If you are still traveling for work right now, good for you! Most of us aren’t and while there’s a lot TO miss about business travel there’s definitely a lot NOT to miss. Here are 10 Things I Don’t Miss about Business Travel right now!
The coronavirus pandemic all but destroyed the entire travel industry in a matter weeks and business travel crashed right along with it. The nearly 1.2 million daily business travelers dropped to almost zero with the TSA recording less than 88,000 daily total passengers at the lowest point of the pandemic. That’s 88k total passengers – including leisure / non-work travel.
Suddenly, millions of daily business travelers were working from home, learning how use a Zoom background, and wondering if they’d ever they’d ever hit the road again.
Soon, many business travelers were hardcore missing travel and some of the fun that comes with traveling for work, but if they were honest they’d admit there’s a lot NOT to miss about business travel. I’ve assembled a fun list of things not to miss about business travel. Enjoy.
10 Things I definitely do NOT miss about business travel
From airplane farters to missing my family and Hampton Inn buffets there’s a not to not love about business travel. While I definitely am ready to get back out on the road again, here’s a 10 things I 100% do not miss about traveling for work.
Being away from my family
One thing I definitely don’t miss about business travel is being away from my family. One of the downsides of frequent business travel is being away from your loved ones for far too long. And sure, at this point in the pandemic, I imagine many of you wouldn’t mind a little space from the fam, all this staying at home has been a pleasant surprise.
Hopefully y’all have used to the time reconnect with your loved ones. Travel will return, at some point, and we will all hit the road again, grinding it out. For now, though, enjoy your family!
Hampton Inn Buffets
I love Hilton. As a long time Diamond member I’ve enjoyed the perks and service from my favorite hotel family. But, one thing I don’t miss about business travel is that nasty, horrifying, disgusting Hampton Inn breakfast buffet. It’s. So. Bad.
What’s interesting about the recent pandemic is speculating on whether the hotel buffet is dead? We suspect it might be and we are not going to shed a tear.
Incessant Airplane farters
I don’t know why people on airplanes think they can fart incessantly, but sometimes it’s downright insidious. I’ll tell ya one thing: I do NOT miss the smell of an airplane fart drifting over your diet Coke like hitting your nostrils like Marine amphibious beach landing.
Not being able to sleep in your hotel
While I love the Hilton Bed, the jet lag can be a pain in the butt at times. As such, it’s not uncommon to find me wide awake at 1AM in the morning while my body think it’s 3 hours somewhere else. Most hotel beds these days are pretty comfortable, and I am big fan of hotel pillows and sheets, but sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to actually fall asleep.
I carry Tylenol PM and Nyquil with me, but try to avoid using these unless I really need to. The good news is that once you settle into a groove of frequent business travel your body tends to adapt a little quicker and you also start to need a little less sleep.
Also, coffee.
Off airport rental car facilities
I hate time wasters and one of the biggest is off airport rental car shuttles. You have to wait for the dang thing to get there to pick you up. Then wait while your inch your way towards the rental car facility. Then wait for all the goobers and families to get off the dang thing. Some nefarious offenders include: Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix…ugh!
I definitely do not miss those!
Avis…
Speaking of rental cars…I don’t miss Avis. That is all.
Ok, I lied, here’s more. I hate Avis. They are so bad…so very bad. I prefer National every day of the week, but my current companies requires us to use Avis. Yay me.
Expense Reports
Arguably the worst part of business travel is expense reports. Some companies have some insane methods. I once worked for a company that made us staple the receipts to a 8×11 piece of paper, then fill out a crazy excel sheet, print that out, and mail (yes mail) the entire thing back to the accounting department. It’s no wonder they aren’t in business anymore…
I may miss traveling, but I do NOT miss expense reports!
Flight Delays
I don’t think anyone likes flight delays which are a necessary evil with travel. You can’t control it sometimes. What you can control, however, is how you react when they occur. I’ve seen people losing their ever loving minds over delays, but after 20 years of business travel I’ve learned to just roll with the punches.
That said, I definitely do not miss flight delays, cancellations, etc.
Middle seats
Most experienced travelers seldom find themselves in a middle seat. It still happens occasionally, and it’s never fun. I don’t think anyone likes a middle seat, regardless of how long the flight is. And even if I am not sitting in a middle seat, I also don’t like the fact that they exist…I’d rather not have someone sitting that close to me pandemic or not!
One silver lining for people traveling during the pandemic right now is that airlines, in many cases, are blocking the middle seats on planes to improve social distancing.
Clearly, the airlines won’t keep that up – the financial model makes no sense to do so. Middle seats are here to stay, but I’ll tell you one thing: I don’t miss ’em!
The sheer boredom
Frequent travel can be a lot of fun. Thrill of the unknown, bleisure travel, good food, upgrades, nice hotels, etc. But, there’s also a lot of down time. Sitting at airport gates. Sitting on 6 hour flights. Sitting in your hotel trying to get to sleep. Over time, travelers get pretty good at occupying their time (this often involves getting your travel gadgets in order), but sometimes it’s just boring. I don’t miss that part!
What do YOU not miss?
How about you? What do you absolutely not miss about traveling for work? Drop us a comment below and share some of the things you don’t miss!
Don’t forget to take our survey on when you think daily travel will cross the 1m passengers mark!
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3 comments
Good tips. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Definitely agree with the missing your family one, that really becomes wearing after a while.
I don’t get the hate for the Hampton Inn buffet. I’m loyal to Hilton as well, so I stay in my fair share of Hamptons and I think the buffet is as good or better than those at its competitor hotels (i.e., in that same basic service tier). Granted, I mostly stick with the hard boiled eggs, whatever meat is on offer, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. Certainly, that gets pretty old after a while – my wife and I stayed in Hamptons for 6 consecutive nights while moving across the country and at that point, we’d certainly had our fill of the buffet for a long while. But that example aside, I’m usually pretty satisfied with the Hampton breakfast, basic though it may be.
I am being a little dramatic about the Hampton buffet, but it’s pretty bad 😉