Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you are traveling for work, if
Speaker 1: you are able to consider adding on just a little
Speaker 1: bit of time for fun, you will get to explore
Speaker 1: a place without much additional expense, and you might also
Speaker 1: make your working life a little more enjoyable. Now that
Speaker 1: work travel is back, you may find yourself in another
Speaker 1: city for a conference or a meeting or training. I
Speaker 1: realize that work travel can be challenging. Both my husband
Speaker 1: and I have traveled a lot for work over the years,
Speaker 1: and I know how hard it can be to arrange
Speaker 1: kid coverage and then deal with flight delays, loud people
Speaker 1: in hotel hallways, over air conditioned hotel conference rooms, and
Speaker 1: so forth. Of course, the reason we get on planes
Speaker 1: despite these woes is that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: benefits to work travel too. You get to build relationships
Speaker 1: and collaborate in person. You learn from experts that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't encounter in your hometown. You get to share your
Speaker 1: ideas more broadly and meet a wider variety of people.
Speaker 1: And with a little planning, you might also get another
Speaker 1: benefit the opportunity to explore a new place without investing
Speaker 1: as much time and money as you'd need to in
Speaker 1: order to visit separately. I'm really not talking about staying
Speaker 1: another week. Often you just need to take a slightly
Speaker 1: later flight, or stay one more night in your hotel.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you can even free up space in between
Speaker 1: events for exploration. If you plan your time well, you
Speaker 1: can see something really cool and turn your work trip
Speaker 1: into an adventure. With that in mind, I once got
Speaker 1: to see a CERC du Solet show in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: in between two talks I gave there. I have run
Speaker 1: along the Embarcadero in San Francisco multiple times when I've
Speaker 1: been up bright and early due to the time difference.
Speaker 1: Once in Chicago, I purposefully chose a hotel right near
Speaker 1: the Art Institute of Chicago so I could see the
Speaker 1: miniature rooms there after my event. Perhaps your work travel
Speaker 1: involves a lot of back to back meetings, but still
Speaker 1: it might be possible to add on an adventure scope
Speaker 1: out the town where you will be staying. What looks
Speaker 1: cool that is within an hour radius, or in other words,
Speaker 1: an uber ride from your hotel. What does your schedule
Speaker 1: look like? Maybe there will be some down time, or
Speaker 1: you could arrange down time with some strategic effort. If not,
Speaker 1: maybe you can take a flight the day after your
Speaker 1: meeting's end and use your hotel points to tack on
Speaker 1: a night spend the morning of the day you leave
Speaker 1: having your adventure and go home refreshed. Now, to be sure,
Speaker 1: you need to be judicious with this. If you travel
Speaker 1: a lot for work, thus requiring your spouse to take
Speaker 1: on a lot of extra duties on the home front,
Speaker 1: you probably don't want to tack on adventures in addition
Speaker 1: to your travels every time. You should just consciously book
Speaker 1: a long lunch break one day and go see that museum.
Speaker 1: But if you only travel a few times a year,
Speaker 1: which is probably the case for many people, then tacking
Speaker 1: on a little time might be a different matter. In
Speaker 1: many cases, you might not wind up going to these
Speaker 1: locations except on work trips, so if you want to
Speaker 1: see what is there, you are going to need to
Speaker 1: seize the occasion. I will add that the same mindset
Speaker 1: can help you wring some pleasure out of locally necessary
Speaker 1: travel too. Maybe your dentist is thirty minutes from your
Speaker 1: house but near a specialty grocery store. Schedule an extra
Speaker 1: half hour after the appointment so you can pick up
Speaker 1: some of your favorite items before heading home. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you are dropping off a kid at a birthday party
Speaker 1: that is far enough away that going home doesn't make
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Check to see what's nearby. You
Speaker 1: could find yourself at an outpost of your favorite sushi bar,
Speaker 1: enjoying a little treat instead of spending all afternoon in
Speaker 1: the car. Sometimes we are inclined to automatically separate work
Speaker 1: and pleasure. You are single mindedly focused on the task
Speaker 1: at hand, be that attending a conference or going to
Speaker 1: that faraway dentist. But be on the lookout for opportunities
Speaker 1: to add some pleasure to things that need to be done.
Speaker 1: Usually it doesn't add much time, and it can change
Speaker 1: the experience entirely. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then BREC Pod. You
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcasts
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters, thanks so much, should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.