Survival Tip #1

Packing Heavy vs. Packing Light

Being away from home sucks. You miss your family, your friends, and not matter how much you can't stand your obese, constantly shedding, non-grooming, homeless-smelling cat, you are gonna miss her too... A LOT.

I know many traveling professionals who subscribe to the pack light, only take carry-on luggage theory. I'm not one of those people. The people who pack light do get out of the airport a few minutes quicker and have less horror stories about lost luggage, but the trade off is the loss of simple little comforts that cannot be underestimated when you are on the road all the time. 

This doesn't happen to everyone, but I've seen lots of traveling professionals get to the end of the day and need something to do. Because they packed so light, they have nothing waiting to keep them busy back in their hotel room. Often, the only thing waiting for them back in the hotel room is the part where they can't avoid facing the lonely, boring hours where they just sit there and wait for the next morning. So, many times the best solution seems to be ... the bar.

Rule #1 to Surviving The Road: Stay out of the goddamn bar. 

You are in a strange hotel, in a strange town and your solution to feeling lonely is to enter a space filled with other lonely strangers who, like you, are too afraid to go sit in their hotel room and be alone? 

DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! DANGER! 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!  Everyone in that room will be lonely, tired and tilting with weakness... getting your swerve on is not going to help you with this. Stay out of the goddamn bar. Here be dragons! You will find nothing there that is going to fix you. 

While I do feel pretty comfortable in saying that I have no doubt my Rule is pretty universally beneficial to everyone who is not employed as a hotel bartender or wait person, my solution is just my way of responding. Mileage may vary.

Martin Backpacker Guitar

When I pack, I pack heavy... heavy enough that the lady at the airline counter at my local airport now makes jokes about my luggage when I check in. The reason my bags are heavy is because in addition to my clothes and the things I need for work, I make sure to bring along stuff to keep me busy and entertained  in the evening. It is far better to bring along things that will help you stave off the dark hours than to try and stare them down in the bar. It is important to bring a variety of options. Some nights, after teaching all day, all I want to do is read. Sometimes, I'm too tired to read and need to watch a movie or just kill the lights chill out to some Miles. And if you play an instrument, find a way to bring it with you if you can. There is nothing that makes the day melt away like a few hours of just sitting there playing guitar. 

Getting Started - An Introduction To This Blog...

I've been home for almost two weeks. That is a very rare thing... and it's awesome. I've actually almost unpacked... but sometime tomorrow I'll be packing again because I am heading back out again in a few days. It's a drag being away from my family... but I'm not sure how I'd be able to do what I do if I didn't. It is not an easy way to live... not easy for me, for my wife, or my daughter. But, there are good parts and it definitely has moments that make it all seem worth it.

In my other blog, I write and podcast about people and how they manage their work. This blog is not like that. This blog is not about other people. This blog is about travel... or rather, how I go about surviving the travel. I'm by no means an expert at this, but I've been on the road for the past ten years, so maybe there is some good stuff I can share. Maybe people will read this, maybe they won't. Either is ok. I'd just like to have a place to start putting all this down. If you happen to find this blog, and find anything in there that helps, or pisses you off, please post a comment...I'd love to know.

I'd also like to just put in a disclaimer up front... the intention of this blog is to have a place to put down what I've learned and observed about tolerating (and sometimes even enjoying) the travel. There will be inappropriate language, metaphors that make no sense, extensive references to stupid stuff that only makes sense in my head and (hopefully) no editorial review... at least not until my wife finds it and tells me to reel it in a bit.