Thoughts on Work Travel
What I'm Up To (I'm in Seattle!), What I Reflected On (Work Travel), and What's Occupying My Mind (Velocity of Money) - all part of Allen's Friday Flights
HELLO to my Friday Flights
Welcome back to my personal updates around the random things I do. This week I missed posting content; I didn’t get the time or energy to queue. :( Next week will see a return maybe? Anyway enjoy the Friday Flights.
Ciao!
Allen
Past Friday Flights
What I’m Up To
TL;DR: Work Travel to Seattle
The Things
Quite a busy week - flew to Seattle for Work; on-site each day with a few company outings.
I love the 2020 Conundrum Red Blend. Incredibly unexpected banger that I had 5 glasses of in one sitting unknowingly.
Holy shit I want this keyboard.
Dinner with Nibal and Gary - folks I dormed with from my first year of college in 2011. Wild, right?
Dinner with Ejay and Aysha. Hi you two. Ejay and Aysha are former EY too, and also refuges from California. Heh.
I missed a Wednesday Crypto Explainer. I also missed a Thursday Restatement Job Board.
I retired my 2nd Pair of On Cloud Running Shoes after 600 miles. They have been replaced by Hoka Clifton 8s, which have great high arch support.
Watch an episode of the Star Wars Andor - It’s definitely a different angle and spin, worthy of being watched on a transatlantic flight when I have nothing else to do.
I’m totally proud of how well I packed for my work trip this week. Sunday to Friday 5 work outfits, 2 gym outfits, 3 shoes, 1 down jacket, 1 rain jacket, 2 laptops, and a steam, all in one duffel bag and backpack. All made possible using these packing cubes.
I’m presenting on Monday at a conference and I need to figure out my stand up act. Aka how to not bore people about blockchain and internal audit
What I Reflected On
TL;DR: Work Travel feels like you are putting your life on hold to live another.
Reflections on Work Travel
It took a pandemic of not getting sick, a career break of not working, and a remote work conducive to introverts to realize: God damn, how did I sustain work travel?
I started my EY career on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at the EY Los Angeles Office. That evening, I was then flown to San Francisco for “Welcome to EY” orientation, which would last the remainder of the week. I was then immediately flown to Atlanta, GA, where I would be there for the next two weeks including the weekend.
Over the years, I would work in:
San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
San Jose, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Seattle, WA
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
Dallas, TX
Atlanta, GA
Orlando, FL
New York City, New York
Edmonton, Alberta
Mexico City, Mexico
Each work trip was quite an adventure. I remember all the outings, all the different detours, and all the food I consumed. But under neath all that, I just never surfaced how exhausting this all is, and what toll it takes.
Particularly, how much of your life on work-travel feels like autopilot of another life, as opposed to the life you have at home.
Here are the tolls that work travel places on you:
Weight - EY has a generous out-of-town meal policy provided to employees who are traveling. Combine that meal policy allowance with a team of people who have never been there with the need to be foodies, and you have a recipe of picking up a lot of pounds fast. I enjoyed the new experience, and I definitely took advantage of the “I wouldn’t pay to try for it, but if the company is, I’ll give it a shot,”
Socialization - When I traveled for work, I was always traveling with my team. Naturally I participate in any breakfast plans, commuting logistics, and dinner outings. Basically, my work day begins a lot earlier, and ends a lot later, with co-workers and clients alike. You aren’t working 9-5. You’re actually on what could feel like 24/7. That can be both good and bad.
Energy Level - If you’re introverted, like me, you simply don’t recharge in the presence of others. When I find a few moments away, or get back to my hotel room alone, my mind literally collapses after a day of socialization, or anticipating socialization. Related to socialization, you don’t realize just how much vampire drain you are experiencing in the presence of others.
Home Separation - I’ve come to enjoy my home more and more. A loving partner and two cats did that to me. It is difficult to be parted; and I feel the weight of it, or really the absence of their presence, each day away. My first 15 EY days were literally not at my own home. There comes a point where I just want to be a blob on my undone bed, than to be in another white-sheet Marriott.
A Pause of Life - On the days I am headed to the airport to begin work travel, the day feels like its on hold. My life feels like its on hold. I’m essentially idling until the flight happens. Elements of this will creep up through out the work week. While I was thankfully not on a long term multi month project to be in another time zone for long stretches of time, my life essentially comes to a rolling stand still when I work travel.
It sounds like I hate work travel. It depends on my life circumstance. The early part of my career was a perfect time to engage in the work travel lifestyle. I enjoyed it. I was fresh out of college, living with roommates, didn’t know much about food that wasn’t meant for a broke or inebriated college student, and hadn’t been to much of the rest of the United States.
But now? Well, let’s just say the pandemic and remote-work has made me value quality time and solitude at such a ratio that it eclipses work itself.
Arent You Work Travelling Now?
Yes, yes I am!
After a few years of being remote and not doing any work-travel, this week marks the first time in a long time I work travelled. But this time, I came with a hyper awareness of how to prioritize my needs, energy levels, and boundaries.
Guilt free. ;)
Here are the things I wish I was doing earlier, that I do now.
Before Work - I have my own morning ritual setup. A run, breakfast alone, and a commute alone. This is intentional. Yes there are others there, and I have a tinge of feeling guilty of not “joining” the others, but I’m drawing boundaries and spaces for my own preservation, and because I don’t need to “start my day with others” that early.
During Work - I find 15-30 minutes of solitude. Lunch, or during the day. Solitude in the day is key. Now I’m accustomed to remote-working solitude. So when I see an opportunity to decompress in private, I will take it.
After Work - There a days I expect to be with other colleagues. These are planned for. Those days I will commit to it, because I can. I limit these to 2 or 3 times in that week. The other days are my “off” days where I don’t intend to be social after work.
Meet Up with Specific People Outside of Work - Part of aging and knowing people is knowing people who live in the city you are work-travelling to who aren’t on your direct project team. If you can make the time to meet with these incredibly people, you do that. But if you need 1 day “off”, take that too.
The Takeaway
Don’t feel guilty setting up boundaries and limiting your social interaction with your work colleagues whom you’ll be with anyway for the entire work day. You set boundaries so that you can continue to exist with everyone; without boundaries you’ll erode or collapse.
p.s. I absolutely milked travel rewards. If you aren’t maxing out your airline rewards, hotel rewards, rental rewards, credit card rewards, and expense policy, you are losing out significantly.
What is On My Mind
TL;DR: Learn about money movement.
The velocity of money determines the growth of economies. That’s why blockchain is vehemently wild. The big question though - will a blockchain become the underlying settlement system, or will it become the face? Or other?