This post will be less of a blog post and more of an open ended question. I have worked for the University for nearly 13 years, and during those years I have had to travel all of 6 times for work. 4 of those time have been this semester, and Monday I will be booking airfare to Kansas City for a conference that I have been instructed to attend (by the way, I won't be in class Monday the 26th.)
I have to say, I am not really a fan. I am a person who likes a routine. To be honest, right now my schedule would probably crush me if I did not rigidly stick to a set routine, at least looking at it in broad scope. Parenthood, work, my graduate school, my wife's graduate school, and now an increasing amount of kid activities pretty much dictates planning each week out well in advance, and giving lots of notice if my wife or I have to deviate from the set schedule. I go so far as to budget myself time for failure and corrective action if I am trying something new or testing something that might not work as expected. I don't mean to say that I plan my day down to the minute, but if I am testing a new engine or looking at a trip through TSA at BWI, I make sure that I have lots of room for error in case things go awry.
I am curious as to how people work travel into their job/home/class lives. Do you travel a lot for your jobs, if at all? How do you manage to finagle your travel schedule around classes or important family activities? Or do you just head out for the wild blue yonder, and pick up the pieces when you get home?
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I travel very infrequently for my job (in fact, so far I've only traveled twice). It's been an interesting experience both times, and a part of me wishes that I had more opportunities to travel for work. On the other hand, I am grateful that I have not been forced to do so too much while still in grad school. I can't imagine how difficult it would be with a family as well.
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