Business travel isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be.
As part of my profession, I have the occasion to travel for work. Some are short jaunts to places like Chicago, others are more involved excursions overseas. And despite all of the romanticizing that may be associated with air travel, for what I do for a living, the trip is not fun. Let me set the record straight: I do NOT fly First Class whenever I do have to travel for business.
More often than not, I am human bologna, sandwiched into a middle seat for the flight from Newark to NOLA. Don’t get me wrong, jetting off to various locations is interesting, but most often I spend the days (6am to who knows when) inside a convention center or hotel ballroom; then slip out for a quick meal (often alone); and finally head back to the hotel room for a night of catch-up (responding to all of the emails that have been building up for the course of that day). Rinse and Repeat.
However, my business travel has now taken on a new "Russian roulette" dimension – the possibility of getting sick on any given voyage. It won’t kill me, or probably not even land me in the hospital, but my developing new immune system is still susceptible and getting in a flying Petri dish is not the best test (though completely sanctioned by my med team).
I’m happy to report that my most recent assignment in San Francisco seems to have been completed without any residual illness, and am relieved to be traveling again - for better or for worse (yes Ang, I’m keeping the mask on).
