My job has afforded me many opportunities to see parts of the world I may not have otherwise visited on my own. I’m grateful for this, although most trips have allowed me no time to see anything other than a hotel room, office, and the city zooming by from inside a taxi. They don’t pay me to sightsee, so I suppose that’s fair.
Friends who haven’t seen as much of the world as I have (or who have had to pay for it themselves) sometimes think that my globetrotting lifestyle is all glitz and glamor, so let me clear this up for them and for you, dear reader. Most of the time traveling for business is not glamorous. Getting from Point A to Point B (and C, D, E, and F as the case is for some of my trips) is tedious, not chic. Standing in line at customs, practically being strip-searched by security, playing Russian roulette with luggage, and picking through what the airline refers to as “dinner” to find something edible is not fun. Dragging a laptop bag, purse, and carry-on through the airport while desperately having to pee but being unable to locate a bathroom until an hour later, is not glamorous.
These are not complaints, but merely facts. The unglamorous act of traveling is a necessary evil to reach my destination, where there are occasional moments of glitz, most of which involve food and wine.
I have to laugh at a recent article on cnn.com on the “3 biggest mistakes busines travelers make” which accurately points out the lack of glamour in business travel. But I should mention that unlike the travelers in the article, there are no first class seats or towncars for me – only the rare and accidental upgrade to business class and an ornery cab driver who doesn’t speak English. Ok, sometimes there are very friendly drivers who like practicing their English skills.
The mistakes business travelers make, according to the author, are
1) “Believing your corporate travel manager is on your side.” I like my travel manager, but her hands are tied by budgets. I do not like our agency, which thinks that it’s ok to book a six-hour layover when there are other options that are only $200 more, and makes me do all of the flight and hotel research before I even submit my travel request. Bottom line, whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure and are using “professional help” to book, do your research and ensure that not only the price, but the duration, seats, airlines, and airports are what you want.
2) “Thinking frequent flier miles are a reward for your loyalty.” Every program is different, but this statement is generally true. I booked tickets to Greece several months in advance and had to spend 100k miles for one ticket in coach. According to Delta’s FF mile chart, I could have bought two tickets for the same amount of miles – but is flying from Boston to Albany, spending the night there, flying to JFK, and then to Athens reasonable? No. On the other hand, a friend spent 150k American miles for two first class tickets to Hawaii. Go figure.
3) “Complaining too much.” Hah. This whole article could be considered a big complaint! The author’s point is to not be a jerk to customer service, flight attendants, and other staff you encounter on your travels when things go wrong. Odds are, whatever has gone wrong is not that person’s fault or under their control. People are much less inclined to be helpful to those who are rude. Don’t forget, you’re an ambassador for your country when you travel abroad, so keep your cool.
I’ve come to realize that while I love to travel, I am not remotely fond of the act of traveling and long for the day when I can say “Beam me up!”
