For several years I have travelled quite a bit for work. Not a road warrior, but I'm typically on the road about 25% of the time.
For the first couple years my work trips were bare bones affairs - get up at 4am, drive to airport, fly a couple hours, land, go to meetings, work late, eat meal in hotel, sleep, wake, go to office, repeat for several days, and fly home often landing at 9pm or 10pm Friday evening. Certainly nothing to write home about.
Then I stumbled upon small secret - will just a little effort and no impact on work you can inject fun into business trips. In hindsight this is no big secret, but for me it was an ephiphiny. It started simply enough - skipping dinner in the hotel and instead grabbing a cab and visiting a local landmark then eating at a nearby restaurant.
As my travel encompassed international destinations I quickly moved from "take the Sunday night red-eye , early check-in, freshen up, and head directly to the office" into a much more effective "take the Saturday red-eye, early check-in at the hotel, take a nap, spend Sunday sightseeing and acclimating to local time so Monday I'm at peck working performance". I was previously exhausted Monday afternoon and struggled most of the afternoon. Now I'm ready for a full day of work on Monday while Sunday experiencing local culture and sights.
Jobs that require travel inherently take you away from your family. I find these small sightseeing detours help me plan future vacations to these same destinations.mits nice to know the transit system, know local customs, and know the best time and visitng techniques to the local attractions. Basically my work travel is a "scouting mission" for later personal visits.
This topic comes to mind as I conclude a four day work trip to Denver, Colorado. I was able to visit a couple friends turning an otherwise drab work trip into a memorable event.