Things I Learned Traveling 250 Days Last Year

Two-thousand-seventeen was the 9th year in a row I've traveled over 100 days. In 2016, I traveled over 150 days and last year that number climbed to more than 250. In 2018, as we continue expanding Localeur globally from 70 cities today to more than 100, I'm primed to travel as many as 300 days as the destinations get further from our HQ in Austin and the trip durations get longer. So far, I have upcoming trips to New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Montreal, Europe (Copenhagen, Madrid, Lisbon, etc.) and am likely to travel back to South America and make my first trip to Africa this year, as well. 

Here are a few things I've learned about traveling solo:

1. Make routine your friend. Running is usually the first thing I do when I wake up. Reading is a big part of most of my days, usually both a business book (just finished The Four by Scott Galloway and now on Shoe Dog by Phil Knight) and a fiction/historical fiction (just read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman and now onto Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan). Writing is also a daily staple, which is why I'm contributing here so often. For years, I've had a 10,000 word/week personal pledge.

2. Feeling productive and rested. I sleep 6-6.5 hours a night on average, but I trust my body to make natural course corrections to keep me energized and prevent illness so I often wake up without the assistance of an alarm. Sometimes that means 8 hours. Either way, I try to roll with the ebbs and flows of the feeling of productivity. Sometimes that means 7 meetings in a day and sometimes that means no meetings at all but focusing on giving myself space to think creatively and strategically about the next milestone or objective for Localeur.

3. How not to lose time; sensibility. Develop your own system for airports and other time-suck situations, including not getting sick by making sure to drink/eat things with Vitamins, exercising, etc. One of my techniques, especially this time of year, is to sleep on airplanes with my jacket covering my face. Little things like that.

4. Intellectual curiosity; people. It's not a good trip for me if I don't meet strangers. Meeting the people I have scheduled meetings with simply isn't enough. I often sit at restaurant bars alone and making fast friends. 

5. Don’t blame your boss; time. When people travel for business to a particular city multiple times but never get around to seeing the sights or experiencing local in a city, it's easy to say it's because of your boss or too many meetings. Sometimes it's pure laziness or lack of intellectual curiosity. Getting out of "business travel" mode is a great way to come up with new ideas, get perspective on something that may be stressing you out with the job, and to take advantage of whatever the city you're visiting has to offer. Whatever you do, don't get stuck in a hotel for 24 hours a day, even if for a conference.