Looking for friends who travel for work excessively

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pgray007
pgray007 Posts: 47 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Do your friends think you work for the CIA? Do hotel front desk staff know you by name, but your children occasionally forget who you are? Do you have a lifetime Platinum card for an airline (or two) and complain when you have to eat at Mortons yet again?

If so, it would be great to get some friends in a similar situation. I do around 100-150 nights/year in hotels and tend to use travel as an excuse for why I didn't run, or why I ate yet another bacon triple-stack (hey, it was the only high protein item on the menu) so I'd love to connect with some folks in a similar situation. I'm aiming to get back into half-marathon shape, and dump about 40 lbs. 37 y/o male currently sporting 235 lbs., but happy to connect with anyone who plies the airports, hotels, and highways of the world while struggling to remain healthy.

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  • throoper
    throoper Posts: 351 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Me me me! I'm a wildlife biologist and am gone from home 4 nights a week, most weeks April through late July or early August. I guess that's more like 75 nights a year, but still.

    It's tough but I have a lot of tricks.... skip most of the hotel breakfast, stock up at the grocery store on easy portable snacks instead of getting fast food for lunch / travel snacks, almost always order an entree salad with the dressing/cheese/etc on the side for dinner, pound a cup of coffee or a diet redbull (bad I know) at the end of my standard 11-12 hour day and get my *kitten* out on a run when I get back to the hotel, etc! It's definitely doable, especially when you're pros like us. I try to remember that it's such a rookie mistake to eat crap all the time just because you can and it's easier : )

    Anyway feel free to add me if you want! I'm also a half-marathoner and yeah, it's a great goal to work towards, especially since you've already been there.
  • randyjuggler
    randyjuggler Posts: 8
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    I travel 25-30 weeks a year.
    Hotels, airports and cruise ships are my home.
  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 698 Member
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    I used to quite excessively. My first few years with my current job I was probably in the field Monday to Friday, 75% of the time. I don't go in the field nearly as often these days, maybe a few days/nights a month.
  • Seasidedebbie
    Seasidedebbie Posts: 85 Member
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    Thanks for starting this thread.

    I travel 75-100 nights a year. After too many fast food meals I now try to get a hotel with a kitchenette or at least a refrigerator. I prefer to make my meals when possible. I try to bring my own snacks and breakfast items.
    I walk, weather and time permitting.

  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 698 Member
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    ^ Yes! A hotel with a fridge and a microwave, if you can. I'll sometimes go shopping at a local grocery store and stock up for the week to keep myself from eating out the entire time. I would also try to remember to bring workout clothes, since most hotels have small workout rooms. Sometimes I might even use the pool in the summer.
  • throoper
    throoper Posts: 351 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Yep the fridge and microwave are key. And here are some of my grocery store staples when I'm out in the field. All healthy, portable and easy to eat, and don't really need refrigeration for at least a couple days. I'll just eat a reasonable combo of these things every day for breakfast, lunch, and snacks and call it good.

    String cheese, laughing cow cheese wedges, apples, bananas, clementines, cherry tomatoes, mini sweet bell peppers, carrots, beef jerky, raw almonds, smoked salmon (packaged in foil), tuna, unsweetened ice tea, sugar free lemonade mix (so I drink a lot of water).
  • cpettigrew
    cpettigrew Posts: 168 Member
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    4-6 nights a week in a hotel after being glued to the driver's seat of a double-decker bus for 6-8 hours. I have learned to love protein bars and hotel microfridges.
  • MMarvelous
    MMarvelous Posts: 1,067 Member
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    I fly home once a month for 5 days each monthly. I stopped staying in hotels but when I do they always know me. For some reason hotel receptionist would forget to key my card for the regency room but when I went back down to the desk they would just had me a card to get into it.

    My favorite hotel gym is Hyatt then Hampton Inn.

  • pgray007
    pgray007 Posts: 47 Member
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    Glad to find more travellin' fools! I'll add you all tomorrow...

    It sounds like I need to start brining a bit more food along with me. I generally don't stay at places with fridge/kitchen/microwave but at least a decent breakfast instead of the Chorizo Eggs Benedict (a Houston Hyatt Regency favorite) will probably keep things moving in the right direction.

    Sent from the JW Marriott in Orlando... if nothing else should be some nice running weather tomorrow morning.
  • jmitchell418
    jmitchell418 Posts: 2
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    I too travel in excess of 150 nights/year. Found that shopping at the grocery store as others have mentioned has helped a lot. I find that working out after (or before) a twelve hour day is the toughest part. Work starts at 7am and I can't get motivated to work out at 8pm when all I want is to eat and relax with a beer! getting back on track starting next Monday....from the hotel....we'll see how committed I am this year!
  • jlc9000
    jlc9000 Posts: 1
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    I stayed at a Hotel 244 nights last year. Yikes! I drive 3hrs one way on Mondays then add a 10hr day to that. 4/10's to 12's then back home at the end of the week, another 3hr drive. It is so difficult for me to find any motivation to stay active through the winter! One thing I notice others doing and have picked up on is the habit of (in warmer temps) is to walk around the the outside of the hotel. Use the parking lot as a track! I've seen guys in dress pants and dress shoes walking right next to someone in workout clothes. I even see the occasional hall walker when the weather is bad. At first it seems weird but once I got over my own ego, using what I had was so easy!

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