Between 2012 and early 2020, my job as an entertainment photo editor put me on the road quite a bit. I worked award shows, concerts, and other special events across the United States. Most of my assignments were in my adopted home metro area of Los Angeles. But I worked dozens of shows in Las Vegas, a few in Dallas, a couple in Minneapolis, some events in New York City, and other cities. (Some of my colleagues work fancy gigs in France and Italy!)
I didn’t travel every week like some of this blog’s readers. But I worked out-of-town gigs about 8-10 times a year.
I love airports, planes, hotels, and visiting different cities. Combining that with a job I enjoy — and spending time with some dear colleagues — was a lot of fun. (“Going to camp” is a term I once heard someone apply to business trips.)
Then COVID-19 hit. Like many people, I was out of work for a long time. When my photo editing work resumed, most of the workflow could be accomplished remotely.
Adjusting
I’ve been on just three business trips for that client in the past three and a half years. All of them were to Las Vegas (a city I love and have been to probably 60 times).
But in the old days, we’d hit four cities in 10 days during some tours. And I loved it.
One upside to remote working is that I can do it anywhere. But I don’t necessarily want to work when I’m supposed to relax or enjoy vacation time.
I still travel for blog-related work. Taking inaugural flights, traveling somewhere to review a lounge, or using hotel stays in Vegas or Minneapolis as excuses to try credit benefits are fun. Most of those trips are very fast (usually two nights at the most, often just one night, even if it’s coast-to-coast).
But I’m usually alone on those trips and they’re on my own company’s dime or miles. (Admit it: it’s more fun traveling when someone else is footing the bill!)
Don’t get me wrong: I love many aspects of remote working. I can edit from anywhere. My home office setup is almost perfect (and I don’t have to worry about whether or not there will be catering!).
Sure, I can work from anywhere with an internet connection and electricity. But I don’t like taking leisure trips and then having to work (although I’m almost always working with the blog). One of my clients assigns me to live events — and the pictures need to go out right away. I don’t want to be in Europe and get up at 3:00 AM to start an eight-hour job that’s getting underway at a normal time back in the United States.
At Least I’m Home a Lot and That’s Good — Right?
For the first two years of business travel, I was sick to my stomach the day before and the first day of a trip. Chalk it up to nerves. Then my daughter was born. Leaving her and my wife was awful. (I once cried in my car in front of her daycare for 15 minutes after dropping her off on the way to the airport.)
Now?
A huge benefit of not traveling for business is that I’m home with my family.
That’s awesome, right?
Well, a major downfall of not traveling for business is that I’m home with my family.
I say that jokingly — but they feel the same way. There are various versions of a saying that’s something like “I can’t miss you if you don’t leave.” We love each other, of course, but a few days away is a good thing.
The times I’m away are great opportunities for my wife and daughter to do girls stuff — going out to fun lunches, seeing a movie, and “not telling Dad we ate ice cream in bed.” Likewise, when my wife goes out of town to visit friends or family, my daughter and I have a great time bonding: going out to fun lunches, seeing a movie, and “not telling Mom we ate ice cream in bed.” 🙂
Missing My Places and Favorite Things
When I travel(ed) for that photo client, I often have some downtime to do something fun. Unless I’m exhausted or have pressing commitments to other work, I rarely spend time in my hotel rooms. (Even when I need to blog or do something else, I often try to visit a local coffee shop or even sit in the hotel lobby, just to get out.)
I love walking whenever I travel. It’s such a great way to see a city. (Assuming the area is safe, of course.) I miss walking to breakfast, lunch, or even work.
Another thing I miss: visiting “my places” in various cities. A visit (or three) to Ess-a-Bagel and Joe’s Pizza in Manhattan are musts. Della’s Kitchen at then-Delano (now W) Las Vegas (before Della’s food quality became meh.) Drinks at MGM Grand’s Whiskey Down (shout out to Jess, one of the world’s great bartenders, whom we miss seeing). The Omni Dallas’ bar. Lunch at Sonny Bryan’s on Market in downtown Dallas (may it rest in peace).
I found that business trips are great ways to learn more about your colleagues. (For better — and worse, in rare instances.) I’d invite people to join me on a walk, for a meal, or for drinks after work. We’d chat about family, growing up, movies, whatever. I think that’s what I miss the most. Some of our favorite stories involve late nights on business trips when we witnessed something crazy or had an especially good time. People seem to open up more during roadtrips.
For people whose business travel was slashed, what do you miss? Or if your work wasn’t affected or bounced back, what are your favorite parts of business travel? Please share in the below Comments section!
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I miss meeting my friends in another city for a weekend or popping over to their homes for the weekend.
I miss regular NYC trips on expense account.
I miss the highest status with all the main airline and hotel programs (especially back in the SPG days) and the real perks that came with them.
I miss having so many miles that I could take my extended family in business class to Asia or Europe often.
I miss flying Delta circa 2016-2017. I think Delta was at its absolute best, domestically and internationally, around that time. While the Sky Clubs weren’t the greatest, they weren’t overcrowded and you could get newspapers. And back then, most or all of the legacy Northwest lounges had self-serve bars. Of course, upgrades were also easier to get.
I miss being proud of being a Delta fan boy and I really miss SkyMiles having value! 🙁
Pre-pandenic, I might attend 5 or 6 industry conferences annually. But now the virtual conference rules and I miss going to cities that I would not otherwise visit. While I would not go to Las Vegas on my own dime, I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in such an iconic place.
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I also work remotely and find that really works best for me in my well equipped home office. But in recent years I’ve made a point to take more bleisure trips. It’s enjoyable (even if working in a hotel lobby or a coffee shop is not optimal) but not the same as setting off to a place would never choose to go – like Oklahoma City – only to be surprised and delighted that the city had so much to offer.
I really question the point of trade shows. All that money and for what? With the exception of high-value customers or prospectives that you need to wine and dine for a big sale or contract, the vast majority of the glad-handing at trade shows could be done virtually. I have friends in business development and client services who before the pandemic just just fly to the West Coast to take someone out to dinner. Those days have ended.
I agree with you on trade shows in major industries. Hard to justify the spend.
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I work in a niche area of the financial sector and our conferences are small and focused on education. As CPAs we need the continuing education for licensure and to keep updated on new developments, and have the opportunity to connect with experts in our field.
I miss the ability to explore new cities and to get to know the local team working on my construction projects. I miss the opportunity to sit in FC on DL and make some new aquaintances and even a few life long friends (with whom I did mileage runs to foreign countries). I don’t miss getting sick from flying!
Interesting that I just had this conversation with my kids last night at dinner table. They asked if I missed traveling a lot for work. My answer was mixed. When I was younger, traveling for work was glamorous. Flying business class around the world, staying in fantastic hotels and eating in great restaurants. That was great at that time but I don’t miss it at all nowadays. The thing I miss was that because of my job, I was always visiting different places that I would not visit myself during my family vacation so that is a piece I miss. The other thing that I don’t miss is being out of home for so long. I missed my kids growing, missed some events in their lives that will never come back. Yes, I had to travel because of my jobs and those jobs helped me to get them a great education and a great lifestyle but it came at a cost that I would probably not repeat again.
That’s where I’m fortunate. I’m freelance so I can turn down jobs if there’s something important (school event, recital, birthday, etc.). But turning down jobs = no money. Multi-day events plus travel days plus per diem adds up, so turning them down also had its downfalls. Like I said in the post, I’d be out on the road for 8-10 times a year, which is almost perfect. And most of those were 3-4 days a shot, with a few exceptions. Also to your point, some of us would remark, “Would we make the time, effort, and budget to visit (whatever city we were in at the time) if we weren’t here on work?” The answer was usually “Probably not.” But with the rare exception, we enjoyed each city we visited. (Although a lot of people I know HATE Vegas.)