[Closed] Working away from home

I've done about 7 years working away in 3 separate stints, always been happy to leave but each time it was both financially rewarding and very interesting professionally.

A bit like you mention above being in hotels and the like can be hard. For me a lot of how much fun a trip was depended on who I was with. Some colleagues were hard drinking and that sucked, but most were decent and it was a great chance to learn from people you wouldn't normally hang about with. I quite liked solo trips and would usually spend the time running or exploring. Most of my travel was outside UK so learned a load about the lesser explored parts of the world.

But overall it's very disruptive to home life for me. I found it hard to spend 5 days away, come home knackered on a Friday night then flip a switch into dad mode. Also no good for kids. Especially for international trips it's a huge shock to the body - a complete switch in diet and sleep only to reverse it 5 days later. For me it's definitely not good for my health.

One of my colleagues husbands was a bit jealous of all the glamorous travel, so she took him and the kids on one of her trips to the arse end of Oklahoma (she was US based) for an audit. He swore it took him 2 weeks to recover and get back on an even keel once home. He had a lot more understanding after that of what she went through.

Did it for 11 years from my 20s to early 30s,it was great when I was single.Worked all over the UK on lots of different projects and trips abroad.Got to know and worked with some amazing people,it was the making of me.But,and it's a big but,living out a suitcase is not for everyone,saw lots of people(older and the same age)crash and burn.Relationships have to be something special and the temptation to hit the bar(we were always in very good hotels) and grab a bit of local excitement was too tempting for some.As soon as I fell for Mrs FH,I knew that was it.Long distance relationships can be amazing,but they can only take so much.The thing I used to miss the most at times was the'village life' and that I was no longer a local.

I'm now a teacher and folk ask why I left my previous career. There is little understanding when I say the travel did for me. No month without being abroad and no week without being away. Hugely disruptive, struggled with joining rugby club because I'd never be able to train or play with consistency.
After a 6 month stint of only being home every second weekend and me not being understanding of a February boiler failure when I was stuck in Florida. The missus had had enough and found solace in the arms of another.

As above really, financially rewarding and I've travelled the world for a decade or so on someone else's money, but it's cost friends and relationships. Have also seen plenty of people crash and burn. Could see it hitting me hard in a few years, so made the jump back to a job where I my commute is 6 miles. Lots of regrets doing it, but lots of regrets if I hadn't. Mixed bag really.

This was part of the reason I left the RAF in the end. from 2017 to 2020 I was based at RAF Brize Norton and my family were living up in the midlands as we had managed to get the children settled into a school up there to concentrate on GCSE's without the worry of having to move again, so too far to commute each day.

I ended up being a weekend dad which was pretty crap as I feel like I've missed a good chunk of seeing lads grow up.

It was good when I joined in 1998 but the novelty soon wore off. Everyone is different though.

I used to do it frequently in my 20s. Always abroad, time away was between a day and a full year. Worst part was staying in a hotel, fortunately for the longer trips i'd be given a flat. Great expereience, saw some lovely places, ate great food, rode in the sun and did some interesting work. No kids so it was a lot easier for me thsn most.
Downside was losing the connection with people you had, those back home and those that you worked with abroad. People who were once close became less so.
Overall, it was brilliant and I miss it. (being able to work online has negated the need to physically be somewhere)

I've always enjoyed a ix of home/office/away. In my younger years the crappy hotels were mitigated by the friendliness of a client / the bar. In later years I've got to visit and stay and eat in some very nice places which I wouldn't have done if I wasn't doing this for work.

No regrets for me.

I did it globally for almost 20 years, not a penny of my own paid out but cost me my first marriage (but TBH, that was a blessing as I punched far above my 'weight' with #2 🙂 ). The kids were fine with it, as it was the norm that they were born into, and my middle son now has a job that means he's away a lot (and doing lots of miles, circa 40-50k pa) - it does mean I could help him learning what to do & not to do.

Unlike many though, mine wasn't long periods in the same place, but lots of places for very short periods (often 1-2 nights). Pretty much lived out of a suitcase and worked out of a briefcase for a number of companies, consequently no friends nor acquaintances. Often I'd leave home on a Sunday morning and not get back until Saturday midday, having done half a dozen flights and a couple of countries. Also was covering in excess of 30k miles pa too while I juggled work and two family's.

Within the family & friends there's an assumption I've been everywhere, but unlike a tourist I've seen little and for the vast amount of trips it was a plane to an airport and a car to meet me thru to hotel/office and back again. I've spent a bit more time in Northern Europe as I often would drive over and do multiple stops, but still little/no sight-seeing outside of hotels, bars and 'dodgy' clubs & establishments.

In the 10 years since I stopped I've been on less flights than I'd have done in a month in one of my old jobs. But when we do go away, or TBH even have a meal out, I still eat/drink/hotel/fly like someone else is paying - so, quality, quality, quality.

One thing that does do your head in though, is if you work for a company that is restrictive on expenses. It's not like you're away the odd night but for dozens in a row. I've left companies purely because of an overly-restrictive expenses policy (and remember all expense policy are hierarchy driven) and the company I work for now just takes the pi55, so I arrange my travel to suit me - and NEVER travel in my own time anymore.

Would I have swapped it for a just go to the office job? Nope.

Have done this a lot with travel in UK and Europe.

Used to camp a lot and claim the £10 site fee on expenses. I am the only person in a 300k head company who has ever claimed firewood as a business expense!

Pandemic and job change has killed it. Have gone from driving 25k business miles and having a SAS gold card to nothing (but my carbon footprint has got a lot better!).

Do I miss it. A little. But we have a dog which I walk a couple of times a day 🙂
Do I regret it - perhaps a bit. I missed a lot of events and parents evenings. The kids have not turned out too bad but if I had my time again I might make different decisions on the priorities of work over life. Can't change that now but maybe some advice for those that are younger!

Worked away for a good 10 years. Always abroad. 1-4 weeks a at time so short ish trips but long enough. I struggled as you can't take a bike in a suitcase so you can end up drinking a lot with others. So.e of it was good to get to see the world but always wanted to have the opportunity to do the things I want rather than just drink.

I think if was only traveling in the UK taking a bike would make a big difference and focus.

I’ve been travelling/working away from home for work my whole career since leaving uni in 96 - I found the last 2 years staring and same 4 walls of my home office extremely hard psychologically, though it was nice being part of the family all the time (except the home schooling phase!)

Balance of home life/wife/kids/roots/local community etc. with travel can be tricky but manageable with effort.

I think you also have to be comfortable getting on and sorting things out for yourself, and also with your own company. I tend to take an MTB with me whenever i travel, or at least the kit and rent one. Amazing to ride new places, and MTBers worldwide are generally the same open, warm, fun and generous type of people. Thats a really nice bonus.

I love meeting new people, doing different work in every location, experiencing different cultures and just the feeling of ‘going somewhere different’. Quite glad travel is back.

As above, there is a component that is raised/bred in this, my dad was quite similar.

Did it fairly regularly until COVID hit - although mine was normally 3-4 day trips, longest was 2 weeks in Canada in Feb 2020.

Its tough on those left at home, my wife has a stressful and demanding job (secondary school teacher) so leaving her to do 100% of the parenting when our 2 kids were younger was always hard.
Now the kids are a bit older (11 and 14) it isn't so bad.
I think going forward work travel for me will be less frequent as the company believe they've saved loads of money during COVID with nobody flying anywhere, but there are obviously hidden costs/benefits which aren't so obvious.

It can be fun - I've been to a lot of places, seen a lot of stuff and met a lot of nice people, all of which I'd not have done sat behind my office desk in Basildon.

It can also be draining, depressing and lonely, sitting in empty airports at unsociable hours, eating alone, killing time in another faceless hotel, etc.

My friends who don't travel for work think its basically a jolly/holiday - this is possibly because they only hear about the good stuff.

However - on reflection, no regrets...

It can also be draining, depressing and lonely, sitting in empty airports at unsociable hours, eating alone, killing time in another faceless hotel, etc.

I foundy diet was shit. Didn't eat MacDonalds for ten years then ate it regularly when traveling in airports! Back to zero now!

Gave it up when the daughter was born then started again when she was at senior school. It's never the Jolly people think work/sleep repeat.
Lots of very heavy drinkers in the building trade sadly also coke was an issue.
It pays well but I'm glad I've left it behind but working In rural Scotland when your an outdoor person is a dream thou the red light district of Berlin not so much those tram rides in the morning will never be forgotten.
It makes you very independent and I'm happy with my own company.

This is topical in our house at the moment. I was a field engineer in my twenties and regularly travelled, staying in hotels for 2-3 nights a week. It didn't really impact home life as we didn't have kids and my wife worked shifts so weekends were our time anyway. I definitely recognise the posts about lack of community/social life as most of my friends were made through work.

Fast forward to early thirties and we were trying to start a family (with complications), so I took a office/wfh based job with barely any travel so that I was around consistently for hospital appointments etc. Going from moving around a lot to sitting at the same desk every day was tough mentally and physically.

Three years ago an opportunity came along to work for a good company and the job was up to 50% travel doing some really interesting work. By this time we were lucky to welcome our daughter into the world and I had 5 months of regular travel in her first year. Covid hit and I've been WFH solidly throughout. With travel opening back up again I'm waiting to see what my job looks like and what the expectations are for travel. The bond I have with my daughter now wouldn't be as strong as it is if I hadn't been there for her to drop off/pick up from nursery, bath her, or put her to bed every night. I'm still struggling with what a balance could be where work is meaningful and I am active, but where my daughter grows up to be a close friend. I don't have the answer yet.

@mrgrim
That age old saying "where did the time go" is sadly true.

In the past I've worked away from home a lot, probably 6 years outside the UK and about 3 to 4 years in the UK and I loved it. I had trips away for anything up to 1 year without returning back to the UK and one stint was for 3.5 years but with regular returns to the UK, however it came at a cost namely relationships.

I have no regrets with my time working away and met many good people that I'm still in contact with. It took time to understand that I couldn't work away forever and why I had been doing it quite so much. The money can be good but it's very easy to use that extra cash to fund an agreeable working away lifestyle that I wouldn't necessarily pursue when at home. There can be a negative impact on your health and for me it was the social aspect and the going out to pubs, clubs & restaurants.

When I decided enough was enough I had to focus on pushing work further to distract from the lure of being somewhere new and this generally worked well. The pandemic threw a spanner in the works somewhat and now I have my wanderlust back and work will hopefully be put to one side for a while for a bit of travelling and adventure.

Lockdowns and the associated restrictions gave me a lot of extra time to think about what I really enjoyed. It allowed me to do more of what I wanted, this included getting up at 8:00 and walking the dog, exploring new places but closer to home. Money is tight but the fear of not being able to do stuff or buy stuff is unfounded, I just adjust what I want to what I actually need. I'm a couple of years older than the O.P and I can no longer justify working away or working nights or working massive amounts of hours and truthfully attempt to justify why I do so when there are alternatives.

I used to enjoy it. Commuted to Vienna for 18 months, out Monday evening back Friday morning. Used to hire a bike and ride along the Danube in good weather.
But as others have said it got less attractive when I met someone at home.

That recent tailgating thread had me thinking ,how are people that are still 'on the roads' every week managing the (potential) stresses of driving?
It's been a few years ,but I recently had a run down the A68 from Edinburgh, heading for the Yorkshire coast. It used to be my favourite choice of route when going South and coming home.
It was midday and during the week so caught it empty(ish).Brought back a lot of good memories and reminded me of how much I used to love driving(and that road), even remembered all the best lines and overtaking spots 😉 . Further down though, and in to the proper traffic, it made me glad that I don't need to get mixed up in all that argy bargy on a daily/weekly basis. 😢

I did from late 20s to mid 30s - for a while it was flying somewhere different in Europe most weeks but also a lot of longer term UK projects where I'd be driving a few hours early on Monday, staying in a hotel through the week then home Friday. It was OK at the time, got a lot of reading done, saw some interesting places, met lots of interesting people. Didn't do much for my health, I'd sometimes try to do some runs or use hotel gym/pool but very easy to get tired and lazy. Last long term one I joined the local BMF and did that a couple of times a week which was great.

Changed jobs as I lived in London so switched to a company that did most of their work there and could just get the bus/tube instead, didn't miss the hours on the motorway or hotel rooms. Then had kids and lost any desire to travel for work - in fact, switched roles so I could be WFH. Sometimes get offered decent roles with travel, couldn't pay me enough to go back to doing that now.

I did 7 years away Monday to Friday, it was Shoeburyness and no one wants to go there permanently! And then over 20 years of travelling around the world very regularly. I've not travelled much for 5 years or so now first out of choice and then due to Covid. I shall do the odd job away still, preferably the long haul ones but otherwise any with locally supplied kit, I've had enough of loading and unloading trucks.

I missed a lot by doing my job but the gains were pretty good, would I do it all again, yes but I'd do a few things a little differently.

I’ve never been a consistent away from home worker, the idea of staying in hotels, no matter how nice doesn’t interest me & driving for work is not my idea of fun.

I work for a big German manufacturing business as part of the UK leadership team, which pre-covid meant I was in Germany every other week for at least an overnight or two, which I was never a fan of. Air travel is a pain in the ass at the best of times, let alone having to do a lot of flights for work on top. Covid put a stop to that for two years which I have really enjoyed, but we have reached the point now where the diary is starting to be populated by the requirement to travel again.

We have recently gone through an acquisition of another business which will fall under our responsibility & will also require further travel, I’m hoping we arn’t back to pre 2020 levels.

That recent tailgating thread had me thinking ,how are people that are still ‘on the roads’ every week managing the (potential) stresses of driving?

Just relax and try to remember I'm being paid to sit in traffic.

Used to love a bit of overseas work. Lots of daft antics, too much drinking. Decent money, although we racked up quite an impressive bar bill when 3 of us were staying in Portugal for a couple of weeks
It very much depended who I was working with though. You don't necessarily want to socialise with people you work with but there is an unspoken obligation.

One chap could start an argument with himself in a locked room. We'd finish work for the day somewhere hot and sunny, wouldn't get past a bar on the way back to the hotel.

He'd drink as fast as possible with me, wise to that, making my pint last to slow it down a bit. If I was lucky he'd fall asleep after his shower and I wouldn't have to deal with a stroppy drunk colleague.

UK working away I always try to take a bike with me, avoid massive crappy breakfasts (premier Inn, company choice) and try to stay out of the bar.

I don't work away so much these days but it has enabled me to see some interesting places and do a lot of riding.
Trail centres are awesome for me as I don't want or have the time to explore usually.

I did one 18m contract in Cheltenham, I live in SW London, a few years ago.

It was brilliant for my career, but mad amount of pressure on my wife who also has a busy 'Director of' role. We hired a FT Nanny for my 18m old twin boys. This bleed us dry finantially tbh

I took my road bike right from the start. Made friends in the hotel I was staying at so I could have the bike in my room on an old duvet cover. I then found a house to rent a room which was amazing and they were away a lot so had the place to myself.

I joined two local bike clubs and rode 2-3 times a week rain or shine, winter and summer. Left the weekends free for family, or to give my wife a break.

I did the social bonding boozer stuff, more so at the start, but we all got tired of this and we did other stuff like going to local football matches etc.

I am contact with lots of people I road with and worked with still. Interestingly of the 50 people on the contract with me, there was only a handful who were not divorced.

Good fun but I am not interested in being away from my family (11 year old boys now). Wife earns more than me now so happy to stay near to home and help her with the work/life juggle

Like others gradually had travel creep up to 2-4 days a week almost every week. I stood on the steps of a plane so many times thinking "WHy am I doing this?" having got up at 4am on a Monday. Still fighting to not go back to how it was despite some intense pressure to be back in London and beyond every single week. I honestly think it will get to the point where I leave in the next while as I frankly have realised all the things in my life i was missing - tue night run, yes please, wed night MTB yes please, take daughter to Cubs on a thursday yes please. What used to come back was a miserable shell on a Thursday at 10pm. No more. Not worth it.

I work away from home 5 days a week. Wish I could work from home again but have to go into the office. I miss lockdown.

I’ve done a few patches of travelling for business. At the time and in the beginning it did feel exciting, I wasn’t a big traveler beforehand, but it got old very quickly.

The first stint was a day here, two days there, maybe a week. But it was all quick stop, quick turnaround. All I ever saw was the inside of a factory, airports or car. Then the pressure to get the job done as fast as possible and then on to the next.

The second stint was in one place, drive across the country Monday morning drive home Friday afternoon. I saw a lot of the M25! That was hard on family and my health. There was never much downtime and it was long hours.

I wouldn’t go back to that life.

like many others on this thread- 20s/early 30s loads of European/US travel. Saw many places, made lots of friends, had some awesome experiences. Used to fly from place to place without coming home as really enjoyed being out of the UK. Multi day trips good, in and out of a day (known as a PATSATP - Plane,Airport,Taxi,Site,Taxi,Airport,Plan) starting at 4-5am and getting home 10-11pm, not so much fun.

With growing family, binned all international stuff. Pre-Covid was 'down' to 5-10 nights away at UK universities. Switched mostly to train. Was really starting to get very old after nearly 30 years of travelling for work. Post Covid maybe a day a week, one overnight a month - that's about perfect. No way I could go back.

So as many previous posters, great to have the opportunity, wrong side of 50, no thanks.

Also get so much more done without losing days to travelling. I know you can work on train etc but now I can try (ha!) to work less hours to complete same amount of work. Just need to fix the bit where I don't use the 'spare' time to do more work 😉

I traveled a fair bit all over Europe doing lots of events, exhibitions and conferences. That all came to a sudden stop at the start of 2020.

Usually away with a few lads that I know and get on well with. Often it's more like a jolly worth your mates with a bit of work on the side as opposed to feeling like work. Usually have enough time to enjoy the local area a bit.

Depending on location and the price of drinks locally we'll either go out or stay in. Had a job in Monaco a few years back.... We decided it made more sense to rent some stage weights so that we could take two pallet loads of Augustiner with us.
Dictated very much by the number of stars above the hotel entrance we'll either book an extra hotel room and use it as the designated rock star room or some poor bastard ends up involuntarily hosting the rock star room.

In my twenties before I met my wife it added some variety to my working life.

Married and in my forties with three children it wasn’t as pleasant. It was made harder by a difficult employer who made no allowances when my FiL died unexpectedly and my wife needed more support.

I’m lucky enough to have a good marriage and actually enjoy the company of my wife and children - so it’s not an attractive prospect anymore.

Just relax and try to remember I’m being paid to sit in traffic.

This seems to hit upon the biggest variance in what working away from home means between roles/companies/levels of seniority. Some people travel in work time and their time away from home is recompensed. Others are expected at their work venue the other side of the country/world first thing on a Monday and if getting there means setting off on Friday night and travelling through 'their' weekend then so be it. I could see that the difference would make a very different attitude to the concept.

A different sort of working away from home....talking to a lad who worked for Glenmore lodge 9Scottish Mountain Training Centre). Their contracts are based on weekly hours - if they are out overnight with a group sleeping in a tent, every hour of that sleep is a work hour. So if you are out for a 3 day, 2 nights exped running an ML training course you have used up all you week's hours by your return and then some. By the time you have finished running the course for the rest of the 5 days working out of the centre you have racked up 3 lieu days the next week (they actually get put on the for 3 zero hour days). Nice (if poorly paid) work.

Amazed at the number of people who like working away.
I did it for 4 years and loathed it. As the train pulled into London it was just this crushing overwhelming cloak of awfulness descending.

The bit in Devon was better obviously, but not exactly great. Paid for a band new T5 campervan though 🙂

Spent a year flying up and down to London every week. Up at 4am every Tuesday morning, fly from Glasgow to London, 3 days in the office, fly home Thursday night getting home about midnight.

The worst year of my life.

Love working away, but has to be the right type of away* have a summer of events booked in, working with a crew I get on with really well, staying in a caravan and generally having a proper laugh. Looks like I’ve got a couple of gigs in Europe to tack on to the end of the season (again with proper mates). Rest up for a month or two, then away on the road again around Christmas. Feel like a pirate sometimes 😁

* I can imagine working away by yourself in a more corporate job could be pretty sole destroying

42 this year, the last 2 years (or is it 3 now?) ive worked 100% remotely, but for 15 years prior i have worked away from home (Lancashire) mainly in London and surrounding areas.

Working in central London i used to get the train to/from Manchester, but ive also had stints in Surrey and Hampshire when i would drive down. its much nicer having your own transport to get about when away. too easy to hibernate when relying on public transport. in London id always get a shitty single speed bike to raz about on, until it got nicked (ive had 6 or 7 d go missing down there!)

Accommodation has always been in lodgings, spareroom.com type digs. never enjoyed hotels, much preferred to have my own private space where i could leave my stuff (work clobber, TV, sports kit playstation etc) rather than packing/unpacking every week, plus i would have use of a kitchen to cook in rather than eating out too often or gobbling takeaways all the time.

My main pastime in evenings would be to join a local squash club. I would play on the teams, play internal leagues or just friendlies. its a great way to meet people, see new places (away fixtures) and keep out of the boozer, although could always have a beer or two after playing.

I also had a unlimited cinema pass which was worth its weight in gold, and when down in the suburbs i would also throw my mtb in the car and spend the lighter/warmer nights riding around hindhead, redhills or peaslake - did a lot of riding down there over the years tbf but it was usually a lonely affair.

Generally left home on a Sunday night so i could be at my desk first thing Monday, which usually meant i could bail out on Thursday, head north and have Friday off. So i only really had to entertain myself 3 for nights anyway...

I just made the best of the situation, had some good times didnt enjoy it ultimately - leaving on Sunday was grim, ruined the whole day knowing you were headed back down the M6 after tea. kids would be in tears, mrs upset and i missed countless birthdays, anniversaries etc, parents evenings... then the pandemic proved we could be equally productive from home makes it all seem pointless.

That recent tailgating thread had me thinking ,how are people that are still ‘on the roads’ every week managing the (potential) stresses of driving?

Driving doesn't stress me tbh - the odd bit of rage I would get in my younger years has gone away and I just get on with it, knowing that a good percentage of drivers are complete idiots. I'm guessing my driving must be approaching the best part of a million miles driven, the majority on motorways - you kind of anticipate the dick moves that are going to happen

To be honest, it's worse to witness when you're stood behind a row of cones at night. Mostly they are kind to us and make it bugger off somewhere else though

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52031444923_8e45ccac29_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52031444923_8e45ccac29_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/Rg1gpo ]2022-04-26_03-03-35[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

I've spent most of my 40's away in the week - daughter is 21 now, so missed a lot of her teens. Mrs STR isn't particularly keen on me being away, but understands - we've been together 30 years

My current view from my lounge and my current front garden

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52034626932_2893e26439_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52034626932_2893e26439_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/bQ2eg4 ]2022-04-28_02-09-51[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52035879084_8c62463760_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52035879084_8c62463760_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/1vLr18 ]2022-04-28_01-44-39[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

Yesterdays office briefly

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52034591542_85c935851d_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52034591542_85c935851d_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/oQ106K ]2022-04-28_01-48-07[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

R&R

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52019001362_28018f9a01_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52019001362_28018f9a01_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/Tv94oX ]2022-04-21_06-54-21[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

Spent a year flying up and down to London every week. Up at 4am every Tuesday morning, fly from Glasgow to London, 3 days in the office, fly home Thursday night getting home about midnight.

The worst year of my life.

My colleague years ago would always book on the 6am BA from Glasgow to London and turn up at the very last minute for checking. They'd apologise profusely, give her £250 cash and bump her to the 6:15 flight. Like clockwork. She made an absolute fortune from it.

Yesterdays office briefly

RR

As with the weekly pictures thread, I'm pretty ambivalent about any photo which needs a pint of beer in it to convince people it's awesome. But each to their own 😉

As with the weekly pictures thread, I’m pretty ambivalent about any photo which needs a pint of beer in it to convince people it’s awesome. But each to their own 😉

I like beer 🙂

Similar theme to many on the threads.
Large young family.
Specialist skillset, much in demand in London/ consultancy / FS.
I've been working for a decade in London, home to Yorkshire at weekends.
Sunday afternoons were / are dire, with the dread of heading off at teatime for the train back down south.
The aim was to maximise the family income, so no peak / open trains. Instead super advance, redeye, late nights. Soulless cheap digs / renting room.
Stuff never breaks when you are at home, but always when away.
Covid has been a huge relief, but now I just don't want to regress to the old patterns of 3/4/5 days a week away. Not the cost, the mental load, the time.
I've always taken bike with me to get to station, ride round London / client area. Whether Brompton, single speed (where needing to be locked up) or fancy bike when I could safely store at the office/ flat. I joined in local running clubs for a bit of social and exercise, but had neglected my "home" pals (to be honest, "home" was just doing dad taxi and jobs, to give my wife a break from being on duty for weekdays, so no time for socialising).

I've been tempted by a few jobs in London recently but the idea of a weekly commute se ms worse than the travel I used to do all over the world, at least I was traveling on company time, expenses etc screw doing it under my own cash, quickly drops he money when paying for dig, dinner etc yourself.

I worked adhoc abroad/offshore for 10 years.

I enjoyed it for the most part the always heading to different places meeting different people.

Latterly I tried a 5 on 5 off rotation. It ruined me. You were heading there for 5 weeks to work 7 days a week be there work to do or not.

In the end I took my experiences and a pay cut and came into the uk office as a project manager in my area of expertise and moved up from there back in the uk.

Far prefer the 8-4 mon- fri.

Far better for my family life - the as above things never break when your home and the just being there for support for the family.

I did it to put down a sizeable deposit on the house and make an inroads into paying it off.

I’d do it again and I’d recommend any one young did it. I would recommend having an exit strategy - and I would say it’s good money for a reason and to do something useful with it and don’t fritter it away on fast cars and booze meaning it becomes a must rather than a means to an end.

. I would recommend having an exit strategy

Good point, when I looked around me at the time it was either people younger than me and single or older with kids left home. The few who were my age to 10+ years were single mainly via devorse.

I've ridden parts of the UK that'd I'd never visit purely for a bike ride.

I mostly enjoy it. Not so much when you've promised to be home for a certain time and get stuck on the M6 with 200 miles left to drive.

I might go back to it once the kids are older.

Not working away in blocks of time, but I have spent quite a few years doing about 100 nights away per year, major cities in the UK and Ireland, mostly Premier Inns.

Travel was always the challenge. Being somewhere for an 0900 start, then finishing after 1600 and trying to battle out of the cities. I'd leave home at 1600 in order to get to London at a reasonable hour.

I work alone, but fortunately I'm a miserable bastard so that's always worked well.

Last 2 years have had me WFH delivering training. I've branched out into other contracting now and can't see myself going back on the road. It's just too convenient - I walk the kids to school, stroll home, start work and can be done in time to pick them up. A few years back, I paid c.£15k for childcare for a year to cover for my trips away. Now it's £30 per month.

I used to live off fast food, McD typically, as it was always a case of grabbing what was available, fast and cheap. Since then, I've probably gone to a meal there every 2 months or so.

I've just been asked if I wanted to travel to London for one day of training, and I've said no. Which is something I never thought I'd say!

I used to work away a lot when I lived in the UK. Initially I just used to do long commutes then got various places to rent. Had a very good social life whilst away as most of the people I was working with were similar age and in similar circumstances. Having a rental place made it easier to have a "normal" life.
After that I spent a lot of time on the train for a few nights away in that-there-London (or Telford!) most weeks.

When I moved to Canada, I got a job which meant some irregular travel around Canada and US but rarely for more than a couple of days and never to the same client. Thankfully, that's over now as I moved into a different role but I was offered another job (very similar role) in a different company but ultimately turned it down mostly because of the extra travel needed to support their clients...

I've got some good stories of trips I did in the US, but I don't miss travel for work at all. Hell, I've only been into the office for two days in the last 2+ years and am holding out WFH as much as possible now...

This seems to hit upon the biggest variance in what working away from home means between roles/companies/levels of seniority. Some people travel in work time and their time away from home is recompensed. Others are expected at their work venue the other side of the country/world first thing on a Monday and if getting there means setting off on Friday night and travelling through ‘their’ weekend then so be it. I could see that the difference would make a very different attitude to the concept.

I suppose it depends what your salary is like in the first place and what contract you negotiate.

For me it's ok and I get paid travel after the first 1/2 hour and anything outside of 8am-5pn is overtime.
Overseas is a higher hourly rate.
When I'm driving my heart rate is not far off my resting rate,even in London.
I'd hate to be sat in all that traffic in my own time, unpaid. Even then I'd probably just chill and go with the flow.

I worked for a few years in a role that would see me out to relatively remote locations in Australia working very intensely for 3 days or so, meeting interesting people and then returning exhausted to tiny children. Sometimes I'd feel guilty that I was leaving my wife to manage the little ones, but sometimes I found it helped us both. I could never get over how a one year old could appear to grow so much in three days!!!

I got to drive some pretty outback roads, run in places i'll probably never go back to, and even stay in some really weird accommodation (would need another thread for that).

But ... i then got a job which has very little travel and means i've sufficient flexibility to get a genuinely good work/life balance. I never get the Sunday night dread - because I almost always ride MTB on a Monday morning. I've a choice of offices to work from and no real boss to speak of.

I guess I miss the travel a bit, but it's the longest i've stuck around in any job which has to say something.

They’d apologise profusely, give her £250 cash and bump her to the 6:15 flight. Like clockwork. She made an absolute fortune from it.

I use to do this in the US when I was moving between places (hotels), but evenings rather than mornings as I'd always prefer to get to somewhere and stay rather than rushing in a morning. Obviously only when there was a flight within the hour.

This seems to hit upon the biggest variance in what working away from home means between roles/companies/levels of seniority. Some people travel in work time and their time away from home is recompensed. Others are expected at their work venue the other side of the country/world first thing on a Monday and if getting there means setting off on Friday night and travelling through ‘their’ weekend then so be it. I could see that the difference would make a very different attitude to the concept.

Well I think it's the difference between getting a job away from where you work (common one in the UK being in London) and traveling for work, where you might technically have a base somewhere in the UK that you are required to be at while not away, but you work requires you to be in country X or miles away from base etc in which case the travel is payed.

There's another bit that hasn't really been touched on, and that's how you get time for yourself and your hobbies when you travel a lot

At its peak, I spent the best part of a year flying home on a Friday night or Sat morning, saw the wife, change of clothes, and fly out on a Sunday night or Monday morning. Was enjoyable but exhausting. Saw loads of part of africa and learned loads, that was pre kids. I still travelled when I had young kids but not so bad, generally no more than 4 weeks a year when they were pre school ish.

Have had a job for a few years that rarely involves travel and it's so much easier on family life. But, importantly, I get time for myself. Riding/friends/garage/workshop/bikes/motorbike/car etc. I can go away for the weekend and while it's still not straightforward, if I was travelling a lot it would be impossible. The travelling I was doing was generally by plane, with the odd train. Very little in the car. Found it hard to get time for myself on those trips, generally quite heavy on the work front

For me the big difference was kids. If you want to see them and spend time with them, it's pretty difficult to manage when you're travelling

I had similar issues. Actually get more time on my hobbies now with two small children. Still not very often but anything in more than zero!

i would slog 40hrs out in 4 days and have Friday off. Fridays were for riding while kids/mrs were out at work/school, then i had all weekend with them without itching to piss off on my bike... would stlll sneak another one in at some point over the weekend too usually.

plus i would ride while i was away in the evenings as well..

 I paid c.£15k for childcare for a year to cover for my trips away. Now it’s £30 per month.

Why so expensive back then? And so cheap now?

Why so expensive back then? And so cheap now?

WFH, doesn't need it

Much smaller deal but spent two and a half years going to sites in the UK to deliver training - if it was far enough to need a hotel, all good, but otherwise I spent a lot of time in the car. Generally disliked always being on someone else's turf and my presence was largely unwelcome as it meant they're learning a new IT system - decided to jack that in when I had to go to the office on a Friday in Hull for a meeting and on arrival my colleague refused to meet until four, so I'm kicking my heels all day before an entirely unecessary rush hour commute back to Birmingham.

Went inhouse with a great company, covering Brum and London, doing a week in both and that was fab - my turf, all newcomers so far less dickish behaviour. Then covid struck, now it's all WFH - that's good, but I do miss going to London... Could do the same job in London for 15, maybe 20k more, but the travel, expense and being away from home all week every week do not appeal!

Been there, done that. Spent 4 years in that London a decade ago, and since then I've only ever done the odd night away. It's dead easy to do in the industry I work in, but simply don't want to.

It messes up family life and your own life to an extent, you literally couldn't pay me enough to do it on a full time basis again, unless an awesome relocation package was included for the whole family to somewhere both the wife & I would want to live - speaking of which I did get offered one, to work in Singapore for 5 years, but the wife was pregnant with out first so it was let go.

Well I think it’s the difference between getting a job away from where you work (common one in the UK being in London) and traveling for work, where you might technically have a base somewhere in the UK that you are required to be at while not away, but you work requires you to be in country X or miles away from base etc in which case the travel is payed.

when i was adhoc it was very lucrative for me to travel.

Travel was always paid.

All expenses paid

When i went to rotation - travel was in my time , expenses were not paid and it was not (so)lucrative for me any longer - they sold it on the more stable time off (ie you know when youll be home or away and can plan) but i could cope with that - then they started trying to take my time off away- trying to errode it at each end ..... the straw that broke camels back was "you need to be at the airport tomorrow" .......in the middle of my 5 weeks off.

Did three years in Afghanistan - great money (tax free), three months away, three weeks back home. Everything paid for by the company. I'd do it again but the new Mrs might not be so keen (i was single at the time).