Confessions of a Million Mile Traveler

I used to wear my airline status like a badge of honor!  A road warrior…in the truest sense.  I once survived 18 time zone changes in two weeks (traveling across Asia, U.S. and Europe) and was still able to walk off the plane (once finally home) fresh and ready to entertain.  I am a million mile traveler! 

This year, I finally reached the pinnacle of United Airlines status:  ‘Global Services’ membership. United’s Global Services program is an invitation only program for its most loyal customers who bring in a significant amount of revenue each year to the airline.
 
I think that most business travelers covet the idea of reaching elite levels of status as a traveler.  There are many great benefits to airline and hotel status and I think that United Airlines and Starwood Hotels have the best programs in their industry.  Status perks include: shorter lines at the airport (check-in and security); free upgrades (airplane seats and hotel rooms); bonus points that can be used for free trips and upgrades; and much better attention and customer service during your trip or stay.  This all makes life much easier for the weary ‘road warrior.’

I achieved my 1 million mile status as a result of hard travel over the last eight years.  The most I traveled in one year was 260,000 actual miles.   I know people who log many more miles than this per year and have reached well over three million miles traveled (to-date).  United Airlines used to name planes after these sick individuals.

My reprieve from travel came in September of last year.  In an effort to help my company control expenses I abruptly stopped all business travel and have not traveled for work since (six months).

I have not been home for more than four consecutive weeks at any given time, in the past eight years.  When I stopped traveling last September, I literally went through withdraws!  My body ached, I could not sleep, stress seemed a bit higher.  It was tough. 

My job has global responsibilities with team members in Russia, Germany, South Africa, U.K., Canada, Brazil, China, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia, etc.  Travel has always been a big and important part of my work.  It is very difficult to manage teams and programs when you have no real context for how business operates in different cultures and countries.

For the time being, I (like many colleagues in the industry) am subjected to working in a new ‘virtual reality.’  I spend a lot of time on the phone, in video conference calls, and planning and attending virtual events.  It is not ideal, but it helps to stay connected to people and business.  I also must admit that advancements in video conferencing are unbelievable. Cisco’s Tele-Presence system is absolutely amazing.

After the first four weeks of being home I began to appreciate just how much sacrifice I have made over the last eight years of my life for company and career (both of which I very much love). 

But now that I am home I clearly see the toll that excessive travel had on my life – physically, mentally, and socially.  The advice that is given to many people who travel is to sleep, drink (water) and eat when you can.  Because outside of these three staples in life while on the road - you are working.  This leaves very little time for anything else that contributes to quality living.

Although my current hiatus from business travel is not ideal or permanent, it is very much welcome.  Over the last six months I have regained positive energy; I am physically stronger and more healthy (dropped 15 pounds); I have time to think thus giving me more clarity on important issues; I have reinvigorated my social life reconnecting with family and friends who I have neglected for many years; and I am able to give my wife time to be more social with her friends (as apposed to being locked down at home dealing with daily homeowner issues and pets).

I have made adjustments to my work day (hours) which allow me to stay connected to colleagues and team members in Europe and Asia/Japan; and some times I work a European schedule altogether (11pm to 9am PST).  

So as the economy goes through its reset/renewal…so does my perspective on work and life. 

I very much look forward to getting back to business as usual.  One of the great things about my job is that I do get to travel and work with amazing people in different countries and experience important cultures.  I am a lucky individual to have such a great opportunity.   But as I do ease back into a routine schedule of travel, I will do so with a new perspective on the importance of life at home. 

What are your confessions as a business traveler?

Comments

[Jeff Word]

Don

This is verbatim my situation as well, except I was global services for four years! I've been traveling internationally since I got out of college, never been "at home" more than 4 weeks in a row. I suffered true withdrawal symptoms in the first month I wasn't traveling last fall-- seriously, didn't know what to do with myself. My wife had gotten used to the constant absences and is getting really sick of me being around all the time! I actually had to buy a Financial Times from a bookstore the other day since I haven't seen one in years except for in airports, airplanes or hotels.

I think I've got you beat though. In July 2005, I did a complete circumnavigation of the world in 7 days. 55 hours on an airplane. SFO-FRA-BLR-SIN-PEK-NRT-PVG-NRT-SFO. 6 weeks later I did the exact same trip-- backwards.

I've also had several situations where I fly over and fly back with the same flight crew. I've had flight attendants literally lose their minds when they see me at the airport the day following our arrival-- in both Asia and Europe. Got a lot of sympathy and pampering on the return flights though :)

The best was when I was waiting for the bathroom up front and asked the flight attendant what all the stars next to everyone's names on the passenger list meant. She showed me my name and it had ***** next to it, signifying I was Global Services. I asked her what that meant in real terms to the flight crew and I swear she knelt down and did the "I'm not worthy" bit from Wayne's World. I laughed my ass off. Then she said, and I quote exactly "It means that we'd probably let you fly the plane if you wanted to. Global Services members are worth more money to the airline than every passenger on this plane combined" (this was a 747)

Its a cool badge of honor, but I've realized that it comes at an extremely high price that can't be measured in dollars. I am gonna miss the perks when I start back up though.

Cheers
JW

[Don Bulmer]

Hi Jeff:

Thanks for you comments and confessions :) I actually thought about you when I was writing this. I remember the many world 'tours of duty' that you endured when working for Shai. You are one of those 'sick individuals' that a plane should be named after.

I am glad that you are enjoying the time on the ground and being in Texas. I hope to catch up with you soon. Maybe we can do a video conference :)

Take care my friend!
Don

[Peter Auditore]

Don fun thoughts that bring back a lot of memories from my road duty, as you know I rode ships before airplanes for 7 years. Just the other day I was thinking about how I have been traveling nearly 27 years now, been a global services guy many times, over a 1.2 million on UA now and all of a sudden it stopped. When I rode ships in the 1980's it was a lot harder than what we do now, we went to sea for 2-3 weeks at a time and worked non stop 6 hours on 6 hours off until we ran out of gas and water and had to head for port. So when I entered the computer industry 20 years ago now I thought wow, home most weekends, nice hotel room and a good expense account. I became addicted to travel in the early 1990's with my second startup and learned that business is done on the road in this and many other industries.

The psychology is different when you go to sea, as soon as you step on a ship you accept that you might not be coming home. On airplanes you are much safer, but I have had some close calls in my times, the closest I came to biting it was when I flew the American Eagle flight that torpedoed into the ground in Illinois the week before it happened. On the bright side, I learned to be friendly to everyone on the road and one morning while riding the elevator down in a Chicago hotel I said good morning to an older gentleman and asked him how he was. His reply, "any morning I wake up and I am still alive is a great day" I still remember his face today. One day I entered airplane and said to the flight attendant do I know you? and he replied "yes I am the guy in the safety video and some guys tell me they see me more than their wives." The stark reality of being on the road is that it is not for everyone, and the personal sacrifice is huge and the time can not be replaced. I guess one of the most powerful aspects of the experience is that you are alone most of the time. We are much more connected now than ever, but you are still for the most part alone, alone in the plane, alone in the car, alone in the hotel room. This is not for everyone, it takes a very strong person to do this and a workaholic like us.

Being on the road is also dangerous, I remember one day in Mexico City in the early 1990's there were 70 car jackings during my visit. I remember heading into Dulles on a 747 and when we got too close to the plane in front of us and we rolled 45% without warning, which is why you always keep that seat belt fasten. I have seen people die on planes, become quarantined, nothing worse than getting off a plane and being met by the CDC.

As I began to travel more and more during my career, I started taking time at the end of business trips, an extra four days in Paris, Vienna, and then the trip to Quernavaca in the Sierra Madre of Mexico where I visited the Hacienda of Hernan Cortes. It was like walking into 1510, every thing was the same. I have been lucky to have this life and very lucky to have lived through it all. Good post I could go on and on for days.

[Bill Wohl]

Don, the only thing I can say is -- wow, that all sounds familiar. I'm still going through withdrawl. Just 20 minutes ago I started pacing outside my office -- I'm just not used to being chained to my desk for so long. I think my family is ready for me to be on the road again, and I know my employees would like to see their boss too. I don't think our companies can truely reward us for all of our personal sacrifices while traveling (and that's a shame). But I'm also getting used to being home after years of every other week on the road. I've made one commercial flight in five months. Wow! Hard to believe I can say that! Nice blog!