Are you a road warrior? Chances are if you are in Account Services within the agency world, you are going to have to be on the road at some point in time. One creamer and sugar at a time on your plane, strange hotel rooms that always have something quirky about them, high priced EVERYTHING, and never enough sleep. Trust me, I know how it is.
For some reason or another, I used to enjoy the “thrill” of being a road warrior: exploring new cities, indulging in delectable restaurants, meeting new people, and of course, all of the perks that come with travel – airline miles, free hotel rooms and upgrades, no lines for anything, etc. Think George Clooney in Up in the Air (which may be the story of my life).
After flying close to 150,000 miles last year though, the glamour of traveling has faded away; the reality of overbooked flights, sleeping in foreign beds, intrusive security pat downs, and travel size toiletries became my norm. If I can’t carry it in my luggage, I don’t want it. If it is more than 3.4 oz., I can’t carry it on. If it won’t fit into an overhead compartment, I am not buying it.
A road warrior doesn’t live the same life as normal folks. I constantly have people asking me where I am and when I am coming back. If I travel to a client for the week, that means I need to spend my weekends running normal errands like doing dry cleaning, getting haircuts, washing my car, shopping, etc. This leaves hardly any time for family and friends, let alone having a social life.
A real road warrior learns how to adjust though. The road warrior I am talking about knows how to get through security lines in 30 seconds by dropping their shoes on the ground with one hand and putting them on while shoving their laptop in their bag with their other hand; and then is putting their belt on while running to the gate and grabbing their boarding passes out of their pocket. We never check our bags either. I would rather lose my 5oz. shampoo that cost me $12 than going through the hassle of checking a bag. This road warrior also embraces the sporadic long lines at the airport because it means they can send a couple more emails on his Blackberry. We don’t care about fancy sheets and pillows in our hotels because we know to throw them off the bed the second we walk in the room. We don’t even take connecting flights unless we HAVE to.
I’ve learned a couple of other things along the way. Now set your ADHD aside for a second, and focus in:
- Always travel with comfortable clothes. You can’t predict that last minute request for some seemingly never ending power point presentation that strands you at your hotel room desk. Comfy clothes always make it better.
- Being that your body will begin to freakishly learn how to sleep more sitting up that lying down, make sure you get all the shut eye you can while traveling. You can’t be at your best with the client when you are walking around looking like a zombie.
- Patience is power. Road warriors don’t complain about traffic jams, flight delays, or having to put their bag in an overhead above seat 22F – even though they are sitting in seat 5A. Build extra time into your travel plans to counter these delays.
- Take advantage of the perks. Make sure you sign up for any and all rewards programs you possibly can. You can’t beat being upgraded to first class and moving up to a suite while traveling, and these perks definitely are usable when traveling for personal reasons as well. Build up those miles to plan that fun summer vacation down to Disney with the fam, or that romantic getaway with your significant other.
