Travelling for Work

A conversation last weekend with a good friend about the strains of travelling for work got me thinking about the realities of life for the working traveller. It seems every other travel writer puts out at least one article bemoaning the life of the working traveller, and I certainly know many people who travel for work who have grown to loathe it. Long days, stressful meetings, soulless hotel rooms, vacant eyes at buffet breakfasts. Who wants it? It's work concentrate, mainly because travelling for work often means no time off at all.
My friend is working on a film, and the long location shoots in northern Australia will take her away from her partner and home for a number of months. Apart from being an incredible professional challenge it is a tremendous personal one also. How do you nurture friendships and maintain a relationship over such distance?
I feel like I know a little of that challenge, and I would say there are three main aspects to it, the latter two of which branch off the first; namely time. Time away from a partner can be a challenge in any case. After all, this is the person you have elected to spend your life with (or at least this part of it), so why would you want to have some of that time apart anyway? Time away from them is time inevitably spent wishing they were there with you. But, what is especially apparent where travel is involved is how that time can affect you. Time away spent travelling typically rich in experiences that force changes and growth, while time in a relationship is time changing and growing together. Foreseeably, there could be a point at which two people simply grow apart, a terrible prospect for anyone in a successful relationship.
The second aspect is people. On the road, working away from home, you tend to meet lots of new people. Ideally this shouldn't be a challenge, but I think as social animals it is inevitable that it will be. We are, at least in part, a product of those we surround ourselves with. If, in regards to food, you are what you eat, then I think that you are what you eat socially too. All the new people you meet influence and affect you. After travel people often comment on the change in the traveller, and I think the people they travelled with have a large part in that.
Finally, the pattern of the posts on this blog give testament to the pace at which life travels when on the road. February and March (my time in India) are packed with posts, while April had a measly two. It's partly the nature of the work, and partly the nature of the experience. Work may be all day every day, but so are the other bits. Away from the regular routines of home we are free to fill the spaces with whatever we like. Experienced work travellers try to make their travel life as similar to their home life as possible, incorporating 'off' times in front of the TV or reading and the like. But that can get pretty boring when you are on your own, and so we seek some social comfort, and end up in cafes, bars, or restaurants with others (friends, collegues, strangers all) trading silly stories. Or we find ourselves sitting by a fire or walking by the ocean sharing a moment. Everyday a new experience, every feeling heightened by stress, loneliness, happiness; just heightened.
Add to all this the combined emotional stress of work and actually being away from home and one's partner, and the results can be intense, the growth or change (I'm not sure if those are different) often uncomfortable. So maybe the loathing is how some cope. By loathing the experience they reinforce the comfort, safety, and strength of home and their partner. But let's not forget the good bits too. After all, it is travel paid for by someone else (hopefully), and if you're lucky there will be some really cool places and people thrown in the package too. This rabbit thinks that the best option is just to go with it and enjoy the ride (oh yes! I'm such a hippy), knowing that it will eventually end at the place/person you most love. Pretty good ride, really.
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