On the road again...

Summer is basically over. I know we technically have a few more weeks left according to the calendar but here in the DMV, it's already getting cooler (damn summer polar vortex) and the kids are already starting back to school. School supplies are everywhere and I saw a display of candy corn at the grocery the other day.

When I joined the admissions staff of my alma mater in 2004, I began my career in work travel. Admissions counselors travel from mid-August to mid-November and again in the spring after reading season is over. I covered Nebraska, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and North-Central Louisiana so I earned a lot of frequent flyer miles and learned to love AM radio on the drives to Monroe and Shreveport. Since moving to the company I work for now (for eight years y'all), I have logged even more miles and hours in airports. I think I know a few things about traveling and how to prepare for weeks and months on the road.

In honor of travel season, I thought I'd offer my tips for making travel less horrible. Face it, work travel stops being fun the first time you're delayed and have to sleep in the airport. Or the hundredth time you spill coffee on yourself on your way to a school or meeting. Add your own tips to the comments!

1. Make a packing list. I know you think you don't need to do this but you do. This is especially important if you are going to be gone for longer than one week. You need to plan outfits accordingly or make sure to account for dry cleaning or laundry services during your travels. My list also included items for the actual purpose of my trip: business cards, copies of presentations (if needed), banner, name tag. Making a list helps.
2. Have two sets of all of your toiletries, medicine, chargers, and other accoutrements. I learned after my first trip that this is the only way to travel. You think that you're going to just throw in something you use the morning you leave but then you forget about it. Invest the money in two complete sets of makeup, other toiletries, medicine, chargers, hairbrushes, and anything else that you regularly need in a day. It's a bit of an investment up front but it will save you packing time and ultimately money in the long run. It's easier to keep track of what needs to be restocked or replaced if you do this. You can also keep the travel set in your preferred suitcase or overnight bag so your only packing is clothing. Two items to add to your kit: a Tide stick (or wipes) and binder clips. The Tide stick will come in handy (trust me) and the binder clips can be used for tons of stuff. My favorite: clipping the curtains together so no light comes in.
3. Pack in a the same color family. This is especially important if you have to wear suits or more business professional clothes when traveling. If you bring the brown and the black suit, you have to bring the shoes to match. Don't do this. Pick one color family and accessorize appropriately. This cuts down on space in your bag and the number of things you bring that you ultimately won't wear anyway.
4. Know the rules for whatever form of transportation you are taking. If you're new to traveling and don't know about TSA rules, read up on them. One of my biggest travel pet peeves is people who don't know about their liquids have to be in a quart size bag and that they have to take off their shoes to go through security. Do I agree with these rules? Not really but they exist and as a traveler you need to be aware of them. Same goes for policies on trains and what you're really signing in a rental car agreement. Literally everything is online these days so there's no reason not to be informed before you travel.
5. You will experience a delay or cancellation at some point - Don't Panic! Delays are annoying and inevitable. Please don't be rude to the airline staff (even if they're being rude to you) and calm down. You will eventually make it to your destination and more than likely, you'll get something for your trouble. Make sure to check in and then go get a drink (alcoholic or otherwise).
6. Bring something non-work related with you to occupy your time if you end up living in the airport. Did you know that the average American only reads four books a year? I read four books a month (and that's a slow month). Yes, you may need to use some of your time to do other work things but also make sure to bring something with you to allow yourself some decompression time. Books, knitting, your Netflix account - whatever works for you.
7. Experience the cities you travel to as much as possible. I've had the good fortune to travel to some pretty fun and interesting places in my ten years on the road (and some creepy and horrible places too). If your schedule allows, do something that you can only do in that city or town. Go to a game, visit a museum, go to a local famous restaurant, see a play. The internet makes it so easy to find something to do wherever you're going so don't waste the opportunity.
8. Embrace the chain restaurant. As a child of the suburbs I'm here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with chain restaurants. I also lived the majority of my life in New Orleans so I know that locally owned and operated restaurants are the best but sometimes all you need and want is a cheeseburger from Chili's or some breadsticks from the Olive Garden. You want the familiar because that's what we crave when we're away from home. Just do it; embrace the chain restaurant. And don't feel bad about it. I have an admissions counselor friend who used to plan trips around Cracker Barrel locations because there were no Cracker Barrels in his home state. That's how he got through travel season. Do what you have to do.
9. But also make healthier food choices. And exercise. It's a lot easier now to eat healthier when you travel. Airports, restaurants, and even gas stations are getting on board with having lots of options when it comes to fresh food. Have a salad occasionally or some fruit. Don't eat fast food every day. Use the fitness center at your hotel or ask about trails around the area. Don't be a slug; it makes you more tired and less pleasant to be around.
10. Embrace the Food Bed. Do you ever feel silly when you book a hotel room with double beds and you're the only person there? Don't. You've just been hotel-ing wrong. One bed is your Sleep Bed and the other bed is your Food Bed. Why eat dinner in the same bed you're going to sleep in? Do you want to smell like Chipotle first thing in the morning? You could also use your extra bed as a storage area and a work space if you want to separate work from sleep. 
11. Invest in a great suitcase. Baggage fees are astronomical and ridiculous. Make sure you have one suitcase (with wheels) that will fit all of what you need for two weeks of travel. Mine version is purple BUT professional so it's easy to spot if I do have to gate check my bag.
12. Postcards! I buy postcards when I travel. Sometimes I send them from my trip. Sometimes they come back with me and I send them at a later time. Or I use them for decorating my work cube. It's an inexpensive way to remember where I've traveled and I can use them to send people actual mail. Everyone loves getting actual mail.

It should go without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) that you should have fun when you travel even when it's for work. Today you're in sunny Omaha and tomorrow in snowy New Haven but at least you can say you've been there.

What did I miss? Anyone have other travel tips to share? Post them in the comments.

Next week on the Island: We say goodbye to summer by giving it the Lazy Movie Weekend treatment with a viewing of Wet Hot American Summer. I'll also unveil my plans to open a camp exclusively for indoor kids. You won't want to miss it!

Admissions Counselor Blues

NOTE: I'm attending the annual NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling) conference this week. I'll be seeing many of my admissions counselor and school counselor friends so I thought I'd reflect on a time when I was of that world more specifically. I originally wrote this for a project that a few friends were working on focused on stories of the storm but it never got off the ground and this ended up in a notebook in a box in my closet. I found that notebook when I moved to Arlington and have been revising some of the work. I hope you enjoy it. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled Island musings this weekend.

March 14, 2006

            Banner. Nametag. Rolling bag. Prospect card. I have never thought I’d have a profession that was at once so identifiable while being so anonymous. If you were to pass me in an airport you would think that I’m just another member of the traveling business class with my rolling bag and permanent cup of coffee. If you followed me to my rental car you would see a standard, non-descript colorless (is beige really a color?) mid-size, two door car. Probably a Dodge Stratus or a Chevy Malibu. Follow me on to my hotel and you’d find me at a Marriott or Courtyard or whatever by Marriott. I’m a Marriott girl (at least for now). No fancy suite, just your average room, hopefully there’s wifi and a king would awesome. I like to sleep in the center; it’s like sleeping on an island. 

            If you were to continue with me over the course of the evening you would see a fairly typical life of a person who travels mainly for work. I like to order room service and watch cable (I have neither at home). I like my hotel room cold. I try to neaten things for the cleaning staff. Up to this point, I’m traveler Jane in a sea of traveler Janes. Nothing special or unique.

            If you followed me after my Starbucks run the next morning you would soon see the traveler Jane persona fade away. I have a banner and a nametag. I have a table to set up and I’d prefer a rectangle. Circular tables and my banner don’t get along.

            I am the face of my university. I am my banner and my nametag. A roller bag accompanies me everywhere. I am on a quest for a fully completed prospect card and the mythical oboe player from South Dakota. I am an admissions counselor! I help shape the university classes of the future. I have begun to take my job a bit less seriously.

            Admissions counseling seems like a subculture in higher education.We’re the black sheeps of the university family. No matter what, we will never be good enough for the rest of the family. I’m hoping someone will research this phenomenon one day. Maybe it can be their dissertation. We have our own language and gestures and rituals. There are hierarchies and hierarchies within hierarchies. There are lifers and the rotating masses of 20 somethings in their first job. When I first started I described the job (the road part at least) as being a lot like high school only with slightly more money and way more alcohol.

            What happens when that identity is removed? During my first travel season I wondered that all the time. We had been trained that forgetting any of the items for our table would be considered a huge sin and we would be reprimanded upon our return to the office. My ODC constantly kicked into high gear every time I packed to travel. I checked for my badge and banner at least twenty times before leaving. Yes, I have a compulsion. That’s the way it goes.

            As I finalized my travel for my second fall season I was a bit more relaxed. I knew that nothing too horrible would happen to me if I forgot my nametag and prospect cards are easy to photocopy. I had a new rolling bag this time around and it wasn’t as heavy as my parents’ Corgi (without the materials). My trips were, in my opinion, better planned and a more efficient use of my time. I was determined not to get lost. I left work on August 26^th with all my trips booked and ready to go.

            Friday night was nothing special. I had errands to run over the weekend but no plans to evacuate as of Friday afternoon. I woke up on Saturday and a lot had changed. I ran my errands, packed up my bag, the cat and headed to Birmingham. I threw in my day planner (awesome). We thought we’d be home by Wednesday.

            Pretty soon we realized that we would not be home on Wednesday. My friend and I made our ways to our parents’ houses to figure out what next. By the time I got to DC, I got the call “Buy some suits, you’re doing all your trips.” I spent the next three days frantically rearranging flights, buying clothes and photocopying prospect cards (see?).  I would head out on my first trip once week after the levees broke. My on the road identity became something I really never wanted it to be: hurricane college.

            The biggest issue with being “hurricane college” is that there is no way to stop people from thinking that ever. No matter what you tell someone, they will not believe you. I tried my hardest to clarify and explain but images on CNN speak a whole lot louder than words.

            For the first two days of my first trip to Omaha, NE for Catholic Colleges Week, I had a maroon tablecloth, photocopied prospect cards and college fair flyers and nothing else. Compared to my colleagues I was plain, no frills, not that interesting. They had nametags and pretty banners and fun photos of their campuses and students. I had horrible images in a 24/7 news cycle and a sad computer generated sign. The staff at one of the local universities had to photocopy the one business card I had for a counselor breakfast (thank God my mom always has one of my cards at home). The whole thing made me feel very out of control. I just wanted to go home (and I mean home to New Orleans).

            I thought things would get better when I got my “banner” (a plastic temporary version) but I only got yelled at by seventeen year olds and became a bit of a target. Whoever said Midwesterners were all nice has never been to Omaha following a catastrophic hurricane.

            As I continued to travel that fall I became even more aware of the trappings of the admissions industry. I liked not having so much stuff (viewbooks, junior pieces, etc.) but missed the reliance on the pictures. I started to hate my colleagues; they didn’t have any hard questions to answer like me. While they answered questions on GPA and scores, I had to answer questions like “Is you school even there?” or “Do you offer a major in scuba?” People are not particularly sympathetic or sensitive to events like these. Basically, people suck.

            It doesn’t seem to matter how much times passes; we will always be “hurricane college.” We can rebuild our city and not have another storm for a 100 years but the label will still be there. It doesn’t matter if I have my nametag and banner, I’ll still be identified that way. Not as traveler Jane, not as an admissions professional—just as hurricane college. People will never realize the pain and the hurt and how awful and hurtful their comments and “jokes” were. They don’t really know what it means to miss their home like I did. And I hope they never do. They will never have the desire to punch a 17 year boy in the face for asking if everyone in my city was dead and then laughing about it. Again, I hope they never feel that way. I guess I rather be traveler Jane, anonymous and plain, then hurricane college any day.