How to deal with extended business travel?

February 1, 2006 6:41 PM

My sweetie is doing an extended business travel thing, and evenings are proving to be a challenge...

He's away during the week and home on weekends, driving about 3 hours each way. He's got work and a hotel room during the week, and all the web access he can eat, but he'd like to sort out a rewarding way to spend all this "kind of" free time he has in the evenings. I mean, he could probably work most evenings after leaving the office and bill that time (and has done that, to some extent), but that doesn't seem like a very happy existence.

If you've been in this kind of "extended away from home" work situation, I'd appreciate any advice or insight you have regarding this issue or any other thing that proved to be a challenge.

He used to take tai chi classes, and mentioned looking for something like that. He reads/listens to books, plays D&D once a month or so with a bunch of pals, loves to cook (which is hampered by a hotel-room existence), he's kind of a lefty, Economist-reading NPR junkie (not that there's anything wrong with that - I'm one, too).

FWIW, he works for a consulting company as a software developer, and is currently working for a client in Wilmington, DE, so any location-specific advice would be appreciated. Current assignment could last as long as October.

posted by ersatzkat to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

May I suggest he find out what programming the local public library is putting on? If there is a local alt.weekly, other kinds of stuff to do should be listed, or he can call the local public library, and ask how to find that info.

He might enjoy doing some proofreading for Project Gutenburg on nights he doesn't want to go out.

When I'm out of town for work, I tend to spend my evenings walking around, but I seem to have a higher tolerance for walking in strange areas than many do.

Maybe he could even start a weekly D&D game at the library. I worked in a library that had a running Magic game.
posted by QIbHom at 6:48 PM on February 1, 2006

I don't have experience with business travel, but I did live in Wilmington for about 7 years. I assume he is staying in a hotel downtown. (Does he have a car? That will definitely increase his options, although there is a decent bus system.) If he hasn't already, he should absolutely check out Out & About, the free weekly. Here's an article in Out & About on tai chi that mentions some area locations. As far as reading - there is a great bookstore at 104 W. Ninth Street called, oddly enough, Ninth Street Book Shop. There is, unfortunately, a dearth of bookstores downtown and that's the only one I can think of. There is a great public library on Rodney Square, though, and it occasionally hosts events and speakers. As far as his other interests, I'm not sure where to point him for D&D or cooking... I'll post again if anything I've forgotten comes to mind. Either of you can feel free to email me with any Wilmington-specific questions you may have, email's in my profile.
posted by amro at 7:29 PM on February 1, 2006

I travel a lot like your SO, and I've got to say I have many of the same issues.

If he's into improving himself, he could try taking classes from a school that has a good distance learning program. For instance, I took a number of classes from De Paul in Chicago a few years ago. A good part of their curriculum is set up with distance learners in mind. Lectures are recorded and streamed on demand using a browser based client and Windows Media. If he stays in a reputable motel, he probably has a broadband connection, so this would be perfect.

For accomodations, I'd suggest a chain like Residence Inn or Homewood Suites if he can swing it. They have fairly capable kitchenettes so he could cook for himself if he has an inclination to.

He might want to invest in a small video game device or DVD player to pass the time. I know a lot of laptops have DVD players in them, but mine doesn't, and I find it uncomfortable to watch a movie on my PC anyway. For these reasons, my wife bought me a portable DVD player for Christmas. Blockbuster is everywhere, and they have a two for one deal on their back catalog, so I take these weeks as opportunitys to catch up on movies I've always wanted to see but couldn't talk my wife into seeing.
posted by hwestiii at 7:36 PM on February 1, 2006

Another good place to look for tai chi classes is one of the two YMCAs downtown.
posted by amro at 7:44 PM on February 1, 2006

(Sorry, I should have specified that the two downtown Ys are Central and Walnut Street.)
posted by amro at 7:51 PM on February 1, 2006

Food, exercise, good books. When I was doing that kind of thing I really suffered from crap restaurant or takeout food, and from sitting on my arse all day.

In retrospect what I should have done was either start running, swimming, or purchased a short-term gym membership. If your "sweetie" is into any kind of sport that has clubs, maybe attending local classes/events/training sessions in the evenings will provide a substitute social life as well. Exercise helps with sleep, mood and general health which otherwise would suffer with weeks away from home.

As to the food, consciously monitoring the quality and quantity of food consumed would be a good idea. Finding accomodation where you can cook, or at least store good stuff like fresh fruit etc is definitely the way to go.

Finally, this is the time to drag out the personal project that's been suffering from lack of time, and devote a solid hour or two a night to it.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:17 PM on February 1, 2006

as a veteran of the extended consulting in wilmington thing, i can only offer condolences. both philly & dc are reasonably close by car/train...
posted by judith at 8:23 PM on February 1, 2006

I travel about six months out of the year, and I always take a guitar. You can get a nice guitar for $300-$400, just buy a nice case to protect it with.
posted by tcobretti at 9:41 PM on February 1, 2006

Listen to old episodes of This American Life on the laptop (or pretty much any NPR show - try www.publicradiofan.com), knit, learn another language, volunteer at a local soup kitchen.

He could also wander around bookstores, for me it usually kills an hour or two.
posted by mulkey at 9:58 PM on February 1, 2006

I'm not in the US, but I do this thing a hell of a lot. It took me a while to realise zoning out in front of hotel TV was a recipe for soul death, but once I twigged that, I started doing a lot of different things.

I wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo, which was awesome, as it made me leave the office at a semi-reasonable hour and gave me an excuse to duck out of the interminable team dinners and things we had. No need to wait for the next one to do it though, just have at it.

I read about a book a week in hotels at the moment. I think he could also do some random musical learning - harmonica? I commute by train, so I can't really carry a guitar with me. Your man doesn't sound like the gym freak type, but it's possible to do a lot of working out if you're stuck in the hinterlands - this has the added advantage that it counteracts all the high salt/fat hotel food he'd be eating.

Phonecards - if you invest in one of those phonecards where you call a 1-800 number, he should be able to call out from hotels at minimal to no cost and call you!

Podcasts - get him to download a podcast client and he can indulge in anything from serialised novels to technology, music, cookery and wine shows. Betcha there's a D&D podcast out there somewhere.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:09 AM on February 2, 2006

I vote for education as well.

I spent most of '98 and '99 on the road, and took advantage of lonely nights at the inn (so to speak) to study for an MSc in Quantitative Finance. Minimal distractions, I even looked forward to flight delays as I could increase study time.

Fast forward to 2006 and I'm still on the road about 50% of the time. Now I'm taking an MBA, highly leveraging solitary hotel and flight time.
posted by Mutant at 4:29 AM on February 2, 2006