Advice on family life with a travel job

[lazytexasfan 47]

Did a search but couldn't find anything.

 

Looking at a great job offer, but it requires Monday- Thursday travel. wife and i are thinking about starting a family, so I'm looking for feedback on those who traveled extensively for work. how did it affect life at home? how about having/raising kids or starting a family? other things you realized that i should know before i potentially jump in?

[SMUlawUTgrad 81]

This wouldn't work for us. 

My wife and I really like each other. We are actually friends and have been together for a 1/3 of lives already. I couldn't imagine being without her and I think she feels the same way. We have two kids, a 3yo and a 10 week old. We often comment how much of a strain the kids are on everything including our relationship. We have pretty flexible jobs that pay pretty well so money is not our "issue". Kids are a huge resource suck and that starts with time. Unless you think she will truly be cool with you not having to do any of the home stuff for 4 days of every week it will likely produce some serious resentment. 

This could never work for us but that doesn't mean you can't give it a try. 

[DaysOff 7947]

Have a smart, organized, independent wife that can handle stuff while your away or visit the divorce thread and give up half your shit.

[StruggleBus 3922]

Are you currently employed? If so, how much of a raise will you be looking at with this new position? Will this new position open up new opportunities in the future?

It will probably work for now, or as long is it's just you and your wife. But it's going to suck ass if/when you have children. Missing out on more than half of your child's upbringing sucks. 

Then again, depending on how much of a raise you're looking at, it might be worth it to give your family a more secure future. 

If you're currently unemployed, and don't have any other strong offers or potential offers, then accept it. 

[Post Oak 20208]

Gonna have to get a road family

[woohorn 1131]

I wouldn't do it WITHOUT kids. She'll drive you crazy unless she has shit to do.

[StruggleBus 3922]

1 minute ago, woohorn said:

I wouldn't do it WITHOUT kids. She'll drive you crazy unless she has shit to do.

That's what her Mon-Thur boyfriend is for

[nineliveslost 2753]

I travel alternating from Florida one week to Texas one week. Trust me, its a bitch. Its an odd depressing vibe when you feel like a stranger in your own home. 

Always keep daily communication up. Dont care if its by phone, Skype or text messages. 

 

[orange dream 1247]

 What happens on the road, stays on the road (only kind of kidding)

I have a friend who has done this for almost 20 years.  For he and his wife (family) it has worked well but he is an extreme extrovert, never met a stranger, kind of guy and his wife is a an introvert who he would drive crazy if he was home all the time.  Honestly it has probably been the best thing for them and they have already discussed that when he retires they'll probably get a weekend place in the mountains so they (mainly his wife) can still have some solitude.

I only travel about 15% of the time and that is plenty for me and my wife's personalities.

If you go this route and kiddos arrive, after the DNA test, make sure you plan on giving your wife some real breaks (send her away by herself for the weekend) on the regular.  If y'all have kids will your wife continue to work or stay home with the kids.  If you're gone all the time and she is working full time that can be an added strain as well.

 

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

I did that life for 20+ years.  Wouldn't change a thing.  When I was home -- I was home.  Wife and kids (both kids conceived when wife was visiting me on the road!) often did alternative travel to wherever I was working.  We also had tons of airline miles to vacation on.  I made a good bit of coin in the process.  Give it a shot.

[RPM 26317]

3 hours ago, lazytexasfan said:

Looking at a great job offer, but it requires Monday- Thursday travel. wife and i are thinking about starting a family,

I've seen this movie. It did not have a happy ending.

[CooterBrown 18004]

I did it for 4 years. You will work at home FRI-SUN to make up for travel time and unrealistic deadlines. I started my travel 2 months after my 2nd kid was born. She didn’t really get attached to me until age 5. Wouldn’t let me do shit for her. I was just some dude that showed up on weekends.

Those jobs pay a lot because they want your spouse to stay home so you can’t ever quit since similar jobs with no travel pay a lot less. Most of the people in those jobs are single or divorced.

[52-80 19147]

Does the new job pay enough to support a side chick (and eventual divorce)?

[Errestaurants 2570]

you need to read the I'm an Alcoholic Thread. I've been traveling around 175 to 200 days a year for the last decade. It seems fun at first, staying at hotels, eating out at nice restaurants, hanging out at the hotel bar and meeting all these new interesting people, etc. It really depends on how strong your marriage is and how long will you be required to travel. Do you like to go out and have fun, well you're asking for trouble in my opinion because things just happen especially being on the road. Many people make it happen but I know of very few who didn't have any mishaps. Having a hobby like working out or attending a church in my opinion can help keep you out of the hotel bar where the trouble on road can begin. its also easy to become disconnected from your family after some time on the road. 

[Jkwellborn 6692]

You ok with Jody raising the kids you claim? Cause that’s probably where it’s headed after they get here.

[LebongJames 1791]

I travel about 80 nights a year. We have no kids but are also about to make that transition. I just recently took a job to be in Austin/ San Antonio only because I couldn’t imagine keeping that up with a baby or kids at home.
 

Also the road wears you down. I used to enjoy it but lately I just felt depressed looking around the lobby bar at all the other traveling work guys all on their phone eating and drinking in silence. It had to be better before smart phones. 
 

The tipping point was around 3 months ago I was riding with my boss and we looked at his lifetime Marriott status and he had over 4000 nights. That would be my next job and I am not looking to lose those nights on the road. Over 11 full years of his life in a Marriott alone.

[Chewbacca 7767]

27 minutes ago, LebongJames said:

Over 11 full years of his life in a Marriott alone.

That's just depressing to think about.

[Quagmire 2147]

This wouldn't work for us. 

My wife and I really like each other. We are actually friends and have been together for a 1/3 of lives already. I couldn't imagine being without her and I think she feels the same way. We have two kids, a 3yo and a 10 week old. We often comment how much of a strain the kids are on everything including our relationship. We have pretty flexible jobs that pay pretty well so money is not our "issue". Kids are a huge resource suck and that starts with time. Unless you think she will truly be cool with you not having to do any of the home stuff for 4 days of every week it will likely produce some serious resentment. 

This could never work for us but that doesn't mean you can't give it a try. 

Whipped!

[Jeffrey 90]

Almost did the same post MBA with a consulting gig and a 1yr old at home.

Tough decision but family won out for me. People I met doing it who were honest about the quality of life convinced me it wouldn't work for our situation.

Good luck!

[RDCanecutter 26396]

5 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Gonna have to get a road family

That was my first thought. Start the family you were going to start, and then start a couple of extra families elsewhere.

"Daddy's Hoo-oooome!"

[DaysOff 7947]

In that case I recommend Bogota.

[Js1 85287]

7 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Gonna have to get a road family

Works for NBA players! 

[Helobious 9451]

One of my closest friends had a pretty legit traveling sales job out of college, worked mon-thurs on the road, got one Friday off a month or something like that. He loved it for about a year before it started eating him alive. And he was single with no kids.

[0xdeadbeef 1645]

I had a close friend and co-worker who was on the road every other week for a couple years.  His wife and older kids were cool with it at first, but somewhere about 6-9 months into it, his marriage started to have problems... It was a sad slow motion train wreck that took about a year and a half. They did counseling, a trial separation, and then divorce.   Very, very sad to watch.  He switched jobs and came off the road, but it was to late.

Also, being on the road a lot while you wife is pregnant with her first child sounds like a really poor life decision. 

 

 

[52-80 19147]

9 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

That's just depressing to think about.

uhhh, yeah, but he gets free breakfast from the downtown Marriott in Metarie, lounge access, and complimentary enhanced in-room internet.  So who gets the last laugh now?

[LebongJames 1791]

6 hours ago, Helobious said:

One of my closest friends had a pretty legit traveling sales job out of college, worked mon-thurs on the road, got one Friday off a month or something like that. He loved it for about a year before it started eating him alive. And he was single with no kids.

You’re friend sounds like a pussy. Early 20s are what these jobs are made for. Just kidding, he was probably just more responsible than me. The first few years traveling I used it as an open tab to party in whatever city I was in. I’ve only been not traveling for the last few weeks. 
 

Biggest change for me is that I want to go have dinner with my wife now. After a 4 day trip she would want us to go out for dinner Friday night and I just spent the week doing that. I sucked it up most of the time but my waistline hated me.

 

Be prepared to gain 15 pounds.

[Nonbryan 173]

I think it just depends on you.  If you are a person that is adventurous and there are some "wins" in this for you, you will be fine.  I had a job where I was going 4 to 5 days per week and after a year or so, it really started to get to me.  That being said, my new job I am on the road probably 3 days per week and it's a breeze.  

[hornbri 1396]

16 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I did that life for 20+ years.  Wouldn't change a thing.  When I was home -- I was home.  Wife and kids (both kids conceived when wife was visiting me on the road!) often did alternative travel to wherever I was working.  We also had tons of airline miles to vacation on.  I made a good bit of coin in the process.  Give it a shot.

I am about to hit 20 years doing the same. I started the job before I met my wife and it is what we have always known. 

Is it hard? Of course it is sometimes, and you and your spouse need a plan and clear communication. But it can work for a lot of people. For us it helped a ton my wife was able to stop working and instead focus on the kids and all the daily household chores/errands that need to get done (she has to be happy about that though as well, if that would make your spouse miserable it is going to be a problem). 

 

[CooterBrown 18004]

One thing no one mentioned is the road warrior lifestyle.  I didn't work for Accenture but I worked for the client-side on a 4-year project so I lived that life. Their normal work schedule was 8am-8pm.  A two hour break and then they had a daily status meeting at 10pm.  It wasn't uncommon to hear of some of them then working until 2am.  On the days when the workload was lighter, they all went out drinking. If you didn't go, you didn't fit in to the company culture and you would get dinged on your performance review.  I had 4 different consultants approach me for positions once the project was over. We hired 2 of them that I know of. Of the dozen I worked with on that project, only 2 are at Accenture 3 years later.

 

 

 

[Lat22 4010]

https://youtu.be/opgMVtp52WA

[drt 638]

2 hours ago, Lat22 said:

https://youtu.be/opgMVtp52WA

Goddamnit.

I have 2 young kids and I've been traveling for almost a decade, adding to that my wife works.  It's hard and I'm looking for something local.  A small number of people love it, a larger number make it work, but just look at the majority of the responses in the thread.  If you do decide to give it a shot, plan on being in the hotel gym or out for a run every morning.  

[Horn of Gabriel 1614]

I've been doing this for about 10 years.  I have about 1M+ miles on American and probably the same amount on the other airlines over that time.  During that time I've done about 350 trips to over 30 states and 13 countries WW.   Currently I'm 42.  You're asking the right questions, some of the same stuff I asked when I started.  For me, I had progressed up the ranks to the exec level and my work days were non-stop: 24 hrs/day email, phone calls w/ Asia and Europe, etc.  Decisions were being made at all hours and if you wanted to be in the decision loop, you had to participate - also if you wanted to progress career wise (in tech).  I had the opportunity to move over to executive and professional training as an instructor.

My kids are 9 and 11 now.  My youngest (son) was born the same month that I started traveling like this.  Not going to lie, it was hard.  There were times when my wife felt stranded, because she was.  It's pretty gut wrenching to take a call from your wife home with a 2 y/o and a newborn who is sick and she can't sleep and you're 3000 miles away. There's literally nothing you can say or do to make things better.  Actually  there are a few things: the compensation part of the role allowed us to outsource a ton of stuff we used to do ourselves: lawn service, maid service, for awhile I paid a laundry service to do all our laundry which was a pretty good deal @$8/load they pick it up wash/dry and fold it and bring it back to you the next day.  That took some of the stress off.

My typical week is travel out Sunday/Monday afternoon and travel back Wed/Thurs night.  I'm usually doing that 3 weeks/month.  A few years ago we got short staffed and had to do more, that year I was on the road 47 weeks - which was too much.  My company has it set up right for the executive instructors, which make the tradeoffs worth it:

• When you're working, you're working and when you're home you're home - I only get a dozen or so work emails per week.  I'm not expected to do much other than expenses when I get home.  But when I'm leading training on the road, I have to "on," for the whole day, leading a class of smart and engaged people for 8 hrs/day, 3-4 days in a row with public speaking and facilitation. That drains you b/c it takes a ton of energy...so the home time is designed as your recharge time with family.  Sometimes on my weeks when I'm not teaching I'll do other stuff, or fly the family out to meet me wherever I am - in fact they just met me in California and we visited family and did a trip tot the Sequoia National Park, which was awesome.
• Compensation - I'm compensated above what I would have been making as a VP of Marketing or VP of Product, in terms of cash.  But when I did the calculation and thought about how you have to "on" 24 hours a day in a exec role, and the fact that I can basically forget about work when I'm home in this role, the work/life balance question becomes much closer.

My wife and I just had our 15th anniversary.  We're going strong.  My kids are fine too - they know the routine.  Dad goes to work, Dad comes home.  I try to focus on them fully when I'm home.  Most of the time I'm gone they are in school anyway.  There are a few things that are hard for me to do, like I can't commit to being a coach on my son's baseball team b/c of my travel.  I actually did it this year, but as an asst. coach and I was able to make all the games and 90% of the practices b/c the timing worked out, but sometimes it doesn't.  I have to work really hard on maintaining a solid relationship with my daughter, who is about to be a teenager in 18 months, I want to provide her with a loving and supportive family environment at home, but I'd be doing that regardless of my travel situation.

Most important you have to really support and trust your spouse.  Schedule dates and special times with her.  Listen and pitch in.  Prepare yourself to attack the honey-do list when you get home - and BTW  you will not be in any mood to do that shit after you've been traveling all week, but you've got to buck up and do it anyway.

There are multiple right answers to this question.  Only you can figure it out.  Here are the variables you'll need to balance and take into account:

• Amount of travel - days/week, and weeks/year
• Work expected outside of travel days - are you expected to do shit at home AND on the road?  That would suck.
• Where you'll travel - domestic or int'l.  Going to Asia on the reg really sucks!  Domestic is much easier and easier to get home on the night of a meeting.
• Compensation - are they making it worth your while?  Cash is king...
• Time off - get a lot of it and plan to use it.  Just realize that your family will be jazzed about using your miles to go on vacation and all you will want is to sit @ home...
• Your wife - does she have an independent streak or does she need you there a lot?
• You - are you going to get homesick or miss your family after being gone a few days?  How about a few days for 10 weeks in a row?
• Your relationship - how strong is your trust in each other?  Would either of you stray?  Would either of you be concerned about the other straying?  If the answer is yes to either, that is like rust for a relationship and will eat it up over time.
• Kids - do you have them, how old, how much do they need you, etc.  Doing lots of travel with newborns is HELL, trust me.  Your wife is very vulnerable during those early years and it's a make or break time for the family.
• Career - is this a launch pad for major career advancement?  Nothing wrong with a parallel move or getting paid, just another variable to balance.

Best of luck w/ the decision - hit me over PM if you want more or chat by phone w/ a road warrior...

Edited November 8, 2019 by Horn of Gabriel

[Reagan1k 3024]

For the guys I deal with on a daily basis, the ones who make it work are "typically" the ones for whom their relationship has only known the travel life.

If it's all he/she knew while dating and early in a marriage it only seems natural.  Otherwise it is game-changer in that dynamic.

It appears harder for the guys who formed relationship norms around one work life and then transition into a different one.  Same can be said for guys who come off the road - road warrior is all the wife knew and now you're home every night (insert jokes here).

It's tough, and that's why the compensation is typically high.

[luke duke 6412]

Don’t take the early flight home.

[RollLeft 5040]

3 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

I've been doing this for about 10 years.  I have about 1M+ miles on American and probably the same amount on the other airlines over that time.  During that time I've done about 350 trips to over 30 states and 13 countries WW.   Currently I'm 42.  You're asking the right questions, some of the same stuff I asked when I started.  For me, I had progressed up the ranks to the exec level and my work days were non-stop: 24 hrs/day email, phone calls w/ Asia and Europe, etc.  Decisions were being made at all hours and if you wanted to be in the decision loop, you had to participate - also if you wanted to progress career wise (in tech).  I had the opportunity to move over to executive and professional training as an instructor.

My kids are 9 and 11 now.  My youngest (son) was born the same month that I started traveling like this.  Not going to lie, it was hard.  There were times when my wife felt stranded, because she was.  It's pretty gut wrenching to take a call from your wife home with a 2 y/o and a newborn who is sick and she can't sleep and you're 3000 miles away. There's literally nothing you can say or do to make things better.  Actually  there are a few things: the compensation part of the role allowed us to outsource a ton of stuff we used to do ourselves: lawn service, maid service, for awhile I paid a laundry service to do all our laundry which was a pretty good deal @$8/load they pick it up wash/dry and fold it and bring it back to you the next day.  That took some of the stress off.

My typical week is travel out Sunday/Monday afternoon and travel back Wed/Thurs night.  I'm usually doing that 3 weeks/month.  A few years ago we got short staffed and had to do more, that year I was on the road 47 weeks - which was too much.  My company has it set up right for the executive instructors, which make the tradeoffs worth it:

• When you're working, you're working and when you're home you're home - I only get a dozen or so work emails per week.  I'm not expected to do much other than expenses when I get home.  But when I'm leading training on the road, I have to "on," for the whole day, leading a class of smart and engaged people for 8 hrs/day, 3-4 days in a row with public speaking and facilitation. That drains you b/c it takes a ton of energy...so the home time is designed as your recharge time with family.  Sometimes on my weeks when I'm not teaching I'll do other stuff, or fly the family out to meet me wherever I am - in fact they just met me in California and we visited family and did a trip tot the Sequoia National Park, which was awesome.
• Compensation - I'm compensated above what I would have been making as a VP of Marketing or VP of Product, in terms of cash.  But when I did the calculation and thought about how you have to "on" 24 hours a day in a exec role, and the fact that I can basically forget about work when I'm home in this role, the work/life balance question becomes much closer.

My wife and I just had our 15th anniversary.  We're going strong.  My kids are fine too - they know the routine.  Dad goes to work, Dad comes home.  I try to focus on them fully when I'm home.  Most of the time I'm gone they are in school anyway.  There are a few things that are hard for me to do, like I can't commit to being a coach on my son's baseball team b/c of my travel.  I actually did it this year, but as an asst. coach and I was able to make all the games and 90% of the practices b/c the timing worked out, but sometimes it doesn't.  I have to work really hard on maintaining a solid relationship with my daughter, who is about to be a teenager in 18 months, I want to provide her with a loving and supportive family environment at home, but I'd be doing that regardless of my travel situation.

Most important you have to really support and trust your spouse.  Schedule dates and special times with her.  Listen and pitch in.  Prepare yourself to attack the honey-do list when you get home - and BTW  you will not be in any mood to do that shit after you've been traveling all week, but you've got to buck up and do it anyway.

There are multiple right answers to this question.  Only you can figure it out.  Here are the variables you'll need to balance and take into account:

• Amount of travel - days/week, and weeks/year
• Work expected outside of travel days - are you expected to do shit at home AND on the road?  That would suck.
• Where you'll travel - domestic or int'l.  Going to Asia on the reg really sucks!  Domestic is much easier and easier to get home on the night of a meeting.
• Compensation - are they making it worth your while?  Cash is king...
• Time off - get a lot of it and plan to use it.  Just realize that your family will be jazzed about using your miles to go on vacation and all you will want is to sit @ home...
• Your wife - does she have an independent streak or does she need you there a lot?
• You - are you going to get homesick or miss your family after being gone a few days?  How about a few days for 10 weeks in a row?
• Your relationship - how strong is your trust in each other?  Would either of you stray?  Would either of you be concerned about the other straying?  If the answer is yes to either, that is like rust for a relationship and will eat it up over time.
• Kids - do you have them, how old, how much do they need you, etc.  Doing lots of travel with newborns is HELL, trust me.  Your wife is very vulnerable during those early years and it's a make or break time for the family.
• Career - is this a launch pad for major career advancement?  Nothing wrong with a parallel move or getting paid, just another variable to balance.

Best of luck w/ the decision - hit me over PM if you want more or chat by phone w/ a road warrior...

So...

and

[tokamak 6395]

Most (all?) of the responses so far focus on what it'll be like for you, but you need to make damn sure that your wife is on board, too. Kids ain't easy at times, especially young ones, and especially if there's more than one of them. You're asking her to take on a lot. A lot. Does she work, too? Because that multiplies the difficulty as well. Do you have family/close friends nearby that you can absolutely count on? What's the plan when school calls because your kid started barfing and you're out of town and your wife's stuck at work? Then once they get a bit older, you start after school activities, etc etc.

My wife travels a little bit (about 3-5 nights per month on average) and we have two very young kids. Even if she's only gone one night I'm always happy to see her. It's surprisingly lonely without her - turns out 2-year-olds suck at conversation.

[orange dream 1247]

31 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

So...

and

Watched this movie while stuck in Europe by the volcano that shut down European air travel for a week or so 8 or 9 years ago.  I had been on my way home from a trip when I was diverted to Germany  and got stuck there.  Watching that movie while I was in that situation is about the most depressed I've ever been.

[Horn of Gabriel 1614]

43 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

So...

and

If Vera Farmiga in her prime threw herself at me all bets are off.

People definitely glamorize travel.  "Oh you're going to XYZ city, that's amazing!" ...no bitch, a hotel room in Paris looks exactly like a hotel room in Omaha.  Plus you're there alone, which you do get used to but it's depressing to not have anyone there to share it with.

[CooterBrown 18004]

 Plus you're there alone, which you do get used to but it's depressing to not have anyone there to share it with.

That’s why consultants get a work spouse for during the week.

[tx 3 putt 76873]

On 11/7/2019 at 2:37 PM, StruggleBus said:

That's what her Mon-Thur boyfriend is for

This and nothing easier than road pussy 

one of you will end up cheating 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

There is no way I would want to do this and I have turned down jobs that required travel. Too much stress to put on my wife with two young children. Plus I hate to be away from my kids. If I had to travel that much for work, I would be obligated to be around all the time when I was at home. That doesn’t leave time for myself and my couple of hobbies that are very important to me (and that is a big deal with life balance).

Plus your wife will find some other dick.

[tbone_ 14112]

I traveled 50 weeks a year usually s-w for nearly 4 years. It sucked ass for me. And I was traveling to and staying in a condo in Del Mar CA, which isn’t the worse place in the world.

The whole dynamic was just bad. Didn’t do shit in SD, because what I am supposed to do, go to bars and party?

Then when you get home, even if everyone is as accommodating as possible, you’re still the asshole for being gone all the time. Plus my kid was 2nd grade - 6th grade. Didn’t like not being around to help with homework and whatever else. I hated it and would never travel that much again.

That said I do enjoy the peace and quiet of a business trip every so often.

[Your Mom 4805]

I do it but i only work 3 days a week, gone the whole 3 days. Also, I’m divorced but i don’t think the travel was the reason. I make up for those 3 days by picking up the kids directly from school, volunteering once or twice a week at their school, etc... Its not serious bonding time but it’s a way for the kids to know you’re involved and connected. I used to be gone 4 days a week and it was significantly worse. That one extra day at home was life-changing for me. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

I think being away from your pregnant wife is a terrible move, especially if her pregnancy becomes rocky and it's multiple doctor visits a week

Also raising a newborn by oneself would be impossible. It's almost a 3 or 4 person job when you factor in mother in law and your own mom if theyre in close proximity.


But yea... if you're off traveling getting uninterrupted sleep while shes dying...i don't see your marriage lasting. Money wont make a shit if you can't enjoy it

[fattyflattie 4639]

With my oldest, I was gone from 3 months to the day before she turned 1, only coming home for 2 weekends, to bury FIL and my grandfather.   With my second, I was gone from 3 months to 7 months.  This one bothered my pretty badly, and I didn’t gaf about anything but getting home. I have not traveled more than a week or so since my third.  I missed so much with my first two. I didn’t know it at the time, but hard to think about now. 

The wife always handled it fine.  It did suck being 24-30 hour flight away when the whole house would get the flu, etc.  But she managed, even working full time.  I don’t think I could do too many more 4-12 month straight travel periods.  Can’t be away from the kids that long.  Hell, don’t know if marriage could take it anymore. The money was pretty good at the time, I do a lot better now though.  
 

If you want your marriage to last, try to keep your dick in your pants.  

[Brew 3049]

I traveled a lot in my 20’s and early 30’s, but nothing like that. I probably would do 20- 25 full weeks out a year in the worst years. My wife is extremely independent, so it never was an issue for us. As we got older and had kids I started backing it down. I’m still out 8-10 partial weeks a year and it’s harder now with two teenage girls that are involved in activities. Plus, I just don’t like the road any more. There are only so many restaraunts and bars that you want to go out to. When I was younger there were always 4-5 of us, so we had a big time. Now, it’s usually me by myself for specific meetings and I’m not the personality type to go sit at a bar by myself and meet people. My wife travels with me some since the girls are older and will probably do it more as they get even older. I’m in a stretch of 4 weeks out right now. I look around at the airport and I see the guys traveling that look like road warriors. It just looks like a sad lonely existence that usually involves a lot of alcohol.

[Hook1997 5351]

If you leave on Monday am and are back Thursday night that’s really not that bad.  Hell a 3 night break from the wife would be a good thing on the relationship I would think.  We need our space lol. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21875]

I’ll give a little perspective from the other side.  My father traveled a lot for work when I was growing up.  As a result of his being gone so much, we never really developed any kind of a relationship until he retired.  He died shortly after retirement so I don’t feel that I ever really knew my father, which is something I regret.  I promised myself I would never do that to my kids, and I haven’t.  Another downside to his travel was that we never took any vacations as a family.  He was so burned out from traveling that he couldn’t understand wanting to travel for fun.

[tbone_ 14112]

He was so burned out from traveling that he couldn’t understand wanting to travel for fun.

This was very real for me.

[ZB'Tejas 593]

Whew, this thread is for real. I spent most of my 20s as a consultant doing the weekly travel thing. No wife and no kids so it was very manageable plus since I was a consultant on a project with other traveling consultants those became my friends I spent the most time with. Some cites were shittier than others but I saw a lot, ate a lot of food and drank even more booze. Fast forward to my 30s where I got married that travel lifestyle got a lot less interesting. Consulting (and the travel that comes with it)had run it's course for me therefore I got into Sales. Now I have young kids and still travel a little bit but way more manageable than the weekly road warrior. I knew/know plenty of people that do it but I don't think I would ever go back to the 100% travel with a family. Good advice in many of these responses.