[Anonymous]

[BigDog.]

As extracted from a LinkedIn article by Colin Shaw.
(Fortunately I no longer suffer from many of these…)

You Know You Travel Too Much When…

You know your ten-digit frequent-flier miles number by heart.
I can rattle off these numbers as if they were my home phone number. I would be impressed with myself… if it weren’t for the fact that I think this is a little sad.

You are a world traveler but you haven’t seen any of it.
I travel to many countries and cities but see none of them. Any frequent traveler will tell you that all we see is the journey from the airport to the hotel and back. This is how this usually plays out when I am talking to people:

Interested Friend: Oh, you went to Egypt? How delightful! Did you see the pyramids?
Me: No, but the Hilton there has really great towels… [awkward pause]

You realize all meeting rooms are the same the world over.
Crazy patterned carpet and white tablecloths are the universal decor of meeting rooms. I could be in London or Chicago or even Cape Town, but I might not be able to tell you what country I am in…unless there happens to be a piece of letterhead nearby.

You realize how lucky you are because everyone speaks English.
Everyone, that is, except Americans…

You can pack for two weeks’ travel and get it all in a rollaboard
To be honest, I am kind of proud of that one.

You know the TSA process and scripts better than they do.
You choose which line at security based on the type of people in front of you, which divide into those who know what they are doing and can get through quickly—and those that don’t. Here is a great scene in the movie “Up in the Air” where George Clooney’s character is teaching the newbie the TSA drill.

You refer to cities by their airport code.
“I am headed to LHR from ORD. No, that’s not right, I meant MDW. But first I am going to stop at JFK and have drinks with a client. He’s on his way to SFO with a stop first in DEN. Then finally back to home, SRQ.” Some of you reading this know exactly where everyone is going.

You get annoyed at the Wi-Fi speed in hotels.
I know that perhaps I should take a little holiday when I am ready to battle with the desk staff about the amount of times my Netflix is buffering.

You know what the flight attendant is asking you without taking off your headphones.
You are so used to the onboard flight process (drinks and what not) that it isn’t necessary to hear his or her actual words. You just wait for their lips to stop moving and tell them what you want.

You consider upgrades your right, not a lucky break.
Yes, it’s true. When you spend as much time as I do in an airplane, you are downright cranky when you are told that first and business class are full.

My final bit of advice is when things go wrong, as they will, don’t get stressed. Back in the day I used to get really annoyed about the things I can’t control, like when the plane is delayed. Now I know that if the plane is late, such is life. Don’t worry about it; just make the most of the time this gives you.

Business travel starts by feeling glamorous and quickly deteriorates into tedious. I realize that many of you also travel a lot for your work. I am sure that you can relate to my list.

Original article by Colin Shaw is the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world’s first organizations devoted to customer experience.
Re-posted in LinkedIn 4/8/2014

More business travel related articles here (though you may need a linked in account) …

Including
How Not to Get Jet Lag. Ever.
Breathe and Remember Travel Is a Privilege
How to Never (Ever) Check Your Luggage Again
This Site Lets You Check If A Hotel’s WiFi Sucks Before It’s Too Late
How Thousands of Irate Passengers Helped Make JetBlue a Better Company …(WWalsh take note)

https://www.linkedin.com/channels/business_travel?trk=prod-inf-outofoffice-0805-cutline

[MrMichael]

Thanks BigDog, recognise some but not all of it. I do not know about the towels at the Hilton Cairo, but can tell you that breakfast at the Pyramids Movenpick is awesome. The food I do not recall, but the view of the great pyramid of Cheops in the early morning sunshine was a site to behold.

[Tom Otley]

Reminds me of this one…

http://www.businesstraveller.com/archive/2011/september-2011/special-reports/101-things-we-dona-t-like-about-air-travel

[stevescoots]

i am getting close, could not tell you my FF numbers, maybe just the first 1 or 2 digits and i do not get annoyed if no upgrade

[LuganoPirate]

What a sad character I am, not only do I know my FF number but my passport number, expiry and issue date as well!!!

[first_class_please]

LP – dont worry, I know my wife`s also. Thats real sad…

[TominScotland]

Seriously worryng post – I was not sure wheher some of these traits (not all) were signs of ageing rather than too much travel!! I certainly know my FF numbers (but not my wife’s mobile number!!).

I have been doing a fair few Glasgow – London day/ two day trips recently, almost invariably using the first flight out to Gatwick in the morning. On Monday, for some reason, I had booked myself on the Heathrow but headed to the Gatwick for boarding – it took me a little while to cop on why the system at the gate rejected me….. I had also pre-booked myself a train ticket from Gatwick that day as I normally would….. Too much travel or too many years in the bank???

[canucklad]

On reflection….When I did regularly travel I sadly knew my FF account number, realised that meeting rooms are same the world over, and can now pack light enough to travel on the back of a moth, which helps passing through some bizarre security processes ! Including knowing when their going to ask me to remove my shoes!!

As for knowing what the cabin crew were mouthing … Much, much worse, through time the cabin crew didn’t need to ask what I wanted. As I’ve recently mentioned elsewhere on the forum even getting to know the meal rotation… Sad-Sad -Sad : )

On the plus side I suffer from cabin fever so always managed to find time to explore the local sites….or in most cases pubs… lol

And a message to Tom, don’t worry I turned up at the airport one Sunday night to find no booking for me. .. Eventually to realise I wasn’t working in London that week !!

[nibbler]

I knew I was travelling too much when the drivers at Business Park Plus knew my name and asked we discussed how our weekends had been on my monday morning pickup at 5am 🙁

[MartynSinclair]

I know when I am travelling too much because I don’t want to travel!!

We all moan…………… but as believe I said on the 2011 thread….. I am the luckiest guy in the world and lead such a “difficult and stressful” life :)))) – only thing I would change is my flat from Florida to Italy…

[TiredOldHack]

I’d add: you know your passport number, issue date and expiry date by heart.

[TiredOldHack]

LP – just saw your contribution. I Am Not Alone.

[Ahmad]

I would add:

(1) When reservations/ticketing and check in staff ask you whether you are a travel agent because they realise you know their rule book better than them.

(2) When you teach cabin crew how to manually recline seats to the fully flat position even on single aisle planes with 45 inch pitch.

[Edski777]

Then stress is: getting a new passport with a new number, issue date and expiry date.

I realised I was travelling too much when waiting for a flight within South America a KLM plane had landed and I recognized some of the disembarking crew as previously having flown with.

On Monday morning flights from AMS to LHR seeing those same faces of passengers and crew every week and sitting next to the same person.

Being in a hotel belonging to the same hotel chain and forgetting in which city you are. The hotels seem to be designed and decorated by one and the same interior designer.

[Author]

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