We’re hoping to begin travelling for business again in the late fall but think it will be some time before Steve gets back to his monthly travel schedule, if ever. Staying put in Winnipeg for the past 16 months has been quite the lifestyle change. I asked Steve the other day if he’s discovered anything from the experience of doing business remotely rather than in person. Here’s what he had to say and some of my observations.
Steve: I was really good at business travel
From the time I started travelling for work, I have almost exclusively handled my own travel arrangements. Some think this is crazy given how much I travel, but I love putting all the pieces together.
I know how to work my loyalty points for hotels and flights to my best advantage, the ins and outs of car rentals vs. using public transport for transfers. I’m a master of agility when things go off the rails because of cancelled flights, and I know my way around my airline compensation rights. I love sorting through puzzling situations, and that’s what travel often is–it’s figuring out how all of the parts fit together. I miss the fun of planning and navigating business travel.
(Deb: I hate all that stuff, which is why it’s great being married to Steve. If he didn’t love it, I would have a travel agent on speed dial.)
Deb: Business travel forces me to experience novelty
I am on the introverted side and prone to creating rigid routines in my life. These characteristics serve me exceptionally well in pandemic times. Somewhere around the sixth or seventh month of lockdown restrictions, I realized that I could easily hold out not seeing many people and religiously washing my mask every third wearing for the foreseeable future.
I did miss travel though. And given I had a lot of time to ponder, I thought about why I missed it—like really, why? I’ve discovered that it’s because travel is a big enough draw to get me out of my comfort zone. It shakes up my routine, stresses me out in a good way, and leaves me feeling happy I experienced something different and enriching. It also boosts my creativity.
I could easily seek out novelty at home — try something new every week, learn to fence, visit small towns nearby, or talk to random strangers on the street. But generally, I don’t. Travel is almost the only time I’m highly motivated to try new stuff.
Steve: Meeting virtually for business can accomplish a lot, but not everything
On a dime, my entire workplace and our customers shifted operations online when the pandemic hit. Some people loved it. Some people hated it. I fall somewhere in the middle. Productivity-wise, I’ve always held that remote knowledge work is just as good or better than sitting at a desk in an office building. In many ways, it’s easier to focus and offers an improved life balance. The pandemic confirmed and deepened my feelings on this front. Many things I routinely accomplished via travel, I can do from home or elsewhere.
Meeting in the physical world has intangible benefits, though–especially across continents and cultures. Visiting colleagues and customers on their turf, experiencing where they live, seeing where they work, sharing their cuisine and favourite places; all these things build a connection and understanding you can’t get over Zoom. I’ve developed many functional connections solely online, but the deeper relationships that serve business and friendship well have come from international travel. Those are the kinds of connections that can help you resolve conflicts and misunderstandings more quickly (or avoid them altogether).
My future work life will undoubtedly require less travel. On the other hand, the efficacy of remote work has bolstered the desire Deb and I have to plant ourselves somewhere away from home for a few months at a time. The pandemic and our month working remotely from Mexico City just before it hit North America demonstrated there is no reason against being location independent.
Deb: Steve and I are ridiculously compatible
I started tagging along on Steve’s business travel because being apart so often strained our relationship. But, there were many times I didn’t travel with him because of family or work constraints. I had a good amount of alone time during peak business travel. As the pandemic dragged on, I worried a little about spending so much time together–literally 24 hours a day working and living together in close proximity.
It sounds kind of corny, but we regard each other’s company as the best company. We like most of the same activities and rarely have conflicts.
I do miss the occasional solo weekend at home, but not as much as I expected.
Business travel will look different
For the foreseeable future, we’ll be very cautious about corporate travel. We envision fewer and longer trips built around periods of remote work from a nearby location. Those plans feel good from a personal and environmental standpoint. The pandemic, coupled with weather events that ranged from the annoying to the catastrophic, has cast climate change realities in sharp relief. We have always looked for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and other than travel, we score pretty well on that front. After everything we’ve learned this past 16 months, reducing business travel now seems like a responsible thing to do.
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