Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: On The Road Again, Pitfalls & Benefits Of Business Travel (part 1)
As my father and I patiently sit waiting in the Fayetteville Arkansas Airport for an update on our delayed flights (we don’t travel together ever), I thought business travel would be a good blog subject.
Many people in the fabric industry (sales reps, managers, designers, distributors, etc.) have to partake in a decent amount of business travel, it is just part of the job. Me personally, I take my fair share of trips to see quilt shop customers, chains, distributors, travel with sales reps, visit our warehouses and office in South Carolina, attend quilt market twice a year, attend guild events like in Jackson Hole or the Shipshewana Festival.
The worst part of travel for me is being away from my family, especially my little munchkins and wife. Here are some other top reasons why being on the road stinks:
Travel is very tiring. I unfortunately am unable to sleep on a plane and hotels aren’t so easy either..those pillows are way too high for me and there are always so many annoying noises. There is nothing like your own bed, that is for sure.
Travel is expensive. Airport prices make movie theaters look inexpensive. Case in point, I decided to buy a phone card for a soldier at the Charlotte Airport (I was searching for some good karma). The man says that will be $13. I say fine. Then he hits me with an additional $3 plus in tax. For a phone card donation? Seriously? Can I get a tax deduction?
Flight delays are el stinko, flight diversions are the pits and cancellations are the icing on the cake, but the worst of all for me is bad turbulence. One time we went in for a landing, a big wind hit right when we almost touched down and the pilot pulled back up into the air. That was all after a long bout of bad turbulence. So when we finally did land, I could hear several passengers saying that they almost vomited. I definitely felt the same. All it would have taken was one person to have gotten the ball rolling and it would have been a barforama like in the movie Stand By Me.
Weather is a major wild card and it sure bites when you are on the plane and the weather is bad. Or how about getting stuck in Houston for 5 extra days when Hurricane Sandy hit after quilt market?
Going thru security at the airport is so annoying. Don’t get me started. You might as well just get naked as that would be a lot easier than the torture that TSA puts you through.
Lines, lines, lines everywhere.
Traffic could also wreck havoc, like the time there was a forest fire by the two lane highway going to Atlanta. It was a parking lot for over four hours.
Hotels totally skeeve me out. Like the hotel in Tupelo with the creepy hot tub in the room and mirrors all around. It looks like a place where porn is filmed. I would hate to be a fly on the wall in that room. Or how about the 3 inch spider I saw scurrying across the floor in my room? I covered it up with a coffee cup and left a surprise for housekeeping. How else are they going to learn to call an exterminator?
And what about all the germs, germs and more germs?
Food on the road is subpar, unhealthy, greasy and also expensive. The trick is not to catch any food borne illnesses which definitely does happen especially to those who spend more time on the road than at home. Watch those dirty lemons!
I hate that my clothes are always wrinkled. I often steam up the bathroom and try to smooth things out as the iron and I are not friends.
My hair always looks crappy because they don’t make my good gel in travel size.
The worst of all is when the customer cancels the appointment after you have already begun your travels or are already there. Kill me please!
Quilt market often falls on Halloween so I miss that fun holiday with the kids.
I can go on and on, but I won’t. There are some positives about traveling also, just not too many and I will discuss those in part 2 of this blog next week.