Tuesday's Traveler - A week at the office

Here goes...my first post of my new series!  I'm so excited and I hope y'all join along each week to read my stories, tips, and other stuff that revolves around traveling and living on the road 125 days a year.

This week is going to be kind of serious, but only because it's 11:18 pm Central Standard Time, which is the current time zone I'm in because, once again, I'm on the road!  And I have to get up at 6 am (which my body tells me is really 4 am) to get ready for the day.  I didn't really have time to prepare a topic this week, so I went with what I'm "dealing" with right now.

I travel to "headquarters" (HQ - aka, main offices) a couple times a year.  Now for those of you that don't know me personally, HQ is located 30 minutes from where I grew up and was living prior to becoming a SoCal gal.  That means I have friends in the area that I don't get to see very often.  But here's the kicker, I never know what my week in the Gulf Coast is going to entail, so I can never make plans to see people I haven't seen in 3 years.  It kind of stinks.  Rant alert:  But at the same time, I don't really talk to these people that often (via email, FB, or whatever) during the rest of the year so why would I want to spend my precious time with people who won't spend their time on me? End rant.

Anyway, I digress.

Typical weekly trip schedule, regardless of destination, looks a little like this:
Monday - Travel day
Tuesday - visits or office work if I'm at HQ
Wednesday - repeat Tuesday
Thursday - repeat Tuesday
Friday - Travel day

Now if I'm staying local, like CA, AZ, or NV, I can typically take an early flight on Monday and hit the ground running with visits after I land.  And I can do some visits in the morning before leaving on Fridays.  But when I change time zones, particularly when I fly to the Central or Eastern zones, there isn't much else going on on Monday and Friday but quality time with Delta, United, or whatever airline I've overpaid to stuff my bootay into a cramped window seat over the wing.

Anyway...back to making time to see people.  In reality, I usually have 3-4 good nights to plan to see people.  I was at HQ 3 times since this time last year and I am just now getting around to seeing the lady I lived with before I moved to California (this woman is like my 2nd mom).  She has a daughter my age who is married with children and whom I was friends with as a kid.  There's also the two close girlfriends that live in the area and their husbands.  Then my guy BFF and his fiance' (he's the brother I never had).  Then there's getting together with co-workers and the occasional invite from the bossman to dinner.  Needless to say my nights fill up quickly and I don't get to see all that I want too.

Because of this conundrum, I usually don't tell people I'm coming to town.  I would hate to have to cancel on people, so I just find it easier to not spill the beans.  I hate trying to make last minute plans sometimes, but I make the exception in this case because my travel life is just so unpredictable! 

So to those of you who know me in real life that aren't in the above listed categories, I'm hope that someday on one of my future ventures to the Gulf Coast we can do something somewhere.  But I make no promises and hope you understand.

Stay safe, y'all!

New series coming

For those of you that know me personally, you know that I travel for my job.  For those who have never met me except to read about my life here, I travel for my job!   

I started working with my company in 2003.  At that time there were only 25 employees and, at 24, I was the youngest (a title I retained for almost 3 years and we now have over 300 employees).  When I was hired, I was originally supposed to fill the position of receptionist.  That lasted 2 days.  My soon-to-be boss discovered I had accounting knowledge and pulled me into Business Affairs where I was to spend the next 4 years.  Just after my 4 year anniversary, there was an opening in our Marketing/Outreach department for a travel rep.  After seeking approval from my current boss and discussing the job requirements with the potential new boss, I applied and was accepted.  And I've been doing this for 5 years now.

I tell you all this because I'm going to start a new weekly post:  Tuesday's Traveler.  Tomorrow will, probably, be my first post in the series.  There will be stories, tips, and anything else I can think of.  There will be humor, I can promise you that. I have had some great experiences, and some not so great experiences (flight from hell via Chicago my first year traveling...more on that later). And, if I can take any that would apply to the topic or I want to build a topic around (like the travelers wardrobe or hotel views), there will be pictures.

I've been wanting to share some of my travel stories here, and I'm just now getting around to it.  Hopefully I can remember all that I want to say. If there is a traveling topic you'd like for me to cover, please let me know.  Just remember, I've only traveled in the continental US so far.  I can't give you anything about Hawaii, Alaska, or International travel...yet (I'm really hoping to add Hawaii to the list of places traveled by next year).

Stay tuned...