Adventures in Business Traveling: The Hotel Stay

People who would like to travel more see business travelers and are jealous – ‘look at them,' we used to say these people tell themselves, ‘they get to fly and stay in a hotel and visit new places and not even have to pay for any of it!' Well, not quite. If you're one of these spectators, catch yourself in that thought next time and take a closer look at the business traveler in question –

Do they look happy as they're scurrying across the airport to reach that connecting flight, lugging around their rectangular non-stolen-yet it-must-be-a-laptop bag over their shoulder?

Are they tanned after sitting triple-overtime in conference halls/offices/transportation (possibly restaurants, I admit) trying to make the most of their time abroad especially since everyone back in the office thinks that they're off having fun at company expense?

Do they look rested after spending numerous consecutive short nights in a generic hotel or better because they're so exhausted when they finally get to the room each evening that they don't even see the in-room foot massager or oversize bathtub? This almost happened to me once in a conference stay in Amsterdam, but even at 3:30 am I couldn't resist a dip in my ‘pool'.

They're not called business trips for nothing. People have work to do and if anything it can be frustrating to visit a desirable place this way for the first time and know that you won't be able to enjoy of it.

Now what do think happens to those travelers who suffer this constantly, week after week? I know some people who live this way and I don't envy them one bit (you know who you are 🙂 ). They start to go a bit crazy, not necessarily Willy Loman-crazy, but crazy nonetheless. Which isn't to say that the results won't sometimes be funny, as top videoblogger Ze Frank explains here on the left.

Catch him again before he ends the show and goes off to Hollywood…