The Real World of the Traveling Worker
Since I’ve started this blog I’ve been looking at other sites on this topic of traveling and working. Usually you see some sort of picture of a person with a laptop on a beautiful beach, pina colada sitting next to the laptop. I think most of us envision this kind of scene when we’re sitting in our cubicles or otherwise non inspiring offices. While there can be those days when you feel like you’ve found paradise, let me tell you about the underbelly of working and traveling.
I wish I had pictures to show you of me trying to talk to clients while huddled in a dark corner of the Mardi Gras Museum in New Orleans, in a 90 degree tent somewhere along the highway in Ohio, next to a blaring barge on the Mississippi, or from my car to where I have driven to the closest cell phone signal in the parking lot of a church at night. And then I’d add in the numerous photographs of my children jumping from bed to bed in hotels while I try to complete my emails just inches away from the flying pillows. This is the real world. Of course, if you’re not traveling with kids you can forego the last set of pictures, but pay close attention to the first set.
Part of the challenge of traveling and working for me is that I want to get all I can out of the trip. I want to see as much as possible without spending a lot more money to stay extra days to catch up on work. That means I squeeze my work in a lot between sight seeing. And that means I’m often in odd places when I work. Since I’m using the technology of cell phones and the internet I have to be careful to know when I’m going to be in range. I’ll tell you, the cell phone maps are not to be trusted. My cell phone service map shows service along the coast of Connecticut. It’s one reason I went with the service because my husband’s family has a house there where we vacation. Well guess what? No service. The closest service is about 1/2 mile inland – my reason for sitting in church parking lots to take calls.
If you don’t plan to be in a westernized hotel with wifi for your trip you need to plan carefully about how you’re going to make your work happen. That’s why as much up front knowledge about your destination is really important. Moreover, if you’re traveling with kids, you’ve got to think about what they’re going to be doing while you work – hence the phone calls from the Mardi Gras Museum in New Orleans.
