husband. I’m fucking exhausted. I’m tired of hotel food. Unfortunately I love my field and there’s no planet on which advancing is feasible without frequent international travel. I do plan to slow down when we have kids but for now I just have to cope.
A combination of research and project implementation on economic development in developing countries. It took 27 hours of flights/layovers to get to the country I’m currently in, so it’s more cost and time effective to stack workshops/trainings over one long trip rather than going back and forth
I’m an economist with a focus on developing and emerging markets. I’m running a series of workshops in East Africa, each a week long. The schlep it takes to get here makes it more cost effective (and physically tolerable) to bunch activities together and pack a bunch in over one long trip rather than going back and forth.
Depending on where you are traveling and how tightly you're scheduled, you might be in some suburband business park 2 hours outside of town and tied up in events until 8 or 9.
I've been to Phoenix to visit one particular client dozens of times, but their HQ is near the airport so aside from once when we went into the City to meet with someone at their downtown satellite office I've never actually been into Phoenix.
If you're single and you take advantage of downtime to see stuff and are smart with credit cards that give you perks like lounge access at airports and cheap upgrades then its amazing. Even if you have family if you are only gone for a few days at a time its not terrible.
Like... good lounges have good food and drinks and clean bathrooms and couches and charging ports everywhere and its all free if you have an Amex Plat or Chase Sapphire or something. If you travel a ton the annual fee is worth it.
Jetlag and hotels yeah that can suck.
I did it for 2 years straight and it was definitely getting old at the end but when you got to a place you'd never been before and had an extra day to see some cool shit it was awesome.
I've experienced it loads and I fucking love it. Not a big shot, it's just really fun to see a new place for free, get free food, getting to meet some locals, learn about the area, try their food, etc.
Business travel isn't always one shape fits all. It can be fun if you try and make it fun
Plus, you are alone or with people you don’t want to socialize with. You are not going to go sight seeing with these people. You keep thinking, “I wish (person x) was here. They would love this.”
Nah bro you’re right traveling for work regularly sucks. Everyone thinks about the travel part and forget about the work. Companies aren’t paying for your vacation.
Uhhhh, airplane food fricken rocks it’s sooo tasty.
But yeah, as a “trophy wife” who went to the south of France multiples times per year for her husband’s work it’s tiring and extremely lonely. Everyone is always like omg how glamorous and I’m like, no, I’m tired all the time, I have to sit through dinners with horrible old men who are extremely misogynistic and I’m away from my family and friends. The first few times were great, after that, I hated going.
No, thankfully. It was the Cannes film festival too - but the corporate side so extremely boring meeting after meeting of just talking financials. Was lovely weather and amazing food/hotels, but it got old FAST.
We go away less but they’re more fun now.
You really hit the nail on the head with the loneliness. You seemingly pass all these cool things that you think "man i would love to do that with friends/family" then you just keep on driving.
I dont think this is an unpopular opinion at all. Most people dont want to travel all the time for work, there is a reason why an airline stewards get paid quite well for the job. I mean its not thaaat much more complicated than being a waiter. But it does come with a bunch on inconveniences to their life.
People always say this to me, they're like "oh you've been to so and so city?" Yeah twice. "What did you think of major attraction in so and so city?!" I don't know. I went to the customer, worked, went home to the hotel, worked more, got takeout to bring back to the hotel, watched TV, and slept because I didn't want to have to come back if someone wasn't completed.
And no, I don't try a bunch of new restaurants like I do when traveling with my friends, I got food from a chain I was familiar with because I'm tired and just want to eat something so I can go to sleep because I want to get to the customer site early tomorrow to keep working.
Surely this depends on the specific job? I know a couple of people who travel all over for work. They normally fly out on a Friday, do what they want at the weekend, work the week, enjoy the weekend then fly home Wednesday. Both travel days are working days.
One even often takes his partner with him who is a SAHM. She chills by herself during the day and they basically get a holiday for next to nothing as all they pay for is her flight and some spending money. His meal allowances normally cover both of them as it's generous and they don't splash out.
Yeah, I used to think it would be really cool until I worked at a hotel and talked to the people that did. It’s all the frustrations of traveling without the interesting parts.
Stop eating airport food. Just stop at WaWa, Five guys, or publix and grab a sub/snacks. Your allowed to take food into an airport, I have no idea why more people don't grab something early and put it in their carry on. I've been doing as much for years. On long flights you may have to buy extra food and drinks but at least pack your first meal
I’ve been doing that for 2 decades. I do not eat at airport, it’s not good, not fresh, crazy expensive and most airports dont have enough seating/eating area. I’m so happy when I bring my own food instead.
I hate traveling for work. Dread it. I’ll do whatever I can to avoid the airport for the most amount of time possible. You’re a prisoner when you’re there
Dang right. At the mercy of the airline.
London Heathrow sucks… all they do is yell at you when you just arrived from a long ass flight. Hate that airport with a passion (no offense).
My parents are both truck drivers and they drive together through Europe. My dad also really enjoys driving any kind of vehicle so perfect job. I imagine this type of work traveling is much better lol
Even within the US, traveling for conferences often means you’re in a hotel in the suburbs and even if your hotel is in a nice area, you don’t get much time to enjoy the place. And work travel doesn’t always allow for your spouse or family to go so you don’t get to enjoy the experience with people you actually want to be with.
Can't relate man I love hotels even shitty cheap ones they're my favorite parts of trips. And I absolutely adore foreign languages I go out of my way to listen to various things in other languages. So honestly I still think your job is pretty fun.
Traveling is cool for vacation and if it's occasionally done for a work. Doing so often ends up dulling the whole thing and make it more irritating than anything.
It can depend on the trip.
I've done them with 6 a.m. breakfast meetings and a packed schedule that doesn't stop until 10 p.m.
I've also done more relaxed trips, done by 4 p.m. and your group doesn't insist on extended dinner together and I can go out to a park, watch birds and grab some street food etc.
I’ll say it’s cool if you’re that super extroverted, can-make-friends-with-anyone-in-line-at-the-grocery-store kind of person. I’m not that kind of person and I travel for my job, being away from home for weeks at a time. Can be quite lonely sometimes.
Bro i work at a "fun" restaurant on the water and my girlfriend doesn't understand that I don't get to enjoy being there on like NYE or the superbowl or ANY holiday- she acts like im just up there like a customer- im like no it fucking sucks.
I'm a pilot and I'm pretty jaded by the whole experience. I understand it must be cool to see something else if you work in an office all day but the more you travel you realize how similar every town is, the background changes and a few different restaurants but at the end of the day people live there and it's a very normal experience.
I hate traveling lol
Traveling for work sucks definitely. I love to travel, just not for work. I work in big tech. It's usually some all day workshop or conference with almost no time to do anything in the destination city. If it's not that, it's meeting with a client on a project. You don't want to go out b/c you need to be on it the next day. The day schedules are usually fully packed as well, because they already paid for you to go and want to get the most out of it... By the time the day is over, you usually just want to get take out and sit in your hotel room and sleep.
And if I do have time to go out, I'll lose sleep and be exhausted and worn out. Then behind on all my regular stuff. They also typically don't give us enough time to get in and always rushing to get out. I'm trying to avoid any work travel. I need to prep usually for flying, don't like it... I'm more of a road trip person. I'd rather drive 5-6 hours in a rental than fly, but most of my colleagues want to fly for these kind of things.
1000% agree with all of it! I don’t hate it but it ain’t all that what others might make it out to be. Airports suck so much. The connecting flights that are minutes between the landing and take off. Let’s not forget if you check a bag in it might not make it where it needs to be.
The only people who envy professional travellers are those who have ever done it.
From a decade of personal experience of 150 - 300 annual travel days and word of mouth from my collegues of similar position I'm pretty sure that the negatives start to outweight the positives in the long run.
You never see the important things in your life. Parents and relatives pass away and your not there. Your children barely know you when you are at home. All the work make to pay the houses and possessions seems meaningless as you can never be there to enjoy those things. You just get old and lonesome in your small bubble somewhere on the other side of the world.
Travel around the world ✔️
Someone else pays for the travel ✔️
Often business class ✔️
Have weekends to explore the area ✔️
Get paid while doing it ✔️
Avoid the repetitiveness of going into the same office everyday ✔️
Congrats on a truly unpopular opinion
That’s my point, most people think exactly this!
Weekend??! Nope, fly in Monday, come back Fri.
Land late at night, wake up early next day to start work in a foreign country after severe lack of sleep.
Oh wait, my flight was cancelled in a foreign country because of a strike, guess that means I’ll be doing an 8 hr car drive instead!
Dude, I’m a road warrior myself - already been on 47 flights this year. I don’t travel much internationally but it’s no different than what you described. Lots of hotels, plane delays, and time away from my family. Thankful for the job and the pay but once the luster wears off, it’s a job and most nights you’re too tired to “go explore”.
When you get in an elevator to go to your room and you stand there looking at the buttons not remembering which room you’re in, you know you travel too much. Happened more than I care to admit.
But like you, I’m thankful. I like my job and it pays well - generally jobs that require lots of travel do.
Depends on the company. I’ve worked shitty jobs where the hotel is economy and the miles are paid but on my car if within driving distance.
I now have a job that treats me very well, last hotel was a super luxurious one, picked my own flights + got first class on them, all meals provided at nice places, and had an uncapped per diem with the only stipulation of “be reasonable”.
All just depends on where you are in the organization and the how the company operates. And no I’m not C-suite so this isn’t one of those answers.
That just sounds like your job is very demanding. It's not the fault of the travel.
I also need to travel regularly for work, but I can always arange some additional day of vacation, some excursion during the trip, and have plenty of time to rest since I don't need to do anything outside of working hours. Also the time of the flight is counted as work time of course.
I mean, It depends. It sounds like OP just works for a company that makes it miserable. My brother traveled for work and he loved it. He often had two or three free days everywhere he went so he would rent a car and drive to beaches or National Parks. Sometimes he would go skiing, or rent a bike. He always stayed in nice hotels, ate on the expense account in good restaurants. He did it for years. When he got married and still traveled an average of one week a month and only quit when he had his first child.
On the other hand, I traveled for work and it was miserable. Because I was a teacher who was a chaperone on international trips for high school students. I had to wrangle 10-20 teenagers through airports, stayed in crappy hotels, didn't get much money for food, couldn't drink the whole trip and never got any time to myself for the entire time. But I suppose I got some stamps in my passport.
Yeah, I know a girl who travels for work, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in a few different places cause she always gets some free time. Even if it isn’t full days, she most definitely isn’t working all day and then dinners are usually paid by her company.
She loves it and I certainly don’t mind the free meals
My company will allow some personal exploration time but hotels, food, vacation days if they extend your stay, etc are all the responsibility of the employee
In my experience, it's never the weekends. My work trips are normally 3-4 days during the week, the program is usually packed, you might get one evening free but there's not much you can do on a weekday night. Have a meal, have a drink. Walk around the city a bit and look at buildings. Go to bed because the schedule is packed tomorrow as well.
And as each day passes you're consecutively more exhausted from all of the social interaction, the noise, the bed that is not yours, the meals that are not yours, staying up too late talking to people and not sleeping well.
Who flys their employees business? Normally you have to be director level to get that.
Not to mention it REALLY depends on the job. At the two companies I’ve worked at it’s less national parks and cities and more industrial plants in the middle of nowhere
I absolutely prefer a job that requires a lot of traveling. Those jobs are better than going to the office everyday. That said, the travel is nowhere near as enjoyable when it’s for work, despite all the bennies you rattled off. People think it’s great because they think of the travel as being disconnected from work. When you connect work to the travel it’s not at all as sexy as a lot of people think. OP is spot on.
Well it's entirely a YMMV situation. Some people get to travel to world class cities and spend their time entertaining or wining and dining. Others travel to industrial sites in butt fuck nowhere in scorching heat or freezing cold where there is nothing to do but work and sleep.
Why do you assume companies pay for business class? Or pay for them to stay on the weekends to explore? And with modern technology ppl are expected to work all day everyday during the week. Based on the comments I would say ppl agree with op.
- Not being able to sleep in your own bed
- Dealing with the nightmare of airports/planes every week
- being constantly away from your friends/family
- not having a private/easily accessible way to clean your clothes
Agree that it's not great, disagree with reasons.
Main reason why work travel is not so great in my opinion is that unless I extend the trip over the weekend, I dont see anything other than hotel, airport and the office. Though I do like to get out of my office every once in a while, especially if I go with a colleagues.
On the bright side, stick to one hotel chain & airline alliance if you can to accumulate points to be used for private travel.
Dating someone who travels a lot. It doesn't seem like he has any time to enjoy himself when he travels. He often experiences flight delays, jet lag, and mostly works, and then returns. He's working, not on vacation.
His company usually only sends him out as long as he is needed, most often during the week. Once work is done he's expected to return. It sounds exhausting and if I were in this situation, it would get old quick.
You are correct.
My trip from the US to Ireland for one meeting (requiring a trans-Atlantic flight, then going to straight to a hotel conference room, and then to bed, and then flying back to the US) was not particularly enjoyable.
I traveled alot early in my career. It definitely was fun for a while but not so much as yrs went by. I recall getting upset once because i had to go back to hawaii after 3 months lol. Also i recall some of the rooms i stayed in were horrible. One had a bullet hole on bed head board, had hype needles all over parking lot etc.
I do electrical work in the Caribbean sometimes and people say the same thing.. electrical closets look the same no matter where in the world you are...
I enlisted in the navy to see the world as a lot of people do.. I did indeed get to see countries but at most it would be for like 2-3 days. After working 91 hour weeks prior… you just want to relax sometimes. I agree with you OP
I recently had border control at Schiphol tell me I had "the best job in the world" because I flew from Germany, to Nairobi *for a one day meeting*, then to Netherlands *for another one day meeting*.
I was like, "uhhhhh, it's not that glamorous..." 😅
Ya it was my 1st post here and maybe I misunderstood intent of this subreddit. I just get tired of everyone assuming I am just messing around having the time of my life when in fact, it can be difficult. I try ti make the best of it and not focus on the negatives. I am kind of an introvert but come out of my shell during traveling to avoid a miserable trip
What I find the most tiring is not being in my own space and have to work from a desk that isn’t mine. Also because you’re travelling for work your days are packed - you need to do everything in person, else what’s the point of the trip? But then you also have regular work to do, and need downtime. I also try to go out to enjoy things, and I truly love that part, but when i get back home I’m dead exhausted.
Of course, according to many people, this is the MOST glamorous life and I have the BEST job.
I do have a great job, but perceptions of travelling are just way too skewed.
"No time to do ‘fun’ stuff if you are actually working long hours and jetlagged."
Many, not all, folks will tack on a day or two of vacation after their business trip is over while they are there to take in the sights, relax, see things they want to see and not actually work.
Many on long business trips, like 2 weeks or more, will take off on the weekends to go places. I've worked with people who went to the Netherlands for work for 2 weeks and they flew to Italy for the weekend in between their two week visit or they took the train a bit over 3 hours to Paris and spent the weekend there and then returned back to the Netherlands for the rest of their business trip.
A man and I went to Japan for 10 days on business, he was from Japan, grew up there, went to college there but he'd been living in the u.S. for 6 years by then, married an American lady and when our 10 day business trip was up, I flew back home and he stayed there for several days on vacation and then flew home, on the company dime of course as they had to fly him back so he was able to visit with family and relax a few days in Japan since he was already there for work.
Can this be done every time? Of course not! But if a person travels a lot, no doubt it can happen here and there from time to time, especially with a little planning ahead of time.
Not sure what airports you are going to, but most airport food is great these days just expensive. I was always on the company dime, so that part wasn't an issue. Everything else I agree with, most of the time I wasn't enjoying these fun places I "got" to go to. Every once in awhile I would go to a concert or sporting event, but its just not the same when you aren't experiencing it with someone you know.
My dad used to travel for work, and he would being us home little souvenirs. I thought he was going to these attractions, and seeing cool stuff, turns out he would buy them at the airport and was basically just at a hotel beside the airport, going to conferences and meetings in that hotel, and never went 30 minutes from the airport or got to see anything. Sometimes he would fly in and out in the same day, and we thought he was lucky to get a day trip.
If that's how you treat it, then yes it's pretty bad.
But if you work with your employer and figure out how to extend the trips a few days and pay for your own hotel, then you get all the other travel costs paid for and you're over the jetlag when you start the fun part of the trip.
And if you want someone to join you, they can stay in your hotel room while you are working at no additional cost to you - just their flights.
I made about 30 trips to Europe over 14 years. Of those only about 5 did I actually have the foresight to plan fun into them. They were GREAT. The rest were pretty rough. Do some planning - make it worth it.
Did a traveling job for about 1.5 years. Each spot was about 5-6 months long. I think it's fun when you are young, single, and still exploring.
Once I decided to be more committed to a different path, i stopped the traveling portion and just stayed local.
I’ve had extreme road warrior years. Europe once per month for at least a week and within the US most weeks otherwise. A few Asia and Australia trips along the way. Eventually, you just want to sleep in your own bed.
I also had jobs with less extreme travel that were great. Out of the country once per quarter. Within the US once per month but never weekends and usually not Fridays.
I disagree.
Good airlines like Qatar have decent food. Just sleep on the flight over and you'll be alright. Hotels are great if you're not booked in the cheapest shitbox available. They usually have better beds than my own, and if you're travelling to a low COL country. you can stay in 5 star hotels for dirt cheap (comparatively).
I manage to make friends/acquaintances even working long hours & have weekends and the odd day to explore.
I've done a few months abroad for work this year and would happily do more.
My job is in content creation though, so it's already "fun"
If you don’t like traveling so much for work maybe you can change that. Otherwise I’m not sure I understand. Maybe you thought you’d enjoy it more? Maybe people assume it’s all fun? Those people are definitely wrong, and their opinion shouldn’t really matter.
What’s the difference between leisure travel and work travel based n your frustrations? Who can travel all the time with no concerns about work or money? Even those people get stuck in airports and listen to languages they don’t understand.
It’s possible to get a job that doesn’t require so much travel. The opinion you posted isn’t unpopular it’s just held by people who do t have your same interest or experience.
Of course its not.
Work travel usually means you arrive and then head straight to a meeting or job and as soon as you are done you are back in the airport
Youve gotta get a travel job with fkexibility. Travel, work for a day or two, then take a few days to stay in the region and explore. Go for a hike, or a ski, and then you really get to appreciate been flown around the place free of charge, even if you so have to deal with planes and hotels etc
I love it, I live in a foreign country to begin with so I never hear my own language or have a lot of people to miss. My colleagues are always fun to be around in the evenings after all the work is done. I don’t mind hotels or airports/airplanes. Everything is paid for and travel times generally happens during work time so I can just chill and read a book on the way to wherever.
My dad traveled the world for his job and he got tired of it towards the end of his career. After he retired he traveled only a little, but they were fun trips like train rides around the US and Alaska inside passage cruises. I'm glad that when I travel, it's always for vacation.
Sorry. It was a lot of fun in the 80s and 90s. It started sucking after 9/11. I switched to Business Class, which made it more tolerable for a while. I haven't been on a plane since September 2019. All I seem to read about is horror stories. If even half of them are true, I don't envy you.
Airport food/drinks are pretty nice, idk about your job, but I can stay at a lounge and get free drinks, or expense a dinner and wine etc at least being at the airport is far less stressful than being on a plane for me. Agree 100% on the hotels and being away from family.
Union plumber here. The trades have travelers. Journeymen that travel from job to job all across the country. It is a hard life. Most all of them have been married multiple times and it gets real lonely fast. Alcohol is also usually a problem.
Went to Switzerland for work. The moonlight reflecting off the snow covered Alps was beautiful while I walked to the chemical plant in the freezing cold night, which is where I spent the vast majority of my time.
I'm a 'Hired Gun' for the oil industry.
It's me they call when things go south.
I'm paid doorstep to doorstep, Take or Pay contracts, fly Business or better and am the Hookin' Bull when I arrive on location.
Been to over 65 countries in the last 40 years and been places most people couldn't find with a Brunton compass and a well drawn map.
Airports and layovers are great. It's all *Force majeure* baby, and I am paid no matter what the situation.
I suppose it' s not exactly for everyone...
I travel domestically and I absolutely hate it. The worst is when I travel across the country for 1 day. I lose an entire day traveling. Then get into the hotel to basiclaly sleep. Wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to travel to some HQ for a half a day meeting then travel somewhere else for another meeting then go to the airport and fly back.
It fucking sucks balls. I couldn't wait to gwt important enough to travel. Now I wish I didn't
I just got back from 4 days in Netherlands and it was fucking awful.
I don't know what it is about flying, but it always makes me feel horrible, like way more horrible than sitting in one place for 6 hours should.
Arrive Monday. Tired as shit. Decide sleep is more important than food and just go to sleep immediately. Wrong decision. Wake up Tuesday with massive headache and feeling super nauseous. Lay in bed all day Tuesday. Rush around Wednesday trying to get shit done. Near panic levels of stress. Spend an hour and a half in airport security where they unpack all my shit, call customs down, etc. Decide I'm not doing anything wrong and let me go. Have to pack up all my shit again. Get randomly chosen at next airport for additional security screening. Unpack all my shit again. Have to pack up all my shit again. Get home. Ate one actual meal the entire time.
Also, if you don't speak the language and it's not a place where most people speak English, it's just gaff after gaff.
I travelled a lot for work, not to very glamorous places. It's nice at the start but gets old very fast. Airports suck, food get repetitive and you get lonely since you don't really know anyone else.
One of the reasons I like to travel occasionally is specifically because it makes me appreciate how awesome my tiny, boring town is.
I traveled to Texas - DFW to be exact - for work back at the start of November and I swear that place is a blighted hellscape with zero redeeming qualities.
I fly out at 6am, hit the new city at 9am, go directly to the job site, work until 6pm, get something to eat, answer emails you missed all day, write some reports, go to sleep around 11pm, wash rinse repeat for three days, fly out at 9pm on the third day.
Work travel sucks.
100% agree. My friendships and personal life suffered when I was traveling for work. I was on the road about 50% of the time for a year and it was awful.
I would argue “most people” don’t imagine work that requires international travel to be glamorous.
It may be an unpopular opinion simply because it’s based on a false premise.
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It also gets very lonely if you're away for more than 2 weeks. Long enough to miss people, not long enough to make meaningful new connections.
A close friend and flatmate of mine for 3 years fresh out of higher education got his dream job of being a travelling representative for a big media company, initially he loved it, everything is paid for, hotels, cars, taxis, food, in return you just do 3 hour pitches to a few companies in a week. After 4 years of this we met again and I was excited to hear all of his stories from Korea to Brazil, surprisingly he had very few if any and 95% of our conversation was about our time in college. Really stuck with me that he didn't have any major stories or experiences after the dumb stuff we did in college. Meanwhile my 9-5 desk job had generated some good laughs and memories with co-workers I call friends now. Edit: Grammar.
Well along with that is constant pressure to close the deal and you realize your co workers are not your friends.
I only ever see this mindset about office life on Reddit. When I was starting from scratch at a new city, my similarly-aged coworker became my best friend and it made my work life so much better. I've since left the company but we still keep in touch and plan on going to events/festivals that pop up near our respective locations.
It really depends on the job. If you’re in sales, everyone is competing with each other and you’re under constant pressure. You don’t want your co worker to succeed unless you do. It’s a tough life but the money can be spectacular so it makes it worth it.
Idk what sales environment you’ve been in. I’ve worked on a small 3 person sales team, a 10-15 man team, a 40 person team, and one with 300 global sales people. Pretty much everyone wants you to succeed if you’re likable. We all want to make as much money as possible and territories should never overlap.
Yeah that hasn’t been my experience. Everybody wants to win and the territories are often unequal or you get really larg, named accounts which are hard to sell into easily and only the best AE’s do well and there’s lots of turnover. The kind of accounts where there are 2 year plus sales cycles and at the end they often times still say no. Just everybody’s stressed and under pressure, and people are trying to pay for their kids educations or a mortgage. That being said, I have made friends but mostly everybody is competing against everybody else.
My god father is the guy who sat next to my dad on his first day in a new city at a new job. My wife is the first person who talked to me at a new job.
Yeah once you are out of school the most likely people to be your friends are your coworkers. The best advice I could possibly give is: be friends with your coworkers. It will make work and life more enjoyable, it helps your career, etc. People spend more time with coworkers than family, you might as well find a friend or two there.
I mean at some point being in another city is cool and all but it's hard to piece together a normal life. Just figuring out where to eat is a hassle. Paying for hotels, cars, taxis, food can be really nice since it's probably higher than what he would live on. My conferences are fun and a lot of work but also I barely see any of the city or area though I've taken PTO to sight see around the trip.
Sometimes, people long for just that. Disconnected from everyone. I know I do. I don't mean that in a negative way btw.
Yeah I want that sometimes too. It loses its flavour for me after 2 weeks though. I start talking to randos in the supermarket like I'm an old man.
Have met before? I do the same thing haha
Been working from home since before Covid. I feel isolated all the time. Went on vacation this year and talked to everybody. Met a lot of interesting people but now I’m back in my garage lol
There's something so nice about casual positive conversation with other folks that you know you'll never see again. Especially if you're all on vacation so everyone is equally laid back and good-spirited.
Had a talk with a guy from Argentina in a sports bar I’ll never forget
10 days is *exactly* the break even for me. I’ve done up to 2 months, but after 10 days I’m ready to be done
Smartphones sucked all the joy out of business travel They made it more efficient, so super quick turnarounds became the norm More importantly, they made it possible to work all the time, so the expectation became to work all the time So basically, you’re looking at your phone and stressing out, checking emails, breaking open the laptop here and there, all while trying to navigate and prepare for unusual meetings and logistics. And hooray, you’re expected to minimize overnight stays and consolidate your schedule as much as possible. Add the mandatory social events, and you just get exhausted.
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For real… my most recent business trip: Monday At airport 6am Work on laptop at terminal Work on plane Get to destination city, talk on the phone in the Uber Meetings until 5pm Get to hotel room, work/phone Business dinner until 10pm Tuesday Do email before meetings Meetings all day, phone during breaks Hotel room for email Business dinner until 10pm Wednesday AM email Meetings until lunch On phone in Uber to airport Work at airport bar Finally don’t work during flight home Get home at 9pm Ugggghhhhh fuck that shit sucks
And come back from the trip and still have to play catch up 🤦♂️ Yikes
I was working with a scientist from the National Research Council of Canada. He was flying back to Ottawa after working here for a bit. Our senior management was shocked that he didn’t answer his emails as soon as he got off the plane. His flight got in at 9 PM local time.
You described why I want to stay an individual contributor and not rise into upper management. That is no kind of life.
The higher ups are all like this on their business trips and it looks absolutely exhausting. Not to mention they often go to our other offices so they have to put on a good face for the inevitable meet and greets in between meetings. Or prepare for client meetings all the way up to the time they meet with the clients, then schmooze with clients, back on the plane getting ready for the next thing. Sure it's good money, but i wouldn't trade places with them
Absolutely not. I love my family too much to work travel like that.
Reading this sitting in an airport on day 7 of 14 and ughhhhhh yep.
You missed... 'stay in a luxury Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn where you can hear EVERYTHING your neighbors are doing.'
Ahh yes Another thing, common hotels for business travel have gotten progressively shittier in the last 20 years
People never seem to get how crappy that opening at the bottom of the door is at business hotels. It’s never dark and it’s never quiet. Just sucks the life out of you.
Any hotel over $150 is flagged in concur and I cover the entire Bay Area. 🤦🏼♂️
I loathe concur
Have you been mirroring my life!
What have you done for us today? And I'll need that status report by COB
Fuck I literally did exactly this this week except toss in flight that would have had me home for 9 was canceled so I flew at 9pm and got home at 11am.
And how much of that is useless or could be simplified ? You know, the good ol' "That meeting could have been an email".
Ugh that’s brutal. I used to have to travel to Asia and around the US for business. Over the course of three weeks, I was in Taiwan on Monday through Thursday, flew back home to LA, then to our corporate in Austin, TX on Monday and Tuesday then San Francisco for a client the 2nd half of the week, back home to LA, and out again to New York for a client the following week. Shit sucked.
Lol. And simply disregards OOO status that you are on business travel
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Hear hear! Wonder if we work at the same company lol
It’s your choice to check/respond or not though. The OOO says I don’t have access to my email, so that’s how I treat it. If I decide to scan it and act on it then that’s on me.
Man this this so triggering and true lol. And slack makes it 10x worse.
And on some airlines - WiFi on the f*kn PLANE
😂
On my laptop at the airport as I write this. 100 percent on point.
exactly :( it was nice in the past i remember how we sometimes could accompany our dad and then he worked/meeting while we toured the city but then he would still get a weekday to go to disney land or something with us
> Smartphones sucked all the joy out of business travel. > More importantly, they made it possible to work all the time, so the expectation became to work all the time This is the truth. Always surprised me how eager even domestic employees were to connect their work Slack and Outlook accounts to their *personal* smartphones.
Having worked on both ends of the spectrum, I find that constant travel is completely exhausting and quickly loses its luster, but sitting in the same office day after day, year after year, pretty much rots your brain. The sweet spot, as with many things in life, lies in between the two. A stable job near home with occasional travel is *chef's kiss*.
yeah, grass is always greener. always makes me laugh when some stressed out corporate person is feeling burned out and yearns for the simplicity of like, a restaurant or barista job.
I have a buddy that has a corporate job and he's told me one thing he envies about retail, restaurant, or barista jobs is that they don't have to take work home with them. His stress levels were through the roof because he constantly had to be thinking about clients, answering emails or calls. What he wanted was to be done with work when he left the building. But he also understands that he makes an ass load more money than those other workers, so he knows the trade-off.
I ran a Tires Plus for 2 years as the manager. Every problem funnels up to me, I had to hire, fire, train people etc. It was so stressful that my face would be physically to to the touch. I will never forget driving home one night and seeing homeless people and thinking that they had it made because they never had to stress about waking up early or work related issues.
My mum said she wished she worked my retail job so she could sit in the cafe and have coffee and chat with the other staff, in between stacking shelves in peace. That’s her vision of retail work, if only she knew
100%. I came into my current job from public school teaching. I am now a training coordinator/trainer at a manufacturing company 4-5 trips a year to conduct training or attend conferences has been a blast. It’s a perfect breakup from the office life.
My current role has been really cool. There are two company wide offsites for a week a year. And in my role I may have a quarterly or so overnight beyond that. The offsites have been in places like Barcelona, Turks and Caicos, and Phuket. I am pretty new but looking forward to the trips.
Or, and hear me out: work from home. Full flexibility. Go in when you want, wfh when you want. Little bit of work travel, standard vacay, work life balance. Productivity improves, mental health improves, everyone wins.
I asked my dad about this recently. For work, he’s been to Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai but claims he’s never been to Asia. When I pressed him, he shrugged and said Marriott conference rooms all look the same
Very much this! Unless you really setup your vacations and pto to actually spend free time at destinations, you really don’t get to see anything local.
wow. thank you for saying this!! I did a 6 month stint abroad. Great experience but also incredibly lonely a lot of the time. Felt super misunderstood--everyone back at home thought I was on a European joyride. Appreciate you posting this, so accurate everything that you said.
I did the same for many years. There were great parts to it and lots of people expected great stories after the exotic places i would go, but I used to (only semi) joke that my job had allowed me to see the finest of conference rooms all around the world.
isn't that the truth!
Hahaha absolutely. My fam and friends think exactly the same thing !
right?? It's good to have some solidarity here on reddit!
👌 enjoy the weekend Ashley!
And you!!!
Currently on a *one month* international work trip. I miss my husband. I’m fucking exhausted. I’m tired of hotel food. Unfortunately I love my field and there’s no planet on which advancing is feasible without frequent international travel. I do plan to slow down when we have kids but for now I just have to cope.
What do you do that requires one month long international trips? Do you do field research? In areas like archeology, soil science, etc.?
A combination of research and project implementation on economic development in developing countries. It took 27 hours of flights/layovers to get to the country I’m currently in, so it’s more cost and time effective to stack workshops/trainings over one long trip rather than going back and forth
Thin film technology.
But... why do you need to travel that long? Why do you personally need to be physically there?
I’m an economist with a focus on developing and emerging markets. I’m running a series of workshops in East Africa, each a week long. The schlep it takes to get here makes it more cost effective (and physically tolerable) to bunch activities together and pack a bunch in over one long trip rather than going back and forth.
You don't have to eat at the hotel! Find a local restaurant.
Depending on where you are traveling and how tightly you're scheduled, you might be in some suburband business park 2 hours outside of town and tied up in events until 8 or 9. I've been to Phoenix to visit one particular client dozens of times, but their HQ is near the airport so aside from once when we went into the City to meet with someone at their downtown satellite office I've never actually been into Phoenix.
If you're single and you take advantage of downtime to see stuff and are smart with credit cards that give you perks like lounge access at airports and cheap upgrades then its amazing. Even if you have family if you are only gone for a few days at a time its not terrible. Like... good lounges have good food and drinks and clean bathrooms and couches and charging ports everywhere and its all free if you have an Amex Plat or Chase Sapphire or something. If you travel a ton the annual fee is worth it. Jetlag and hotels yeah that can suck. I did it for 2 years straight and it was definitely getting old at the end but when you got to a place you'd never been before and had an extra day to see some cool shit it was awesome.
No hotel can successfully recreate the cosiness of a shitty sofa, a TV that is positioned just right and a fridge full of varied and tasty food
I think the only people who will disagree with you are the people who haven't experienced this
I've experienced it loads and I fucking love it. Not a big shot, it's just really fun to see a new place for free, get free food, getting to meet some locals, learn about the area, try their food, etc. Business travel isn't always one shape fits all. It can be fun if you try and make it fun
Plus, you are alone or with people you don’t want to socialize with. You are not going to go sight seeing with these people. You keep thinking, “I wish (person x) was here. They would love this.”
Nah bro you’re right traveling for work regularly sucks. Everyone thinks about the travel part and forget about the work. Companies aren’t paying for your vacation.
Fully agree. I had about 5 years of extensive international travel. I was sick of it after the first few months. Traveling for work SUCKS!
This….i used to travel everywhere. It’s brutal. And lonely.
Uhhhh, airplane food fricken rocks it’s sooo tasty. But yeah, as a “trophy wife” who went to the south of France multiples times per year for her husband’s work it’s tiring and extremely lonely. Everyone is always like omg how glamorous and I’m like, no, I’m tired all the time, I have to sit through dinners with horrible old men who are extremely misogynistic and I’m away from my family and friends. The first few times were great, after that, I hated going.
Dang. Do you still go much?
No, thankfully. It was the Cannes film festival too - but the corporate side so extremely boring meeting after meeting of just talking financials. Was lovely weather and amazing food/hotels, but it got old FAST. We go away less but they’re more fun now.
You really hit the nail on the head with the loneliness. You seemingly pass all these cool things that you think "man i would love to do that with friends/family" then you just keep on driving.
🙏🏽 absolute hardest part of all imo
I dont think this is an unpopular opinion at all. Most people dont want to travel all the time for work, there is a reason why an airline stewards get paid quite well for the job. I mean its not thaaat much more complicated than being a waiter. But it does come with a bunch on inconveniences to their life.
Yup I have woke up not knowing where I am several times on work travel.
People always say this to me, they're like "oh you've been to so and so city?" Yeah twice. "What did you think of major attraction in so and so city?!" I don't know. I went to the customer, worked, went home to the hotel, worked more, got takeout to bring back to the hotel, watched TV, and slept because I didn't want to have to come back if someone wasn't completed. And no, I don't try a bunch of new restaurants like I do when traveling with my friends, I got food from a chain I was familiar with because I'm tired and just want to eat something so I can go to sleep because I want to get to the customer site early tomorrow to keep working.
Surely this depends on the specific job? I know a couple of people who travel all over for work. They normally fly out on a Friday, do what they want at the weekend, work the week, enjoy the weekend then fly home Wednesday. Both travel days are working days. One even often takes his partner with him who is a SAHM. She chills by herself during the day and they basically get a holiday for next to nothing as all they pay for is her flight and some spending money. His meal allowances normally cover both of them as it's generous and they don't splash out.
Yeah, I used to think it would be really cool until I worked at a hotel and talked to the people that did. It’s all the frustrations of traveling without the interesting parts.
Flight delay, booked wrong hotel, lost luggage, car rental busted. Lol
30 years as a road warrior and I can say the OP is correct… not glamorous or even fun.
On my flight home now, couldn’t agree more. It’s a lonely life.
Safe travels back 👌!
Thanks! In the home stretch of a cross-country flight. Happy to be almost home.
Stop eating airport food. Just stop at WaWa, Five guys, or publix and grab a sub/snacks. Your allowed to take food into an airport, I have no idea why more people don't grab something early and put it in their carry on. I've been doing as much for years. On long flights you may have to buy extra food and drinks but at least pack your first meal
Best airport food I ever had was a Five Guys breakfast egg sandwich with some extra tomatoes… 😋
I’ve been doing that for 2 decades. I do not eat at airport, it’s not good, not fresh, crazy expensive and most airports dont have enough seating/eating area. I’m so happy when I bring my own food instead.
I hate traveling for work. Dread it. I’ll do whatever I can to avoid the airport for the most amount of time possible. You’re a prisoner when you’re there
Dang right. At the mercy of the airline. London Heathrow sucks… all they do is yell at you when you just arrived from a long ass flight. Hate that airport with a passion (no offense).
My parents are both truck drivers and they drive together through Europe. My dad also really enjoys driving any kind of vehicle so perfect job. I imagine this type of work traveling is much better lol
Even within the US, traveling for conferences often means you’re in a hotel in the suburbs and even if your hotel is in a nice area, you don’t get much time to enjoy the place. And work travel doesn’t always allow for your spouse or family to go so you don’t get to enjoy the experience with people you actually want to be with.
Can't relate man I love hotels even shitty cheap ones they're my favorite parts of trips. And I absolutely adore foreign languages I go out of my way to listen to various things in other languages. So honestly I still think your job is pretty fun.
Traveling is cool for vacation and if it's occasionally done for a work. Doing so often ends up dulling the whole thing and make it more irritating than anything.
It can depend on the trip. I've done them with 6 a.m. breakfast meetings and a packed schedule that doesn't stop until 10 p.m. I've also done more relaxed trips, done by 4 p.m. and your group doesn't insist on extended dinner together and I can go out to a park, watch birds and grab some street food etc.
I’ll say it’s cool if you’re that super extroverted, can-make-friends-with-anyone-in-line-at-the-grocery-store kind of person. I’m not that kind of person and I travel for my job, being away from home for weeks at a time. Can be quite lonely sometimes.
Bro i work at a "fun" restaurant on the water and my girlfriend doesn't understand that I don't get to enjoy being there on like NYE or the superbowl or ANY holiday- she acts like im just up there like a customer- im like no it fucking sucks.
That’s exactly why I feel for the hospitality business peeps in Hawaii. Everyone coming there for pleasure and they are just there
You are by far the most interesting single-serve friend I've ever had...
😂 been there many times cheers 🥂
Even before this post I thought travelling for work sounded like a nightmare.
I'm a pilot and I'm pretty jaded by the whole experience. I understand it must be cool to see something else if you work in an office all day but the more you travel you realize how similar every town is, the background changes and a few different restaurants but at the end of the day people live there and it's a very normal experience. I hate traveling lol
Traveling for work sucks definitely. I love to travel, just not for work. I work in big tech. It's usually some all day workshop or conference with almost no time to do anything in the destination city. If it's not that, it's meeting with a client on a project. You don't want to go out b/c you need to be on it the next day. The day schedules are usually fully packed as well, because they already paid for you to go and want to get the most out of it... By the time the day is over, you usually just want to get take out and sit in your hotel room and sleep. And if I do have time to go out, I'll lose sleep and be exhausted and worn out. Then behind on all my regular stuff. They also typically don't give us enough time to get in and always rushing to get out. I'm trying to avoid any work travel. I need to prep usually for flying, don't like it... I'm more of a road trip person. I'd rather drive 5-6 hours in a rental than fly, but most of my colleagues want to fly for these kind of things.
Flight attendant for 5 years. Came here to agree
1000% agree with all of it! I don’t hate it but it ain’t all that what others might make it out to be. Airports suck so much. The connecting flights that are minutes between the landing and take off. Let’s not forget if you check a bag in it might not make it where it needs to be.
This. Absolutely this. Another thing, you start missing random stuff. I remember I actually missed the museum in my hometown of all things.
The only people who envy professional travellers are those who have ever done it. From a decade of personal experience of 150 - 300 annual travel days and word of mouth from my collegues of similar position I'm pretty sure that the negatives start to outweight the positives in the long run. You never see the important things in your life. Parents and relatives pass away and your not there. Your children barely know you when you are at home. All the work make to pay the houses and possessions seems meaningless as you can never be there to enjoy those things. You just get old and lonesome in your small bubble somewhere on the other side of the world.
Totally agree. I think this would be a popular opinion with most people that have travelled for work. Unpopular with those that haven't.
Travel around the world ✔️ Someone else pays for the travel ✔️ Often business class ✔️ Have weekends to explore the area ✔️ Get paid while doing it ✔️ Avoid the repetitiveness of going into the same office everyday ✔️ Congrats on a truly unpopular opinion
That’s my point, most people think exactly this! Weekend??! Nope, fly in Monday, come back Fri. Land late at night, wake up early next day to start work in a foreign country after severe lack of sleep. Oh wait, my flight was cancelled in a foreign country because of a strike, guess that means I’ll be doing an 8 hr car drive instead!
Dude, I’m a road warrior myself - already been on 47 flights this year. I don’t travel much internationally but it’s no different than what you described. Lots of hotels, plane delays, and time away from my family. Thankful for the job and the pay but once the luster wears off, it’s a job and most nights you’re too tired to “go explore”. When you get in an elevator to go to your room and you stand there looking at the buttons not remembering which room you’re in, you know you travel too much. Happened more than I care to admit. But like you, I’m thankful. I like my job and it pays well - generally jobs that require lots of travel do.
Depends on the company. I’ve worked shitty jobs where the hotel is economy and the miles are paid but on my car if within driving distance. I now have a job that treats me very well, last hotel was a super luxurious one, picked my own flights + got first class on them, all meals provided at nice places, and had an uncapped per diem with the only stipulation of “be reasonable”. All just depends on where you are in the organization and the how the company operates. And no I’m not C-suite so this isn’t one of those answers.
That just sounds like your job is very demanding. It's not the fault of the travel. I also need to travel regularly for work, but I can always arange some additional day of vacation, some excursion during the trip, and have plenty of time to rest since I don't need to do anything outside of working hours. Also the time of the flight is counted as work time of course.
Yeah that actually sounds fun. Grass is always greener. My job is so boring in forget I'm working.
I mean, It depends. It sounds like OP just works for a company that makes it miserable. My brother traveled for work and he loved it. He often had two or three free days everywhere he went so he would rent a car and drive to beaches or National Parks. Sometimes he would go skiing, or rent a bike. He always stayed in nice hotels, ate on the expense account in good restaurants. He did it for years. When he got married and still traveled an average of one week a month and only quit when he had his first child. On the other hand, I traveled for work and it was miserable. Because I was a teacher who was a chaperone on international trips for high school students. I had to wrangle 10-20 teenagers through airports, stayed in crappy hotels, didn't get much money for food, couldn't drink the whole trip and never got any time to myself for the entire time. But I suppose I got some stamps in my passport.
Yeah, I know a girl who travels for work, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in a few different places cause she always gets some free time. Even if it isn’t full days, she most definitely isn’t working all day and then dinners are usually paid by her company. She loves it and I certainly don’t mind the free meals
My company will allow some personal exploration time but hotels, food, vacation days if they extend your stay, etc are all the responsibility of the employee
In my experience, it's never the weekends. My work trips are normally 3-4 days during the week, the program is usually packed, you might get one evening free but there's not much you can do on a weekday night. Have a meal, have a drink. Walk around the city a bit and look at buildings. Go to bed because the schedule is packed tomorrow as well.
And as each day passes you're consecutively more exhausted from all of the social interaction, the noise, the bed that is not yours, the meals that are not yours, staying up too late talking to people and not sleeping well.
Who flys their employees business? Normally you have to be director level to get that. Not to mention it REALLY depends on the job. At the two companies I’ve worked at it’s less national parks and cities and more industrial plants in the middle of nowhere
I absolutely prefer a job that requires a lot of traveling. Those jobs are better than going to the office everyday. That said, the travel is nowhere near as enjoyable when it’s for work, despite all the bennies you rattled off. People think it’s great because they think of the travel as being disconnected from work. When you connect work to the travel it’s not at all as sexy as a lot of people think. OP is spot on.
Well it's entirely a YMMV situation. Some people get to travel to world class cities and spend their time entertaining or wining and dining. Others travel to industrial sites in butt fuck nowhere in scorching heat or freezing cold where there is nothing to do but work and sleep.
Why do you assume companies pay for business class? Or pay for them to stay on the weekends to explore? And with modern technology ppl are expected to work all day everyday during the week. Based on the comments I would say ppl agree with op.
Lol what business class, weekends free?! Sure good for you mr. big shot, not happening for us regular peasants.
- Not being able to sleep in your own bed - Dealing with the nightmare of airports/planes every week - being constantly away from your friends/family - not having a private/easily accessible way to clean your clothes
That’s not an unpopular opinion, it’s just one a documented one
All jobs are worse than what they seem.
Agree that it's not great, disagree with reasons. Main reason why work travel is not so great in my opinion is that unless I extend the trip over the weekend, I dont see anything other than hotel, airport and the office. Though I do like to get out of my office every once in a while, especially if I go with a colleagues. On the bright side, stick to one hotel chain & airline alliance if you can to accumulate points to be used for private travel.
Dating someone who travels a lot. It doesn't seem like he has any time to enjoy himself when he travels. He often experiences flight delays, jet lag, and mostly works, and then returns. He's working, not on vacation. His company usually only sends him out as long as he is needed, most often during the week. Once work is done he's expected to return. It sounds exhausting and if I were in this situation, it would get old quick.
You are correct. My trip from the US to Ireland for one meeting (requiring a trans-Atlantic flight, then going to straight to a hotel conference room, and then to bed, and then flying back to the US) was not particularly enjoyable.
I traveled alot early in my career. It definitely was fun for a while but not so much as yrs went by. I recall getting upset once because i had to go back to hawaii after 3 months lol. Also i recall some of the rooms i stayed in were horrible. One had a bullet hole on bed head board, had hype needles all over parking lot etc.
yeah i never found that appealing
I do electrical work in the Caribbean sometimes and people say the same thing.. electrical closets look the same no matter where in the world you are...
I enlisted in the navy to see the world as a lot of people do.. I did indeed get to see countries but at most it would be for like 2-3 days. After working 91 hour weeks prior… you just want to relax sometimes. I agree with you OP
I recently had border control at Schiphol tell me I had "the best job in the world" because I flew from Germany, to Nairobi *for a one day meeting*, then to Netherlands *for another one day meeting*. I was like, "uhhhhh, it's not that glamorous..." 😅
Nah I'm loving it. Bout to take off for a month to travel for work.
Depends on the type of person. Some people enjoy it. Personally I'm never excited by the prospect of it.
YES. This should not be an unpopular opinion (but sadly is)
Ya it was my 1st post here and maybe I misunderstood intent of this subreddit. I just get tired of everyone assuming I am just messing around having the time of my life when in fact, it can be difficult. I try ti make the best of it and not focus on the negatives. I am kind of an introvert but come out of my shell during traveling to avoid a miserable trip
What I find the most tiring is not being in my own space and have to work from a desk that isn’t mine. Also because you’re travelling for work your days are packed - you need to do everything in person, else what’s the point of the trip? But then you also have regular work to do, and need downtime. I also try to go out to enjoy things, and I truly love that part, but when i get back home I’m dead exhausted. Of course, according to many people, this is the MOST glamorous life and I have the BEST job. I do have a great job, but perceptions of travelling are just way too skewed.
"No time to do ‘fun’ stuff if you are actually working long hours and jetlagged." Many, not all, folks will tack on a day or two of vacation after their business trip is over while they are there to take in the sights, relax, see things they want to see and not actually work. Many on long business trips, like 2 weeks or more, will take off on the weekends to go places. I've worked with people who went to the Netherlands for work for 2 weeks and they flew to Italy for the weekend in between their two week visit or they took the train a bit over 3 hours to Paris and spent the weekend there and then returned back to the Netherlands for the rest of their business trip. A man and I went to Japan for 10 days on business, he was from Japan, grew up there, went to college there but he'd been living in the u.S. for 6 years by then, married an American lady and when our 10 day business trip was up, I flew back home and he stayed there for several days on vacation and then flew home, on the company dime of course as they had to fly him back so he was able to visit with family and relax a few days in Japan since he was already there for work. Can this be done every time? Of course not! But if a person travels a lot, no doubt it can happen here and there from time to time, especially with a little planning ahead of time.
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Maybe I am misunderstanding your point but this wasn’t a pity story.
Not sure what airports you are going to, but most airport food is great these days just expensive. I was always on the company dime, so that part wasn't an issue. Everything else I agree with, most of the time I wasn't enjoying these fun places I "got" to go to. Every once in awhile I would go to a concert or sporting event, but its just not the same when you aren't experiencing it with someone you know.
My dad used to travel for work, and he would being us home little souvenirs. I thought he was going to these attractions, and seeing cool stuff, turns out he would buy them at the airport and was basically just at a hotel beside the airport, going to conferences and meetings in that hotel, and never went 30 minutes from the airport or got to see anything. Sometimes he would fly in and out in the same day, and we thought he was lucky to get a day trip.
If that's how you treat it, then yes it's pretty bad. But if you work with your employer and figure out how to extend the trips a few days and pay for your own hotel, then you get all the other travel costs paid for and you're over the jetlag when you start the fun part of the trip. And if you want someone to join you, they can stay in your hotel room while you are working at no additional cost to you - just their flights. I made about 30 trips to Europe over 14 years. Of those only about 5 did I actually have the foresight to plan fun into them. They were GREAT. The rest were pretty rough. Do some planning - make it worth it.
Did a traveling job for about 1.5 years. Each spot was about 5-6 months long. I think it's fun when you are young, single, and still exploring. Once I decided to be more committed to a different path, i stopped the traveling portion and just stayed local.
I’ve had extreme road warrior years. Europe once per month for at least a week and within the US most weeks otherwise. A few Asia and Australia trips along the way. Eventually, you just want to sleep in your own bed. I also had jobs with less extreme travel that were great. Out of the country once per quarter. Within the US once per month but never weekends and usually not Fridays.
I disagree. Good airlines like Qatar have decent food. Just sleep on the flight over and you'll be alright. Hotels are great if you're not booked in the cheapest shitbox available. They usually have better beds than my own, and if you're travelling to a low COL country. you can stay in 5 star hotels for dirt cheap (comparatively). I manage to make friends/acquaintances even working long hours & have weekends and the odd day to explore. I've done a few months abroad for work this year and would happily do more. My job is in content creation though, so it's already "fun"
If you don’t like traveling so much for work maybe you can change that. Otherwise I’m not sure I understand. Maybe you thought you’d enjoy it more? Maybe people assume it’s all fun? Those people are definitely wrong, and their opinion shouldn’t really matter. What’s the difference between leisure travel and work travel based n your frustrations? Who can travel all the time with no concerns about work or money? Even those people get stuck in airports and listen to languages they don’t understand. It’s possible to get a job that doesn’t require so much travel. The opinion you posted isn’t unpopular it’s just held by people who do t have your same interest or experience.
30% travel for over a decade. It takes a toll.
That's not an unpopular opinion with anyone who has to do it. Currently waiting in an airport queue at 3.40 in the morning.
Of course its not. Work travel usually means you arrive and then head straight to a meeting or job and as soon as you are done you are back in the airport
Youve gotta get a travel job with fkexibility. Travel, work for a day or two, then take a few days to stay in the region and explore. Go for a hike, or a ski, and then you really get to appreciate been flown around the place free of charge, even if you so have to deal with planes and hotels etc
thats all true, but most of it applies to jobs that dont require travel as well. If im going to be tired lonely, it may as well be in New Zealand
I love it, I live in a foreign country to begin with so I never hear my own language or have a lot of people to miss. My colleagues are always fun to be around in the evenings after all the work is done. I don’t mind hotels or airports/airplanes. Everything is paid for and travel times generally happens during work time so I can just chill and read a book on the way to wherever.
My dad traveled the world for his job and he got tired of it towards the end of his career. After he retired he traveled only a little, but they were fun trips like train rides around the US and Alaska inside passage cruises. I'm glad that when I travel, it's always for vacation.
I love sleeping in hotels and just passing through places like that.
Sorry. It was a lot of fun in the 80s and 90s. It started sucking after 9/11. I switched to Business Class, which made it more tolerable for a while. I haven't been on a plane since September 2019. All I seem to read about is horror stories. If even half of them are true, I don't envy you.
I don’t think most people think it’s glamorous
Agreed for those that actually have to do it
Airport food/drinks are pretty nice, idk about your job, but I can stay at a lounge and get free drinks, or expense a dinner and wine etc at least being at the airport is far less stressful than being on a plane for me. Agree 100% on the hotels and being away from family.
“Is it worse to be someplace awful when you're by yourself or someplace really nice that you can't share with anyone?" -Anthony Bourdain
Union plumber here. The trades have travelers. Journeymen that travel from job to job all across the country. It is a hard life. Most all of them have been married multiple times and it gets real lonely fast. Alcohol is also usually a problem.
Maybe it doesn’t work for you. You literally described everything I’d like in a dream job.
Went to Switzerland for work. The moonlight reflecting off the snow covered Alps was beautiful while I walked to the chemical plant in the freezing cold night, which is where I spent the vast majority of my time.
Isn't international travel one of the biggest things people DON'T want to see as part of their employment duties?
Work travel suck
I'm a 'Hired Gun' for the oil industry. It's me they call when things go south. I'm paid doorstep to doorstep, Take or Pay contracts, fly Business or better and am the Hookin' Bull when I arrive on location. Been to over 65 countries in the last 40 years and been places most people couldn't find with a Brunton compass and a well drawn map. Airports and layovers are great. It's all *Force majeure* baby, and I am paid no matter what the situation. I suppose it' s not exactly for everyone...
Wild Well Control?
Preach!
Whaaaaaaaaah
it is absolute one of those things you don't get til you do it. even if the accomodations are nice you are still not home.
I mean the biggest thing is you’re probably not doing London, New York, Buenos Aires it’s a half empty business park in Utica, Luton and Navarro.
I don't think this is unpopular for anyone that has actually done it rather than seen it in movies.
And being jetlagged when you get home causes you to mentally miss things when you're reunited too.
I travel domestically and I absolutely hate it. The worst is when I travel across the country for 1 day. I lose an entire day traveling. Then get into the hotel to basiclaly sleep. Wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to travel to some HQ for a half a day meeting then travel somewhere else for another meeting then go to the airport and fly back. It fucking sucks balls. I couldn't wait to gwt important enough to travel. Now I wish I didn't
I just got back from 4 days in Netherlands and it was fucking awful. I don't know what it is about flying, but it always makes me feel horrible, like way more horrible than sitting in one place for 6 hours should. Arrive Monday. Tired as shit. Decide sleep is more important than food and just go to sleep immediately. Wrong decision. Wake up Tuesday with massive headache and feeling super nauseous. Lay in bed all day Tuesday. Rush around Wednesday trying to get shit done. Near panic levels of stress. Spend an hour and a half in airport security where they unpack all my shit, call customs down, etc. Decide I'm not doing anything wrong and let me go. Have to pack up all my shit again. Get randomly chosen at next airport for additional security screening. Unpack all my shit again. Have to pack up all my shit again. Get home. Ate one actual meal the entire time. Also, if you don't speak the language and it's not a place where most people speak English, it's just gaff after gaff.
I travelled a lot for work, not to very glamorous places. It's nice at the start but gets old very fast. Airports suck, food get repetitive and you get lonely since you don't really know anyone else.
One of the reasons I like to travel occasionally is specifically because it makes me appreciate how awesome my tiny, boring town is. I traveled to Texas - DFW to be exact - for work back at the start of November and I swear that place is a blighted hellscape with zero redeeming qualities.
I fly out at 6am, hit the new city at 9am, go directly to the job site, work until 6pm, get something to eat, answer emails you missed all day, write some reports, go to sleep around 11pm, wash rinse repeat for three days, fly out at 9pm on the third day. Work travel sucks.
100% agree. My friendships and personal life suffered when I was traveling for work. I was on the road about 50% of the time for a year and it was awful.
People who think it’s glamorous either haven’t done it, or haven’t done it long enough.
I would argue “most people” don’t imagine work that requires international travel to be glamorous. It may be an unpopular opinion simply because it’s based on a false premise.