Evolution of Work Travel

After I entered the real world following graduation, I started my first real job, worked hard and started taking vacations, discovering Southwest Airlines and all the places I could go on a cheap airfare. I went to New Orleans, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago, San Diego and Orlando for vacation and to visit friends across the country. Then, I thought I'd start training in a job that would entail a lot of on-the-job traveling. I figured if I wanted to see the rest of the U.S., why not do it for work and then play.

I started a map of the U.S. with pins inserted in all the places I visited across the U.S., and there were many pins after awhile mostly along all of our coasts. Pretty soon I was gone 75% of the time traveling for work, gone every week, living out of a suitcase, getting mixed up in timezones, walking in a daze from gate to gate from airport to airport. It was fun at first, figuring out what was fun to do in all my stops, visiting friends on regular intervals, finding out which restaurants were the best in town. Then, after two years, I was burnt and did not want to see another airplane for as long as I lived.

Next, I took a job where my air travel was minimal and I was given a company car since my sites were local in the Bay Area and the most I drove was 3 hours to Fresno. This was the life, no more planes, I could drive everywhere, spend more time at home, explore places in the Bay Area I hadn't seen yet, clear my head, play my CDs. A few more frequent flyer miles and 20,000 miles later in my Chevy Impala and I was ready for yet another change. Now I am in an office job where I am in the office the majority of the time, travel is next to none at this point. Now, I kind of miss those planes. Hee hee. The grass is always greener on the other side, and I am never satisfied. ;)