Traveling While Boujee - Chapter 2: Incorporating Play Into Your Work Travel
Today’s topic in Chapter 2 of Traveling While Boujee surrounds work travel.
Whether you are traveling alone or with a coworker, there are so many ways to incorporate play into your work travel. Think of “play” as a way to decompress and destress after a travel day. Consider what your version of “play” is. Is it exploring? Is it relaxing? Is it shopping?
Most recently, my coworker and I had a jam-packed schedule of training sessions we were hosting in Des Moines, Minneapolis, & Omaha. I reminisced on all the jokes we made in the office over the past week regarding our trip to the Midwest.
"Hey, do you think I should bring my Hillary Clinton shirt?"
"Do you think we can temporarily join farmersmeet.com?"
"They're sending the black and Jewish girl to middle America?"
"Should we make a reservation at Chilli's?
After finishing our dinner at JFK airport, we realized our flight to Des Moines had been cancelled. Usually I’d be upset, but we just looked at each other and laughed. We needed to fly directly to Minneapolis since we were no longer able to make our Des Moines training session. We eventually boarded a flight to Minneapolis, but the plane ran out of gas, and we ended up in Milwaukee.
After a travel day from hell, we wanted to make sure we still made the most of the trip. We managed to incorporate the below play into our limited free time:
A cardio workout in the hotel gym.
A few rides on the rollercoasters at the Mall of America theme park.
Making friends with strangers at dinner and ultimately receiving free drinks.
The play my coworker and I incorporated into our trip not only improved our mood, but our professional relationship. After bonding over our bad travel experience, we had great chemistry hosting our training sessions and were able to feed off one another. There's a correlation between including play in work travel and your work performance during a trip.
According to Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, “Focusing on the good isn’t just about overcoming our inner grump to see the glass half full. It’s about opening our minds to the ideas and opportunities that will help us be more productive, effective and successful at work and in life.”
Let’s be clear, work is the priority during work travel. That’s a given. However, it’s important to make sure you find time for some enjoyment, so you can perform better at whatever it is you do.
The below are some things to keep in mind.
From a logistics standpoint:
Is there an option to extend your trip thru the weekend?
How much free time do you anticipate having?
Do you have a play budget?
Is there a friend you can stay with?
When making plans:
If you're social, do you know a friend who really knows the area and can offer recommendations and/or catch up with you? Can you give them notice, prior to your arrival?
If you're a foodie, are there famous restaurants you’ve always wanted to visit? I typically Google “Best restaurants in X city.”
If you’re more of an introvert, can you utilize the down time in your hotel room? Is there a book you’ve wanted to finish? Is there a trashy television show you want to watch?
Play doesn’t necessarily mean getting on a rollercoaster or being with another co worker. It could consist of learning about the city’s culture, getting hit on by your waiter at dinner or conversing with people you usually wouldn’t. It is through work travel that I became comfortable sitting at a restaurant bar by myself.
I encourage you to leverage these experiences to better yourself, to increase your own love for your job, and most importantly, get those sky miles.
-B
The black girl who will not be visiting Iowa, Minneapolis, or Milwaukee anytime soon.