Regular readers of this little blog will know that I travel a whole bunch and occasionally I am away from home for days at a time. Friends of mine think this is pretty glamorous and while it is very cool and fun to stay in hotels and stuff (yes it is true...I have the best job in the world) it can sometimes be a solitary thing that doesn't always create inspiring ideas.
This is why I recently made a decision to do things a little differently from now on while I travel...you see I am one of these responsible business travelers that books a slew of meetings and tries to maximize every minute of my trip...right up to sleep time.
Makes sense right?
Well ya but what was happening was I would come home and people would say stuff like "Did you see this...or that?" and my answer was always no because I was too busy running from appointment to appointment or sitting in my hotel answering my email.
Then it came to me...why am I spending so much time in my hotel room calling housekeeping every hour for pillows and stuff?
(Answer is cause I crave female conversation but that is a post for another day)
...then I had another realization....I can answer my email from anywhere and have decided to do just that. Last week when I was in NYC I had plans fall through on me so I used the time to take a trip up to Harlem to watch Baske
tball in the world famous Rucker Park and actually wrote the idea notes for this blog post there...and answered a few hundred email in a super cool setting...and since I was clacking away on my laptop I am pretty sure people thought I was an NBA scout because people kept offering me water and asking if I saw anything I liked!
The following day I had a meeting in Brooklyn and instead of running back to my hotel like I normally would've I asked some folks if they knew where the movie Do The Right Thing was filmed so I could sit on that street and work there but no one knew so I simply parked myself in front of a corner store and started working and just pretended I was Robin Harris.
I guess what I am saying is nothing interesting happens in your hotel room...unless you get one of those open minded housekeeping staff members...so why stay in your hotel?
Get out and see stuff...meet people...create interesting stories and opportunities.
Looking back I think I was more productive because I wasn't sitting in a cab or on a train to get to somewhere to sit and do my work...I just sat somewhere interesting and did it!
(photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/ cause I forgot to take a picture)
Monday, September 08, 2008
I am getting tired of entertaining ladies in my hotel when I travel
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3 comments:
I like the idea of being at home in the world wherever I am. Like you, I start to shrivel up if locked away in a hotel room for too long, no matter if I can order in the yoga ball and room service dinner. It is just soul-sucking.
I have a conference coming up in California (sweet!) and decided to go for the gusto, spend a bunch of extra days there. I am probably going to have work to do while I am there, but my thinking is it will be better to work in a cafe in California (or if I'm lucky, on the beach) than in the usual home office in Toronto.
Cheers,
Connie
You are so right. Plus, the inspiration from just "getting out there" and changing your routine, or even discovering your own hometown is priceless. I've come up with some great ideas while going for a run and walking through the great museums of DC. In the creative age, you don't need to be at your desk 9-5 to produce great work.
I have the tendency to do the same thing when I travel. Since I started my blog I get out alot more. My reasoning is always "worst case I get a post out of the deal."
I found your blog on theinc.com. I love it btw.
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