[Closed] Working away. Hotel life!

Coke and hookers

Bike in the car is a good antidote. 🙂

I'm in a Holiday Inn at least 2 nights most weeks. I never (well, almost never) eat in the hotel, I walk a lot to find different restaurants, I argue with people on the internet and I've watched every episode of Grand Designs at least twice.

I bloody hate it. Work in construction too and seen too many guys who have spent their careers doing it, propping up the bar and on second or third marriages because they were never at home. Almost to a man they'll tell you that they regret missing their kids grow up.

But yeah, bike in car. Local swimming pool, jogging, cinema. Avoid as far a possible though!

Trick is to not to get into the habit of just sitting in your room working or in the bar drinking. Get out and see what's going on in the area.

And the one time I had an extended hotel stay job, striking up a relationship with the hotel assistant manageress was a good move too. 😎

Aah, Emma from Romford Premier Inn, I wonder what happened to you. 😘

Leeds bike park tonight. Just need to be careful I don't break anything or I'll be ****ed!

I work 6 weeks on 3 off on a mine in the middle of nowhere, there is very little to do. Netflix and Amazon Prime are my savior.

I'm usually busy in the evenings after work and then just fall asleep.

It's okay. No bed to make. Lacks a bit of character. Sometimes take my bike.

I do my fair share, always phone home to have a chat with the kids, have a walk around the local place (most of my travel is around Europe and Asia), bike when in UK or choose a hotel with pool. That said yes it's damn hard not to go straight in the bar and over eat.

Internet is your friend, documentaries, youtube, forums.

You can have a **** on top of the covers! 👍

I used to be away a lot, think 2 or 3 weeks each month. It’s not conducive to family life.

Most of the time I wasn’t alone so would be socialising with work folks every night. You can turn this around from bar/dinner if you are proactive in organising something like bowling or a pool night.

In the end you have to draw a line and pick a couple of nights to do some exercise.

Hotel with a pool and a gym helps, some of them might have a local running loop.

Been doing it for years, but I've got 3 more months of it to go and won't be doing it again hopefully.
I travel to my work on a Monday morning, tend to leave very early and work fairly late so normally too tired to go for a ride or train on a Monday. I joined a gym (David Lloyd) as there is one local to me and one where I work. I do get fed up with the hotel food. Some Holiday Inns are OK for food, I'll normally have a healthy lunch in work and just a ham sandwich when I get to the hotel later in the evening. Last night for example, I couldn't face hotel food and was too knackered to go out, so just had a bag of popcorn and a diet coke.
I then drive home on a Wednesday evening. I see the kids Wednesday night through to their bed time on a Sunday, so not too bad. I tend to work from home on a Thurs and Friday, get to do the school runs on those days.
I do tend to watch a lot of GCN, GMBN, Vegan Cyclist etc. Also, noise cancellation headphones will become your best friend. Listening to other peoples ipads can be incredibly annoying!
Make sure you stay in a hotel where you can collect your points, I've had a few weekends away with the wife on my points. Failing that use Topcashback, again I've done OK with this over the years mainly from hotel stays.

How’d you guys that do it cope with it?

At times it's pretty bloody hard TBH.

I have my guitar, a small digi effects box and a set of headphones. Put iTunes on, select music, plug in guitar and iPhone to effects box and play away all night.

Also, I run. But that's only straight after work for an hour. Try to get settled by 7pm, guitar and bed.

I make sure I have a regime, purely because it can get boring if you sit on the end of the bed wondering what on earth to do.

YouTube, iTunes Movies and iTunes all good too.

Thankfully it's only two nights, even that though is too much.

Best of luck, find a coping mechanism as best you can.

Been on the road in my jobs over the last 15 years. In one way it’s a privilege to do a job that takes you all around the world, but though i’ve Travelled the world i can’t claim to have seen it or know it. In the last 5 years or so I just did what I can to minimise the door to door time and got into the habit of using the hotel pool and gym to avoid hitting the bar and trying to eat as sensibly as I could avoiding in flight meals even in business class and eating in the airport if I could or at a decent restaurant before heading to the airport. But despite that its not a healthy lifestyle. I’ve just changed roles that has a lot less travel - a couple of times a year instead of every month, and so far relishing it. So much time to do other stuff, makes planning things with the family easier. Still enjoy the travel when it happens, but glad it’s so much less frequent.

I've been staying in hotels around Africa for about 50 nights a year for the last 31 years. That's even worse than in Britain because you can't really go out at night so you're confined to the security of the hotel compound. Hotel gyms are dire and you're quite likely to injure yourself on the equipment so as most Christian African countries brew very good beer you tend to just drink yourself into a stupour most evenings then lose the added weight when you return home and get back to your normal routine.

A couple of good books help pass the time especially at weekends. If you're lucky your local agent will take you out somewhere but they also have their own lives.

I find a HDMI lead for my laptop is very handy. Doesn't always work in the big chains, as the TV is normally linked to their system.

I've seen it from both sides, the one travelling and the one at home, and neither is easy. I'd echo what people have said regarding what you do when you are the one travelling but I'd add the difficulties when you are the one at home. You end up with all sorts of restrictions on your life. You have to be home at a certain time in the evenings to make sure you can take a call, you have to make sure all the housework is done so that weekends are free and then you have pressure spend the weekend with your other half at the weekend placing further restrictions on what you can do and we don't have kids.

What I'm saying is that if you are in this situation you need to realise the impact it has on your partner and maybe cut them some slack.

I try and find a local gym. Most crossfit boxes will take random drop ins if you buy a T-shirt or something.

I’ve been staying in hotels around Africa for about 50 nights a year for the last 31 years.

I got quite excited to see a rack of dumbells in the last African Hotel gym I stayed in. Turned out they only had one of most weights, which severely limited their usefulness...

Did it a lot pre-kids. Always unpacked properly when I arrived, tried to find a hotel with a gym, or at least made sure I could get a good walk or jog each day, always went out somewhere to eat, made it a rule to only have 1 pint in the bar while playing the "you two are not officially a couple" spotting game.

Nowadays, I'd take a bike and use my social media contacts to sort out some rides.

Glad I did it when I was younger with fewer ties. A mate does it now and finds being away from his kids tough.

+1 for not eating/drinking in the hotel. Get out, go for a stroll.

I was on the other side, working in hotels.
On some occasions it was scary to see people become alcoholics over a few weeks.
One chap used to hide in the lounge, waiting for his work colleagues to go up and shower. He would go in the bar and down 2 or 3 pints of Stella. At that point we stopped serving him and he changed hotel.

I only did this for a few months in Bristol.

Always took my single speed
Most times an electric guitar and Ableton on the laptop
Walked around town and local country

I thought it was cool initially but soon tired of it and I know I'd be bonkers if I kept it up for any length time

Trick is to not to get into the habit of just sitting in your room working or in the bar drinking. Get out and see what’s going on in the area.

This,

I've only really done it once for any length of time, but it was about 4 months all-told week after week after week.

This is one of those "don't do what I did" things. I ended up going down a real rabbit hole. After a few days of it I couldn't bare sitting in the bar alone, so I ended up having food brought to my room, steak and chips most nights. I watched crap on TV, ate and drank too much, hardly left the hotel. I put a pile of weight on, looked like shit, felt like shit.

Forced to do it again, I'd try my hardest to take my bike, but if I couldn't I'd try to get a better routine. Hope there's a healthy-ish option on the menu, avoid mid-week drinking and try to have a quick shower/change after work and head out for a walk or something.

I've been soradically away at short notice or away 4 nights a week at times for most of the last 10 years. Now I'm in a role where it's the same 2 nights each week and in the same hotel. It does get a little bit groundhog day, but it's also nice to be able to get a bit of a routine.
Sadly no gym available in the hotel (it's a very poor choice of hotels within budget around here), but I'm doing the Great North Run next month so this year I've had the motivation to get out running both nights as much as possible. Last year I bought the road bike with me occasionally and managed to fit a few 50km evening rides in at the height of the long evenings.
I don't eat in the hotel, I normally go to a supermarket and get a load of cooked meats, salad, wraps and stuff to eat in the room along with a couple of beers (more alcohol free at the moment). Luckily the hotel has decent wifi and open HDMI inputs on the TV's so I can bring a Firestick and plug it in for Netflix etc..

In terms of family, I do miss the children, but it's far better now knowing when I'm going to be away so my wife can plan around it. It's only 2 nights out of 7 away so I make sure I do bedtime when I am there and spend as much time as possible with the whole family. But then, I do feel guilty if I'm ever doing something with just me and friends such as a night out or very occasionally a day as I've already been away during the week, which is a bit frustrating as that is work and not leisure. Then I remind myself that they won't be young for long and I don't want to miss it all. There'll be plenty of me time when they're older.

I used to do 9 - 10months away worldwide per year on big engineering jobs. Up to 3month stints mostly middle East and north africa in the days before Netflix became available.

At first I used to take as many books as I could, finding a source of English language books was like winning the lottery!
Used to explore whatever city I was in - never had any issues
But after a few years of constantly overcoming boredom things started getting a increasingly silly especially on a 2year job that required 2 of us on site, mainly involving hire cars, climbing over 15floor balconies and things I shudder to think about now. It came to a head in a boozy small job in Bosnia that I realised I was going to end up in a local prison or dead.
I swopped it for commuting to Accrington everyday. Have been here 15 years and refused to go away for work when asked.

As others, I run a bit when I am overseas and use it to reset my body clock and also do some high speed tourism. I am a bit pedantic about not eating too much rubbish as well and avoiding going on the p1ss all the time. If it's UK and I can I take my bike, i'm in London a lot so get the train which means I can work and also take my bike if I'm there for a few days. Roll out and pick my mate up in East Sheen and join the hoardes in Richmond Park. Then have a beer and ride back to town, it's very pleasant. After 25 years of this though I'm getting out and taking a year off 🙂

I've worked away from home a lot in the past and have enjoyed it immensely, it was a hoot in my younger days. I have tended to get jobs in cities/countries I have wanted to visit. In hindsight it can be hugely damaging to relationships and family.

It is a very good idea to limit the hotel bar time, I've found the people in the hotel bar are in a similar situation to me - working away form home - and the conversations are generally similar. When away by myself I've explored the local area and sampled the local restaurants. Bike, walking shoes, computer have all helped pass the time. Getting out of the hotel is important for me as the room/hotel starts feeling a bit like a cell.

I don't work away from home any more apart from the odd night very occasionally.

As most have said, if practical take a bike but been an Audi driving five rider 😉 I also take the golf clubs, driving range or a round is a good way of eating up some hours!

But definitely limit the number of beers its easy to slip in to.... ahh just one more on expenses!!

Did it for a few years, but usually tied in with long drives and usually with colleagues there. The colleagues were 'sociable' so we ended up out drinking a bit too much (all on expenses). When on my own, I tended to stay in the hotel.

Only ever stay over about once or twice a year now. Can't imagine doing it regular - you've got to be disciplined.

Tea and masturbation.

Not at the same time, natch.

Its pretty grim in all honesty.
I've been working away from home for the last 8 years give or take. I've no kids which is a blessing.

Currently in the UK, and I get home at 9 or 10pm most fridays and have to mob again Sunday afternoons. Don't see my mates because I basically have to spend time with the other half because we haven't seen each other all week. Might get one cheeky ride in a week.

I used to bring my bike, but it got stolen out of the van so that's done with now. They key is staying away from the booze, hit the gym, stay active if you can, it's 99% mental. Pure gym is £14.99 a month and is everywhere. Don't eat in the hotel, and try and explore wherever it is you are staying!

There have been some good times however last year my house got compulsory purchased. My notice is going in this week and then I'm going to cycle tour the world with the other half - starting in November. I won't be travelling in my next role whatever it turns out to be.

How easy it is depends on the quality of hotel and the quality of where you are!

Fancy hotel with a pool and gym and spa in a lovely European capital city with plenty to do and a warm climate... I'm golden.

Crappy hotel in an unsafe location (see above re Africa) - it is super rubbish and depressing. I hate being confined to the hotel.

Budget UK hotel with no gym and on a trading estate or motor way junction - not so good but doable if oyu have a car. Drive somewhere to explore. Get out for a run or a walk if daylight allows. Drive somewhere for dinner or to go to a gym/cinema/pool. The Pay as u gym app is quite good for this.

I have got to know some quite random parts of the UK very well whilst working away.

As above - find stuff to do in the evenings to keep you out of the bar / restaurant!

I run a bit in the evenings, especially during the summer and use time away as "free" exercise time as it's not eating into family time and I don't feel guilty for buggering off for a couple of hours etc. In the winter I'll go to the climbing wall as not a big gym fan. I tend to stay in the same places so have a bit of a routine and know decent running routes or climbing walls etc. When overseas I do struggle a bit though - strangely part of the US have been the hardest - big hotel chains near airports with no "sidewalks" and no way of safely walking / running to or from them so have had to resort to gyms and treadmills.

For me, making sure i got out outside, visiting zoos and other outside stuff whenever possible. Checking museums for late night openings. Checking out if towns had interesting medieval bits etc.

But eventually I did have to stop the hardcore travelling as it wore me out!

Also hit up your social media - its amazing how many friends from sports or hobbies live all over the place in random places and will be up for meeting up

Yeah, eat in a restaurant, go for a walk, got to the Pure Gym, or bike ride.
We're only allowed 2 drinks on expenses, so I generally get a pint after work and then a glass of wine with dinner. I never do more than 2 nights though, so not too bad re: drinking.

Kindle is handy too! Also like to do a video call with my girlfriend and swan about in the bath if it looks alright

He would go in the bar and down 2 or 3 pints of Stella.

2 or 3 pints is not an alcoholic.

If it's city center, take up running, by the time you've faffed about getting back to the hotel, changed, gone for a run, got back, shower and bath it can waste a couple of hours.

If it's in the middle of nowhere, bike in the car and ride to the office and go for a long ride each evening.

Never eat evening meals in the hotel. TBH after the first fortnight I stopped eating out at all and just bought a bag of salad leaves and some cooked meat for dinners. Preferably stuffed in a backpack and go for a ride to a nice hilltop. Get a small backpacking cookset and make your own dinner mid-ride. I'd rather take on the calories of a cooked breakfast!

I try and avoid the black hole for freetime that is the internet. A bit of netflix/iplayer/prime etc but it's too easy to end up with way too much screen time and too little actually recharging your batteries (either socially or just unwinding).

For me, making sure i got out outside, visiting zoos and other outside stuff whenever possible. Checking museums for late night openings. Checking out if towns had interesting medieval bits etc.

But eventually I did have to stop the hardcore travelling as it wore me out!

FTFY

Be thankful you're not sharing a hotel with your clients 😐

When I go away, which is thankfully very infrequent these days it tends to be for large pan european project meetings. We'll all have to meet somewhere like Copenhagen which has direct flights from pretty much everywhere in Europe. Nobody in the meeting will actually live there so meetings will end between 5 and 6 then there's time for a quick shower and then we'll be expected back in the foyer between 7 and 8 for taking the clients out for the evenings entertainment.

That can go on for 2-3 days and used to be a couple of times a month with different clients. One of the few things I have to thank Brexit for is that that sort of travel is now largely unaffordable 😀

I've been doing it for 12 years now - not too often but tend to get peaks and troughs.
Did 3 nights at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow last week.

I never drink if i'm on my own, never eat in the hotel unless their is no sensible alternative, always try and get out for a walk either before or after dinner, and try to take my bike if in the UK.
I always phone the kids at dinner time, then phone my wife a bit later, once she's got rid of the kids to bed.
me being away is hard on my wife/kids as she works full time and has to do everything whilst i'm away.
But When i'm not away i'm always home by 5.30, and rarely do any work in the evenings, whereas she is a teacher who gets home later and works every eve, so her job also impacts family life.

There will always be travel in my job (Engineering - project manager) but i do try to keep it to a minimum, and would quite happily let someone go in my place if it was the right thing to do.

As others have said running or the bike can take a couple of hours up of your evening. Try not to get into the habit of drinking, and no eating at the hotel is a rule of mine to force me to go out and explore.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Books, Netflix and podcasts for the times when it's just too much like hard work after a long day as well.</span>

I always phone the kids at dinner time, then phone my wife a bit later, once she’s got rid of the kids to bed.

Agree with this.

Always, always, always make time to call home. No matter what time zone you're in, do it.

On my last stint of working away I bought a unicycle which I learned to ride in the hotel room.

i started working away about the same time i had kids! 😀

over 10 years now. mostly in central London or surrounding areas so usually enough going on to keep you busy. i always used to travel on trains but now i drive which means i can get about a bit by myself when im away and i always keep my bike with me. I also tend to join the local squash club to where im based, enter the internal leagues or play on the team if they have them. the social side of squash is fantastic for meeting new people

playstation too. basically act like im a teenager all week. afterwork i either ride (summer) or play squash (winter) pint in the bar after. back to the digs for tea and mash the PS4 till i pass out. maybe once a month go into town or do something different.

playstation and squash racket travel overseas too. not so much the bike.

the temptation to hammer the ale does subside after the first few years!

Thankfully it's only this week, I could travel it but it's the m1 and it's so unpredictable at times. Got two days in york next week, Mrsws is coming with me so the boss said I could go the expenses for the hotel. Luckily the course is in the same hotel so I can literally roll out of bed.

I camp!

Away most weeks in the UK and simply book a campsite. Work think I'm nuts as I could spend £150 a night in a hotel (expenses are receipt based so I can only claim the £10 a night I actually spend).

I love it, rain/snow/sun all good (difficult sometimes to find a site open in winter). Hotels can be very depressing. Camping I have stuff to do like making tea and washing up (sometimes I find a nice restaurant). Always have the kindle for a read before bed and download a film or two on the ipad. Sometimes have bike or canoe with me (more in summer).

Some guys I know get a fixed amount for accommodation and sleep in their vans.
They also buy a sandwich out of Subway for their dinner and then swipe a receipt off an outdoor restaurant table and submit that for their expenses.

Camping sounds pretty fun though

I always take a bike if possible, sitting in a hotel bar on my own with a load of strangers isn't for me.

I'm lucky that a lot of the places I have to go for work are near Whinlatter, Woburn, Swinley, and Thetford so it may not always be the best riding (Thetford!) but it's better than the alternative.

I have to keep remembering to take it easy sometimes, I was coming down off the top of Grisedale pike the other day and thought I wonder what my boss would say if I had to phone him and say I wouldn't be going to the customer the next day as I've spannered myself while on the bike!

Last year I got fat 😉 First time in 20+ years of travelling for work on and off. Didn’t change much but my body clock clearly runs a bit slower as I got older!

When I was marooned in Coventry 2 nights a week, I’d ride in Binley woods at least once, or just go for a ride anywhere and have a pint outside in the summer. Then I got bored of that and just started running. That got a bit old in Winter and the hotel I stayed in had a crap gym. At one point I found myself in Coventry IKEA as I’d done and seen everything else!

Now I travel around a bit more (University towns) and my plan is

- 1 pint max. With food.
- never eat in the hotel. Always walk for 20 mins at least whatever the weatehr
- Cinema (love the old showroom in Sheffield)
- Theatre - seen a few things and every time it’s been great
- Podcasts/Netflix (if wifi is up for it)/books
- Never eat cooked hotel breakfasts, always walk to uni if it’s less than an hour away!

Tend to research a bit more now, look for decent healthy restaurants rather than burger and a pint. Don’t hate it as I’ve done it so long. Spend the rest of the time at home so it probably evens out.

Love the idea of camping.

My old job involved an assignment to a site for over a year so I could rent a small house. In retrospect I should have just taken out a loan and got a motorhome (or this being Teesside, just bought a house cheaper).

– Never eat cooked hotel breakfasts

Heretic!

Depends how greasy it is but I just avoid the carbs and all's well. Bacon, sausage, black pudding, scrambled egg, lots of tomatoes.

Noodles for lunch (<250calories)

Salad + protein for dinner (again very few calories).

OK so I'd lose more weight skipping the breakfast, but realistically I'd just end up eating carbs and getting hungry by mid morning and being miserable that I'd deprived myself of bacon and eggs.

On my last stint of working away I bought a unicycle which I learned to ride in the hotel room.

I forgot this! I learned to ride my unicycle in the car park of the Marriott Garden Court in Ipswich, while on a project for TXU. I knew I'd cracked it when I was able to take the nightly call from home while riding.

This thread is making me feel like a massive hotel underachiever - I normally order room service, boot up YouTube, and fall asleep by 10pm.

Rarely travel compared with previously. 2 or 3 trips last year, about 4 this year

I also rarely travel in the UK, it's largely overseas. If it was the UK and I was driving I'd definitely take my bike. Outside the UK I tend to go out on my own, just walk around and explore. Get some food while I'm out rather than eat in the hotel. Obviously that's if I'm not doing the dinner etc thing with people I'm there with. I'm a social drinker so I would never hit the bar on my own

I stayed in a hotel a few weeks back, there was a group of around 4 to 5 Czech business people, who polished off three large bottles of tequila between them. I was amazed to see them all at breakfast the morning after looking as right as rain and gearing up for the day's conference.

25 years so far at around 100 nights per year, UK only. I'm strict with any family stuff, I reorganise/swap jobs as necessary with the rest of our team (5 of us covering UK civil nuclear sites). Try not to eat in, get out and sample what the area had to offer. Limit booze intake, run in the mornings 2-3 times a week, I would take bike but company van going on-site etc means storage is a problem. Books/kindle/tablet for entertainment. Enjoy the moments when it goes tits up and you get a day off for sightseeing.

Been travelling a bit for two years but only lots of overnights in the last six months - finding it too easy to seeit as a treat and treat myself to a few beers, especially if it's not an inviting location. That said, spent three nights in Hove a fortnight back when my head was straight and it was lovely, ate healthy and well, no beers, every night out walking the promenade, swimming in the sea and reading on the beach until it got too dark, made think "THIS is what I should be doing...". 🙂

Signed Pondo, sitting in a hotel watching Eggheads with a beer to hand... 🙁

Edit - on the bright side, my main in Runescape mobile is coming along a treat! 🙂

Running, biking, see the sights, all the stuff I couldn't do at home with the kids! Rode As, Cannock, long mynd, afan, peaks, yorks, Chilterns, south downs, whitelees, Clyde valley and many many more thanks to work.

Very easy to sink in the sauce if you don't get out of the hotel. Rarely away now though, so get pissed when I am!

Well, a lovely chap I've just met called Ton (you might know him from here 😉) has showed me the sights of Leeds urban bike park. What a great little place, I'll be visiting Tomorrow and Thursday for sure so longs we don't get set too much homework!
Cheers Ton 👍

I was away last week for the first time in ages, but in the early 2000s I was all over the planet.

I consciously tried to avoid the cooked breakfast and too much beer. I also got a lot of reading done.

Did go out one night though when promised a walk in the forest, but it was less than 1km!

https://www.strava.com/activities/2579321523

Check the thread about herding cats regularly.

Slightly cheating on this working away thing as I’ve got myself a consultancy project nearish to my parents’ house in Germany this time. It’s quite nice to see them for slightly longer without taking a load of leave. Also I’ve got a bike here and it’s lovely.

Usually use the time and quiet of a hotel to get ahead with reports so that I can ride my bike when I get home. In between I walk everywhere and spend as much time outside as much as possible.

Contractor here. Work away about 80-90 days per year. Always stay in Premier Inns on account so getting quite sick of purple... Plus they took away the ability to earn free nights a few years back 🙁

No booze midweek. Always eat early, before 8pm anyway, and usually by 7. I find that I'm hungry by morning this way, plus occasional acid reflux might have been affecting my voice! Eating early being a partial solution. Trouble is, I pay for my own food so inevitably eat crap in the evening, skip breakfast and find a pret/etc for lunch.

Am often travelling in the evening and arrive any time before midnight (once 1.15am) but try and have a bit of a walk/ stairs.

Occasionally watch documentaries and have tried pc games before but with limited success. Have tried stashing the bike in the car too but lots of wear and tear and worries about it being nicked. Have been wondering about going for a run or maybe golf to split the evening up.

When I'm home I'm "off" so try and make up for it then. Lots of pressure on the wife, but come September the kids are full time in school so hopefully that will start to decline a bit. Keeping an eye out for a proper training job in Merseyside just on the offchance!

Previously I've been away lots for work, but last one was Davos for the WEF.

Locations tend to be somewhere I wouldn't usually choose to visit;generally European cities. Fortunately I get an allowance and depending on who else is tagging along I'll try and get into the centre and soak up some local cuisine and culture at least once.
If I've got a day off I'll wander the city.
Evenings I'll try and avoid work colleagues when possible. Figure having spent all day together I don't need to be in their company in the evening, too. Depending on hotel I'll go to the sauna and then flake out on the terrace /balcony /room with a bottle of red.

I quite like it. Bike or run, then telly, a book, bit of surfing, some coding, photo editing, something creative, Netflixing stuff my wife won't watch. My problem is I never get enough sleep cos I'm doing all that.

I'm never bored when I have a computer and internet access.

Hotel living wears thin after a while. Thankfully I don't travel often.
Went for a run last night, didn't drink, didn't eat a stupid amount.

I try to make the most of the time in the evening to get admin type jobs done such as changing enery supplier, car insurance, that sort of dull but essential stuff. Although I did change the car brake pads and discs in the hotel car park last year - got some funny looks for that!
Generally I try and get anything done that I can do free up more time at the weekends to spend with the family.

A few years ago, after nearly a year of 4 nights a week away and with the same colleague so there was always the obligation to eat out together, I made the mistake of saying to my wife that I was sick of eating out. She still has never let me live that one down! It was hard for me to explain that it wasn't the food that was the problem, but the whole thing of getting changed, going out, finding somewhere, ordering, then hanging around for the food to come, then waiting for slow-eating colleague to finish, waiting for the bill. That took a minimum of 2hrs every night when all you wnated to do was crash in the hotel and do nothing. Yeah it's nice as a treat occasionally, but after a year it's just tiresome.
Which is why, now I'm on my own, I just grab some cold stuff from the supermarket to eat in the room at my leisure while getting on with other stuff.

I get to stay away 2 or 3 nights, 3 weeks out of 4. Fortunately I get to plan my own "routes" and accommodation. This means I can take myself to places where an early evening walk, ride or even canoe is possible. The latter means some serious time spent planning car parks without height restrictions for a week's worth of town/city centre visits! Worth it though.

I eat out of the hotel if its a chain, unless I really can't be arsed. Sometimes I just buy a good loaf or bread, some pate, cheese or smoked salmon and then head off to the river bank to eat it.

Ginger beer is my substitute for a pint of rubbish hotel beer, but if there's a decent pub I allow myself a pint of real ale.

All the above works well from April to October. In winter, the evenings can be a pain, and I have even resorted to hotel gyms on occasion to get some exercise. Agree with the injury thing, some of the static bike things are really poor. My work is flexible enough that I can sometimes take a longer lunch hour to get a walk in, which helps sanity.

Guitar comes along too.

Obviously I also spend ages on the internet.

Which is why, now I’m on my own, I just grab some cold stuff from the supermarket to eat in the room at my leisure while getting on with other stuff.

I do that, quite happy to just have salad and meat, fish or cheese. I must learn guitar....

Used to hate working away and staying in hotels. Now Work at festivals, so most of the summer away. Absolutely love the life, spending all day outside with mates, evenings around a fire and a few beers. Feels odd coming back to normalish life come autumn

Definitely recommend a Brompton here. I find it's great for getting around easily and small enough to take on/in the car/van/train/hotel room

Have yet to get on a plane with it. I find it helps me just explore, go for a ride just for the sake of it. Had a lovely couple of hours cycling around Manchester last year, just having an explore. Also used it for getting between the hotel and the venue I was in

My problem (!) is that the hotel where I stay most in Africa, the Lagos Sheraton, gives executive club guests free drinks between 5pm and 7pm, so the club lounge is busy with courier and private airline pilots socialising and the dammned waiter keeps topping up my glass of cold Gulder or Star beer, which slips down remarkably easily after a stressful day out in the traffic jams.

South Africa is better because the local agent likes to test out good local restaurants at my company's expense so we usually end up eating great food and drinking great wine, especially when I'm suffering in Cape Town. (*cough*)

I had intentions of writing my book, taking on side projects and riding my bike in the evenings.

But ended up eating too much and getting fat, slow and miserable.

I've managed to avoid it for several years but looks like it might be coming round again ... I'm going to find a gym and give myself a target. Maybe pack a few dehydrated meals I can make with the hotel room kettle, to avoid noodle bar visits.

I took a bike with me and read a lot.

Gym, running, exploring, étudier une langue étrangère, going to concerts just anything other than bar or tv.

Wish I had taken up the guitar earlier I'd be brilliant by now unlike my French.

When there was group of us we had contractors night out just a few drinks and a meal.

After last night's excursion out with ton n the bike I feel I did a bit of exercise so I've been in the bar but revising at the same time since 4.15pm, this is also the first time I've ventured on here, consumed only 2 pints so that's very well behaved in my book! Back to the bike park tomorrow night so no beer, might even take my kit in the van so I don't have to come back to the hotel after the course! Friday 3pm is escape to Derbyshire time....

Yesterday.

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Tonight

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Hard to eat well I find as I get bored in the hotel and often end up in uninteresting places. Therefore I dine out on carb heavy meals and fight the temptation to drink too much.

Have taken my bike a few times but a broke wrist put an end to riding when away for a while.

+1 for bike in the car. Did this for years. Much, much better than the drudgery of hotel bar.

...means you can treat yourself to some proper food after your ride too.

Last night consisted of heading straight to Morrisons after work, grabbing a ceasar salad, some tikka kebabs, a ginsters cornish pasty, yoghurt and couple of bottles of beer. Back to the hotel - got changed and out for a 10k run then back to cool down before chilling out in the room eating the food, drinking the beers and watching a couple of episodes of Bosch on amazon prime. Was 10pm before I knew it.

I only did this for a few months in Bristol.

Always took my single speed
Most times an electric guitar and Ableton on the laptop

"Clueless busteds with well paid jobs will not turn into Sly and Robbie just because they've installed Ableton on their Macs"

Nothing personal mate, that's just the first time I've ever seen Ableton referenced outside of this tune