Latest / The Red Solo Traveler Podcast / Work Trip Story: Flight Changes and How Work Trips are Semi-Vacations

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Work Trip Story: Flight Changes and How Work Trips are Semi-Vacations · The Red Solo Traveler Podcast

0:08
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Red Solo Traveler podcast. This
0:10
is Tuesday, July twenty eighth, twenty twenty six. I'm your
0:14
host Lewis and I am the author of Red Solo Traveler.
0:18
Thank you for listening to the Red Solo travel Podcast.
0:21
That's where we talk about talk about travel. We talk
0:24
about pop culture a lot of different things, and talk
0:28
about stuff in the news. But I'll talk about some
0:30
of the travel stories that I personally have and we'll
0:33
share that in this episode where I talk about a
0:36
work travel horror story as well as why I think
0:39
work travel is kind of a semi vacation. So we'll
0:42
get into that. Before we do that, though, check out
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Speaker 2: So I appreciate it.
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Speaker 1: And of course, if you're listening on the podcast, if
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I'm trying to keep this a very positive, relaxed show.
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You know, I don't want to be negative all the time,
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I'm gonna give it to you straight. I'm gonna tell
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I still appreciate you listening, and please subscribe and tell
4:53
your friends. And let's get into it all right, So
4:56
we'll talk to talk to you about a work travel
4:59
experience had last week. Uh So, last week I traveled
5:04
for my job to have a full time job as
5:07
an insurance underwriter, and I traveled to Arizona to visit
5:09
my office for our underwriting convention. And this is a
5:13
convention that we have internally with our amongst our underwriting staff.
5:17
And it's just an internal thing. I know, it sounds
5:21
really really it sounds like a really exciting event.
5:24
Speaker 2: It really does.
5:25
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're sitting there going, oh underwriting convention. No, really,
5:29
it's actually a really cool place. And I'll be honest.
5:32
I we enjoy ourselves, you know, we really do, or
5:36
you know, our at least our group of employees.
5:39
Speaker 2: We enjoy ourselves.
5:40
Speaker 1: But we do it, you know, obviously in a in
5:42
a you know, classy way, I guess you could say. So. Anyway,
5:48
being that I'm based in southern New England, I am
5:51
very far from Arizona, and Arizona is actually where I
5:54
report to as a full time job. So I go
5:57
visit that office usually twice three times year. And this
6:01
particular convention obviously is in the middle of July, which
6:04
means it's really hot in Arizona, and it is this
6:07
time of year. You know, maybe they placed it in
6:10
this time of year for that very reason, because it's
6:12
so hot, so the hotel's are a little cheaper, and
6:15
you know, not as much traffic on the roads, et cetera.
6:19
I don't know what the reason is, but nonetheless, here
6:23
we are. So we're going to the convention, and it's
6:28
the convention is going to be in the middle of
6:30
the summer, so it's it's really hot, and it's just
6:33
it's a really wild time. But you're in an office
6:36
all day, so you're you're in an air conditioned office
6:38
on top of it, so it's not that bad. So
6:42
I'll get into the travel horror story here. It's not
6:45
really much of a horror story.
6:46
Speaker 2: It's just it's just what.
6:47
Speaker 1: Can happen when it comes to work travel, or when
6:50
it comes to travel in general. I mean, we've had it,
6:52
happened to have it had anybody all the time, and
6:55
I think it's something that everyone can relate to. So
6:58
the night before, my flight was supposed to take off
7:01
on Sunday morning. So Sunday, the nineteenth was was my
7:04
flight was supposed to take off, and I was supposed
7:05
to leave from my airport, which is the second largest airport.
7:08
Speaker 2: In New England.
7:09
Speaker 1: I won't say where it is, but if you can
7:11
look it up and figure it out, you'll know where
7:13
it is. But the airport in southern New England outside
7:17
of Logan International Airport in Boston. And it's pretty good airport.
7:21
I mean it's it's actually getting better and better every
7:23
time I see it. And they're doing a great job
7:25
with with renovating it, revitalizing it and adding more flights.
7:30
Speaker 2: Et cetera.
7:31
Speaker 1: So it's really good to see that. Essentially it's a
7:36
it's a good airport. Of course, you're not getting to
7:39
every single destination from that airport. You know, there's one
7:42
international flight that goes to Dublin, Ireland. They used to
7:45
have flights to Canada actually, which which sucks. They don't
7:48
have those flights anymore. But there are flights out West
7:52
are kind of sparse, and Phoenix is one of those
7:55
areas where there's really not a lot of options, you know. Unfortunately,
7:59
and with my work, you know, because of work travel,
8:02
you're booking through one you know, their their particular travel
8:08
agent service, you know, so you know, you only have
8:10
a handful of flights from say American Airlines or United
8:14
or Delta, et cetera. You're not even seeing Southwest Airlines
8:17
on there, for instance. No, I'm sorry, you know seeing
8:20
Actually I don't see Jet Blue on there, and I
8:22
don't see Breeze. There is another airline carrier that's on
8:27
there too. So nonetheless, I booked my flight with American
8:31
and I booked it maybe a couple months beforehand. And
8:33
originally my flight was supposed to leave at seven in
8:35
the morning on that Sunday morning, and it was going
8:38
to go to Chicago. It was going to connect in
8:40
Chicago and fly to Phoenix from there, and then the
8:43
flight home was going to fly to Charlotte and then Charlotte,
8:47
North Carolina, and then fly back home from there later
8:50
in the week on the twenty fourth. So night of
8:53
the eighteenth, I'm at my friend's gathering and my phone
8:57
pings saying, hey, your flight has been delayed. Your morning
9:01
flight has been delayed. It was a seven to fifteen
9:03
am flight. Now it's been delayed to nine am or
9:06
I think it was nine thirty in the morning. There
9:08
was a mechanical delay, what have you. I think it
9:11
might have been staffing. You know, the Sunday morning flights
9:13
there tended to be an issue with American Airlines, at
9:16
least that the last twice, the last few times I've
9:19
used American Airlines to fly out Sunday morning, it seems
9:22
to be a problem with them. Anyway, I get to,
9:29
you know, my phone pangs saying your flight's been delayed,
9:32
and more than likely it was because there were some
9:34
weather issues. The night of the notification. The night of
9:39
the eighteenth, there was some really bad weather in our area.
9:42
You know, my particular area wasn't hit too hard, but
9:45
outside of it, in the surrounding areas, there was some
9:47
weather issues. So I could see why that would happen,
9:51
and I could see why that would be an issue.
9:53
But I think the flight might. I think the flight
9:56
that came in that night was probably delayed, but still well,
10:00
the flights sitting on a tarmac all night or the
10:02
plane sitting on the tarmac all night, so I don't
10:04
see why it will be a problem where with.
10:06
Speaker 2: Getting off the ground in the morning.
10:08
Speaker 1: Nonetheless, it's fine, not a big deal. The connecting flight
10:11
in Chicago was booked to a later flight that day,
10:14
so all good.
10:16
Speaker 2: So we get to go to bed, all right, cool.
10:20
Speaker 1: I can stay at my friend's house a little a
10:21
little while longer, because originally I was going to leave early,
10:24
go home, go to bed, get a good try to
10:26
get a good night's sleep anyway, and then hop on
10:28
the plane for well, get up for three thirty in
10:30
the morning and be at the airport for you know,
10:33
six thirty six, six thirty, hop on the hop on
10:36
the flight, and then be in Phoenix for midday.
10:40
Speaker 2: So that was that's that's gonna change. Okay, no big deal.
10:43
It happens. So I get up at six.
10:46
Speaker 1: Thirty in the morning, find out that overnight the flight
10:49
had changed again, this time from nine to thirty in
10:52
the morning to noon, and that cuts down the layover
10:55
time in Chicago from I think three or four hours
10:58
to one hour.
10:59
Speaker 2: Okay, no big deal.
11:00
Speaker 1: Again, they are far worse things to do than you know,
11:03
you get a shorter layover, Okay, not a big deal,
11:05
And it really isn't because you know, you're flying the
11:07
same carrier. It's not like you're flying two different you know, airlines.
11:11
You're flying the same carrier. Generally speaking, it's gonna be
11:13
in the same relatively the same gate area.
11:16
Speaker 2: So you might be.
11:17
Speaker 1: Able to get a quick snack or something, maybe even
11:19
get McDonald's if you want to, and then head over
11:21
to the airport, head over to the other gate. So
11:24
we get to that point where okay, it's not a
11:26
big deal. The connecting flight is still going on an hour. Well,
11:31
so all right, I'm up at six thirty in the morning,
11:33
this happens overnight or the flight changes to noon, I'm
11:39
all right, I can relax a little. I'm gonna just
11:41
I'm gonna just go all right. It's a twelve noon flight,
11:44
all right. I don't have to leave my place until
11:46
like nine, nine thirty in the morning. Okay, no big deal.
11:50
Then we get to an hour later, so seven o'clock
11:55
in the morning, seven thirty in the morning, I'm standing
11:57
in my living room and my phone things again saying
12:00
your flight's been delayed to three pm. So now again
12:03
we start. We'll start where we are. We started at
12:07
seven am, then nine point thirty, then noon, now three pm.
12:12
So we're now talking eight hours from when the flight
12:15
was supposed to leave my airport. This is American Airlines.
12:18
Speaker 2: Is a flight.
12:19
Speaker 1: They was supposed to leave my airport going to Chicago.
12:22
I'm not going to Chicago. I'm going to connect in
12:24
Chicago to go to Phoenix. So now that pushed my
12:28
Phoenix flight out of that three pm window. Because unless
12:32
you could teleport me somehow, unless SpaceX has been created
12:36
where they could teleport me up these up to space
12:39
and back down to Chicago again in five minutes, that's
12:43
not going to happen. So now I'm getting into Phoenix
12:47
at the next day and I gotta be in work
12:50
the next day. I got to be in the office
12:52
the next morning, so I wouldn't arrive in Phoenix until
12:54
seven am Phoenix time, which means I'm not getting to
12:58
the office till probably nine thirty because I got to
13:01
get a rental car, and I have a rental car
13:03
already booked, and then I've got a hotel. I've got that,
13:06
I've got to build my work and all this other stuff.
13:09
And I mean, they're already paying for a room for
13:11
me for that night on Sunday. So at that point,
13:14
animated judgment call. And I was looking at the flights
13:16
at my airport and seeing a lot of delays. It
13:19
wasn't just my flight, it was a lot of delays
13:21
in the morning flights. And I think a lot of
13:23
it had to do with the storms and you know,
13:26
uh and whatnot that we're coming through that night the
13:29
night before. So I said, all right, there's not a
13:32
lot of flights to leave in here that can connect
13:34
the Phoenix. I got to make a judgment call. So
13:38
I go through and I take a look at I
13:40
use the the application that we use, it's called the Gensia,
13:45
and I pull up the Genza, and I see, okay,
13:47
all right.
13:47
Speaker 2: What are some of the other flights available?
13:50
Speaker 1: Not a whole lot. In fact, there's nothing. There is
13:53
nothing for me to fly out of.
13:55
Speaker 2: And I knew that.
13:57
Speaker 1: I needed to get into town at a reasonable time.
13:59
Now I'm not gonna I'm not going to land at
14:00
ten o'clock at night Phoenix time. Well, when I've been
14:03
up since six thirty in the morning and ten o'clock
14:05
Phoenix time means it's one am Eastern time, because it's
14:08
three hours behind.
14:09
Speaker 2: So that's a long day.
14:12
Speaker 1: And I've done that before, and I can get into
14:14
that as well in another conversation. But so anyway, I
14:19
get to I decide, all right, let's see what the
14:22
Gloria has.
14:23
Speaker 2: So, Lagardia Airport is in New York City. It's on
14:26
the north Shore.
14:26
Speaker 1: It's actually right by Cityfield, and it's a little closer
14:30
for me than say JFK, so a JFK Airport is
14:33
on the south shore of Long Island. Kind of they're
14:35
both on Long Island technically, but they're not. They're on
14:38
they're very close. Obviously, it's New York City. There's close
14:41
to New York City as you can get essentially for
14:43
an airport, and an international one at that.
14:46
Speaker 2: So LaGuardia is.
14:49
Speaker 1: It's in East Elmhurst, which is Queen's and then JFK
14:53
is in I believe Brooklyn.
14:55
Speaker 2: If I'm not.
14:55
Speaker 1: Mistaken, I think it's I think it's where it's located. Anyway,
15:00
Ligorty is a pretty bigger airport. It's it's mostly domestic flights,
15:04
smaller than JFK, but it's mostly domestic flights. That's where
15:08
their bread and butter is. And I went to Logarty
15:11
a couple of years ago because I needed to fly
15:14
to Nashville. I was flying to Nashville and this is
15:17
back in twenty twenty two, I believe, and it was
15:20
a direct flight. So I booked a flight out of
15:22
the air to go to Nashville. And it was an
15:25
experience there because and again another story I can tell
15:28
for another day, the airport was under renovations at the
15:32
time and it was just so much.
15:35
Speaker 2: I had.
15:36
Speaker 1: Let's put it this way. I parked in one terminal
15:39
and I took like I had to take like three
15:41
or four buses to get to the actual terminal I
15:43
was flying out of. So on top of all this stuff,
15:46
I had to do it was It was just a hell.
15:49
Speaker 2: Of a process. But anyway, so.
15:53
Speaker 1: I said, well, seven thirty in the morning, I'm looking
15:57
at the looking at the times, and the next vill
15:59
will fly is eleven am to Tulsa, and then i'd
16:03
have a long layover in Tulsa before I would fly
16:06
to Phoenix from Tulsa. So I said to myself, all right,
16:12
let's can we can we make this?
16:13
Speaker 2: Can we do this?
16:14
Speaker 1: So I mapped it out, pull pulled up Apple Maps,
16:17
mapped it out, and said, okay, it'll take me two hours.
16:20
Speaker 2: To get down there.
16:21
Speaker 1: If I really push, it might get me an hour
16:24
forty five minutes. But it's gonna be taking about two
16:26
hours to get down there. Thankfully, I filled up my
16:29
gas tank the night before, as I said, oh, you know,
16:32
just in case, Well, just in case happens. So this
16:35
is why you always think ahead to things, because you
16:38
never know what's gonna happen. So just in case, I said,
16:41
all right, I filled up my gas tank ahead of time.
16:44
Speaker 2: I think I needed to.
16:45
Speaker 1: Fill it up anyway, but I wander awe this that,
16:47
so I uh, so I said, all right, let's do this.
16:51
And it obviously a higher cost because of the of
16:54
the you know, you're booking the same day essentially, and
16:58
so I said, all right, I'm gonna took this flight.
17:01
Speaker 2: Let's do this.
17:02
Speaker 1: So I left my house at close to eight o'clock,
17:07
and I mean.
17:08
Speaker 2: I'm on the road.
17:09
Speaker 1: I just no, stop it, I gotta go. We're moving,
17:12
We're going, We're moving. Get on the highway, get down,
17:15
get down there. Thankfully, nothing went wrong, and literally I
17:20
pulled into the parking garage right at Terminal B at
17:23
ten o'clock. So I leave my place at eight, I
17:26
get there at ten, So straight shot two hours, thankfully,
17:31
no traffic, nothing, it was just straight shot air parkway
17:34
whatever it is.
17:35
Speaker 2: I had a take and then boom, I'm right there.
17:38
Speaker 1: So I get to the airport and okay, this is
17:43
we got in, found a parking space on level floor
17:46
and parked my car and made sure it was alarmed.
17:49
Everything was set, and then I began to walk to
17:54
the airport itself and okay, fingers crossed.
17:58
Speaker 2: Let's see if we can still do this.
18:00
Speaker 1: So American Airlines terminals right there. I do my bag
18:04
drop because I was able to.
18:06
Speaker 2: You know, I.
18:08
Speaker 1: Done the bag, I checked in my back and went
18:12
to the bag drop. I have priority service because I
18:16
have a credit card with them, so I was able
18:18
to get in pretty quickly, breeze right through, and I
18:21
drop my bag off, get it tagged, and drop it off,
18:24
and then I head in and start heading to the terminal.
18:28
And well, I had the terminal first. Before I had terminal,
18:30
you got to go through TSA. I have TSA pri so.
18:34
But at the TSA line there, it was pretty dead anyway,
18:36
there was really nothing going on there. It was very
18:38
very quiet Sunday morning in New York City and in
18:40
New York City Airport. I was very surprised that not
18:42
a whole lot was going on. I think it is
18:44
maybe the morning Rosh's done. But still again it's New
18:48
York City Airport, you know. But the TSA line was
18:51
very quick. I have pre so I was able to
18:53
move through pretty quickly, and I got through TSA pri
18:56
in probably under ten minutes. I think I think my
18:59
whole exchange might have been five, if I'm being honest.
19:03
I had enough time to get a breakfast sandwich because
19:05
I was starving, because again I just left my house,
19:07
I didn't have time to eat, and because again I
19:10
was just like all right, I gotta make this move.
19:12
I gotta do this now. So I get a breakfast sandwich.
19:17
I go to the bat I get my breakfast sanwich.
19:19
Speaker 2: I head over to the.
19:20
Speaker 1: Terminal where the terminal is and eat my breakfast sandwich
19:24
and my coffee. I have my coffee and then runs
19:27
the bathroom real quick, and I literally made it just
19:30
in time for them to start boarding the flight to
19:32
get on for eleven am to Tulsa.
19:34
Speaker 2: So I landed.
19:35
Speaker 1: So I get to the airport at ten am at LaGuardia,
19:38
and then i'm I'm at the terminal by ten forty five,
19:42
and I'm sorry, I think it's ten forty ten forty five.
19:44
Whenever they start boarding, I think it's like twenty minutes
19:46
before boom, I get I finally get.
19:50
Speaker 2: On the plane.
19:51
Speaker 1: The plane goes to Tulsa. So this is where this
19:54
is where things peter out a little bit. So I
19:57
get to Tulsa, and now Tulsa is a smaller airport.
20:01
I've never been there before. I've never really been to Oklahoma.
20:04
To be honest with you, I'm not counting that as
20:06
setting foot in Oklahoma. By the way, I have a
20:08
rule where I don't count airport airports, as you set
20:12
foot in that state, I don't count that.
20:14
Speaker 2: You've got to literally.
20:15
Speaker 1: Stand on the ground when you're in that state. So
20:18
a little bit of a weird rule, but that's just
20:20
my own rule. So I get to Tulsa and it's
20:25
the day of the World Cup, so I said, all right, well,
20:28
I got four hours. I got four hour layover, so
20:31
I have a lot of time. So thankfully I had
20:33
looked up online while I was in the air. Okay,
20:36
does this place have any lounges? I found then Escape Lounge.
20:40
So it's what's called the Escape Lounge, and it's a
20:43
off brand. It's not associated with Chase or it's not
20:47
a Sapphire Lounge. It's not the Capital One Lounge, it's
20:50
not Delta Sky Club, it's not American Admiral Club, it's nothing.
20:54
It's not tied to anybody. It's its own, independent lounge.
20:57
And this is what's great about some of these smaller
20:59
airports is that they have the lounge. But this lounge
21:03
is an Escape lounge, so it's not a it's not
21:06
tied to any credit card, and quite honestly, I think
21:09
it's a little more democratic if you really you know,
21:11
if I.
21:11
Speaker 2: Want to use the term, it's a little more you know,
21:16
what's the word I'm looking for. My friend uses this
21:18
all the time.
21:19
Speaker 1: But anyway, it's a it's a little more open to people.
21:22
I think it's not as inclusive or it's not as exclusive. Nonetheless,
21:26
you still feel like you're an exclusive club, you know.
21:30
Speaker 2: So you walk in. It's not a huge lounge.
21:32
Speaker 1: I'd say it's probably I think they're all pretty much
21:34
the same size.
21:36
Speaker 2: There's some pods if.
21:37
Speaker 1: You want to, I guess if you want to sleep
21:38
for a little bit, you could. But the fee includes
21:44
drinks and finger.
21:45
Speaker 2: Food for the most part.
21:46
Speaker 1: So you walk into this escape lounge. I paid forty
21:50
five bucks and I'll think about it, forty five dollars
21:54
and you're basically getting four hours of.
21:57
Speaker 2: Of food and.
21:58
Speaker 1: Drink for forty five bucks and an airport. It's a
22:02
great value. It's a great deal. This is what I
22:04
mean about food, you know, saving money on food at
22:06
the airport. If you've got a lung layover like this,
22:09
where you've got three four hours to play around, that's
22:12
what a lounge is for. And use that time with
22:14
that lounge. And you know, they have tons of complimentary
22:19
alcohol spirits. If you want to just have die coke
22:22
and just live off of that, you know, more power
22:25
to you. But you know I was I always, you
22:28
know me personally, I was saying, all right, well, you know,
22:31
maybe I'll try some some tequila that I haven't had.
22:33
Maybe I'll have some some scotch or whatever that I
22:36
haven't had. You know, just try different things. Whatever's complimentary,
22:39
whatever's included is included in the price, in that forty.
22:42
Speaker 2: Five dollars price, which is pretty good, you know.
22:45
Speaker 1: In terms of food, I think I had, there was
22:49
like a like a finger sanding. There were there were
22:51
some of these turkey and pesto like not sliders, but
22:55
they were like cut up from a from a bicker sandwich.
22:58
But still like you you take little bits and pieces off,
23:01
you know, there's like there's a little bit of the
23:03
turkey and pesto sandwich, and then they have they have fruit,
23:07
they have vegetables laying around. It's on a hot plate,
23:11
you know, kind of a buffet style in the center,
23:14
and you just pick and choose what you want. And
23:17
some of it's good, some of it isn't. But still
23:19
it's food. You know, it's Airport food, What are you
23:21
gonna do? You know, you can get a good meal
23:24
out of it. You know, you can definitely get a
23:26
good meal out of it, or at least a couple
23:27
of good advertisers out of it, So you know, it's
23:30
not and and you know you can't really order anything necessarily,
23:34
so it's not you know, the fee is basically what
23:37
you see is what you get.
23:39
Speaker 2: You know, there is food there. They have yogurt, they
23:41
have I have all kinds of stuff there, I.
23:44
Speaker 1: Mean cereals if you want to do cereal, you know,
23:47
breakfast during the day, I guess, you know, but I
23:50
have all kinds of stuff. So it's really cool that
23:52
they have that. And that's at Tulsa International Airport. Is
23:56
the Escape Lounge, and I recommend that if you ever
23:58
cut through Tulsa anytime soon. I don't believe they film
24:02
that show Tulsa King there anymore. They used to the
24:04
I think the first season they did, but apparently it
24:07
got it was so hot that the cast decided to
24:10
move to Atlanta, Georgia. Now Atlanta, george is pretty hot too,
24:13
but I guess it's not as bad, so I think
24:16
I think they moved it again. This this for this
24:19
current season that they're doing. But I did look and
24:22
I do believe it's credible because I looked at the
24:25
weather app and just to see what the temperature was outside.
24:29
It was ninety five degrees with seventy four degree due point,
24:34
which is really high due point. And I think the
24:36
humidity was like the humidity was low. I think it
24:38
was like forty percent humidity, but still, I mean, that's
24:43
that's a lot of moisture in the air, and that
24:45
just I mean, I could see why they wanted to
24:47
bail out of there, you know, for the heat, you know,
24:50
in the summer heat, that the way it is out there.
24:52
I didn't go outside, obviously, because I was on a layover.
24:55
So we go there, we get to we get from
24:59
Tulsa and and hop on the plane.
25:02
Speaker 2: Everything's fine. We get to Phoenix.
25:03
Speaker 1: So I arrived at Phoenix about six thirty Phoenix time,
25:07
which is about so Phoenix is on Mountain Standard time.
25:09
Speaker 2: It's not on daylight savings time.
25:11
Speaker 1: I know. I did a whole little rant about daylight
25:13
savings time in the last episode if you want to
25:15
check that out.
25:16
Speaker 2: But see it's it's a daily savings time.
25:19
Speaker 1: It's not on daily Savings time, I should say, and
25:22
it's on Mountain Standard time. But I look at it
25:24
this way. In the summer, Phoenix aligns at the Pacific
25:26
time zone and in the winter they align with the
25:28
Mountain time zone. So that's the way you got to
25:30
look at it with Phoenix, or at least the Arizona
25:33
most of Arizona anyway. So finally we land about six
25:40
thirty Phoenix time. I think six six thirty was the.
25:42
Speaker 2: Time I got in. And now with the airport and Phoenix,
25:48
it's it's huge.
25:49
Speaker 1: It's a huge airport. I think we landed in Terminal
25:52
four if I'm not mistaken. So you have to take
25:54
the Skylink, and the skylink's really cool. It's really it's
25:57
a monorail basically, and it takes you. If you want
26:01
to get a rental car, you have to go to
26:02
the rental car center, which is just off I think
26:05
it's off site of the airport. I think it's a
26:07
separate area, but it's connected to the airport, but it
26:11
is on a monorail system, so I think it's one
26:14
or two stops away, and it's a good fifteen minutes
26:18
on the monorail from Terminal four to the rental car center.
26:21
So about fifteen to twenty minutes I get my rental car.
26:24
Everything's cool, all set. I have Hurts, so it's really
26:28
just pick up and go. They're terrific if you ever
26:31
have if you ever use a rental car company, use Hurts.
26:34
Speaker 2: I recommend them.
26:36
Speaker 1: And they have all these different deals too. If you
26:39
have like a certain credit card or a certain hotel program,
26:43
you get thrown into the gold Star program, which is
26:47
again really cool because you could basically just pick and
26:50
choose what you want for anywhere on the lot so
26:52
or at least in the line of cars any way.
26:55
So get my rental car, hop in, head up to Femi,
27:00
and we're off to go. And we're off and running
27:01
with a race. So I kind of talk about you know,
27:05
work travel and again not really a horror story, just
27:08
more or less the the fact that I had to
27:11
change airports and move from one airport to another and
27:16
coming home, you know, I went through Chicago.
27:19
Speaker 2: Uh, I go here to Chicago.
27:21
Speaker 1: I did go through Chicago coming home, so I went
27:24
through Yeah, I went through Chicago twice. Yeah, basically both
27:27
both both rounds. I'm sorry, No, I went Tulsa on
27:30
the way and then Chicago back. See this is what
27:32
I'm telling, This is what I'm saying. It's like your
27:33
mind gets jumbled.
27:35
Speaker 2: So I get on.
27:36
Speaker 1: I I get back through Chicago and that was smooth sailing.
27:42
There's nearly nothing to really report on that.
27:44
Speaker 2: But I did have to get.
27:45
Speaker 1: Up really early in the morning and then sit in
27:48
traffic on the way home coming from Gordia because I
27:51
landed around rush hour. So uh, fun week. I mean,
27:55
he was is exhausting, but it was a fun week.
27:59
And when you're out there, you know, on a work trip,
28:00
you know, every workplace is different, Every single workplace is different,
28:04
whether you are you know, I work for a insurance company,
28:07
so it's a little different. Even even in my business,
28:10
it's a little different with my company versus another company.
28:12
Everyone has their own policies and standards and whatnot. I'm
28:17
giving a corporate card, so I do use a corporate
28:19
card when I travel.
28:20
Speaker 2: You know, when I.
28:21
Speaker 1: Book my flight, when I you know, my hotel, my
28:24
rental car, all those things are are done through the
28:27
corporate credit card. And what I try to do is
28:31
I try to be respectful of that. And you know,
28:34
when you're traveling for work.
28:36
Speaker 2: You are there to work.
28:38
Speaker 1: So that's primary focus is you're there to work. You're
28:41
not there to sight see, you know, but you but
28:44
you take in the little moments whenever you can.
28:46
Speaker 2: You know. One thing I like to do is I
28:49
love to visit.
28:49
Speaker 1: Local breakfast places when I'm traveling. Now I go to
28:52
fast ones because I only have so much time. In
28:55
the morning, I get up early, I go to the
28:57
gym in the hotel and then I take off, usually
29:02
around seven o'clock in the morning, and then I meet
29:05
I try to be in my office before eight o'clock,
29:08
but I try to find a local breakfast place nearby
29:10
where I work. And you know, Google Maps comes in
29:14
handy at that point, Apple Maps comes in handy, and
29:17
just look for breakfast places, you know, do some reviews.
29:21
There's a couple of places I go. There was a
29:23
place called Better Buzz that I went to that had
29:25
a pretty decent breakfast sandwich in the morning. But the
29:27
other one I went to is called Press Coffee. And
29:30
now I have a guide on red Solo traveler dot
29:33
com called the Food and Booze of Scottsdale. And one
29:37
thing I like to do when I come into Scottsdale, Arizona,
29:39
is and that's where I was staying was I like
29:42
to go to In and Out. In and Out Burger
29:44
is my favorite fast food burger joint. It is my
29:47
absolute favorite fast food place. And it's very simple. Burgers, fries, shakes.
29:52
Speaker 2: That's it. That's all they do.
29:54
Speaker 1: They have soda and water, but they have burgers, fries,
29:57
and shakes. That's the three things they do. They do
30:00
it well because the place is always busy. I can
30:03
go at seven o'clock at night and it's still jam packed.
30:07
I can go at twelve o'clock in the afternoon it's
30:09
still jam packed. And you have the friendliest staff, the
30:13
nicest group of kids, and it's all it's mostly kids.
30:16
It's mostly you know, young adults.
30:18
Speaker 2: I should say.
30:18
Speaker 1: I don't want to call them the kids, but they're
30:21
they're young. They're young men and women and and they
30:25
have a smile on their face and and they're just nice.
30:27
They're pleasant, you know, how's your day going?
30:30
Speaker 2: Like just really nice people.
30:32
Speaker 1: And it kind of reminds me of Chick fil A
30:34
in a way. With with In and Out Burger, it does.
30:37
It reminds me of Chick fil A in a way
30:39
in terms of the in.
30:41
Speaker 2: Terms of how the staff in a rocks with the customers.
30:43
Speaker 1: So it's always a nice plus to have that, you know,
30:46
especially when you're going to a fast food place, because
30:48
you can go to a million other places that serve burgers.
30:50
I mean, there's what a Burger, there's other places. I
30:52
think what a Burger's a little overrated. The spicy Ketchup
30:56
is pretty nice.
30:56
Speaker 2: I have.
30:56
Speaker 1: I actually bought Spicy Ketchup for from What a Burger
30:59
to have a at home. Spicy catches pretty good. But
31:03
other than that, I think it's kind of like a
31:05
burging burger. To be honest with you, I mean I don't.
31:07
I mean, I think I'm gonna do one episode on
31:10
my favorite fast food places at some point, so while
31:12
you're traveling, you know, you as I do partake in
31:15
the fast food and I, you know, unfortunately my body
31:18
shows that I have. I'm not a big guy, but
31:20
I think i'm you know, I could, I could be
31:23
a little thinner, let's put that way. But I might
31:26
do an episode at some point on some some fast
31:29
food places I like. But it's one of those places
31:32
I go to. But I will say this with with
31:36
when I when when you're there, you know, when you're
31:38
on a work trip, you're there to work, and you're
31:40
there to to do a job for your company, and
31:43
you're there to represent your company.
31:45
Speaker 2: So it's best to have your best foot.
31:46
Speaker 1: Forward, you know, wear nice clothes, you know, you know,
31:53
be pleasant, be be available.
31:55
Speaker 2: You know, especially if.
31:56
Speaker 1: You're a remote employee, you know you're not there, you
31:59
don't bring your sweatpants with you. You know, dress nice,
32:03
just like you're going into an office.
32:04
Speaker 2: You know.
32:04
Speaker 1: In my case, I'm lucky enough that my company allows
32:07
me to wear shorts one in the office. Because it
32:09
is hot in Phoenix. It is hot in Arizona this
32:12
time of year. I can't say that enough. I mean,
32:16
there was one day where I was there where it
32:20
got to one hundred and fifteen degrees fahrenheit and not
32:24
it's dry, but it's still hot. And my car was
32:27
parked outside, my rental car was parked outside, and I'm
32:30
only going down the road. But you want to talk
32:33
about sweating as soon as you sit down in that
32:35
car and start it and the fan is running and
32:38
not the air conditioner. That is what I experienced, and
32:40
that is one of the joys of being in Arizona
32:43
in the middle of the summer. But you know, it's
32:46
also kind of a semi vacation when you think about it,
32:48
because you know, with work travel, yeah, you're away from
32:51
your family, you're away from your kids, you're away from
32:54
your friends. But sometimes in life that's what we need.
33:00
Sometimes in life it's okay to step away from your
33:03
family for a little bit. And again, not not for
33:05
not for a several weeks. I'm talking about maybe a
33:08
couple of days. And you know, whether it's whether it's
33:11
going on a visit to see some agents, whether it's
33:14
going on you know, maybe you're going to see some clients,
33:18
whether whatever you is you do you know, I mean,
33:22
traveling shouldn't be just going to the office. I go
33:26
to the office and I go back to my hotel room. No, no,
33:28
you've got some time to yourself. So what I recommend
33:30
is look for places that are are interesting, that are
33:35
in town, that are relatively close, and that are interesting
33:39
to you. You know, I've done work trips where you know,
33:43
one of my work trips I went up to h
33:45
I took a couple of days off after my work
33:47
conference or work event or work visit, and I drove
33:51
up to flag Staff and Sedona for a day. In fact,
33:55
there's an article on Redzolo Traveler where I talk about
33:57
visiting Arizona, which is an awesome place in Williams Arizona.
34:01
If you ever get a chance it, look up the
34:02
article on Red Solo Traveler. It's on the website. I'm
34:07
gonna have a deep dive episode on that as well,
34:09
because it's such a cool concept to drive through Safari
34:13
essentially using your own rental car. But Sodona was was awesome,
34:17
and I'm in that article. I went to Sedona as well,
34:20
and it's such a great little place to visit for
34:21
the day in Arizona. But but that's those are the
34:25
things I like to do, you know.
34:28
Speaker 2: I like to explore the area a little bit more.
34:31
Speaker 1: Hell, there was there was one point where I was
34:33
gonna I was looking for. There was a BUCkies that
34:36
it opened in goodyear. Now, Buggies was in the news
34:39
recently because of the World Cup and all these Europeans
34:43
coming into the country and seeing BUCkies for the first
34:46
time and walking in and and there jaw dropping at
34:49
what is in there. This is a gas station supposedly
34:52
but it has has you know, barbecue, it has you know,
34:59
everything you can think and it's an amazing place from
35:02
what I understand. I've never been there, but I was
35:04
thinking to myself, do I do I take a ride
35:06
one night and go. You know, you have those nights
35:09
to yourself, so you know there's places you can go.
35:13
You know, I was looking at a desert botanical garden
35:16
that's in Scottsdale. I was going to drive out to
35:18
a desert botanical garden. I didn't have time, unfortunately because
35:21
my date ran late. But nonetheless, Okay, there's a great
35:25
brewery called Pinnacle Brewering Company. I have listed in the
35:29
Scottsdale Food and Booze Guide on Red Solo Traveler, the
35:33
family owned brewery. I love them and they're they're great
35:36
selection of beers. And I went and visited this time
35:40
again as well, and then you know, sample some different
35:45
food that you don't normally get.
35:46
Speaker 2: To have, you know.
35:48
Speaker 1: I love ramen. I love going to a ramen place.
35:51
And if there's a city i'm visiting, you know, I
35:54
look for a romen place. I try to have one
35:57
night where I have some some really freshly made ramen
36:02
and it's just it's delicious. It doesn't you know that
36:06
that those ramen cups that I never had those that those,
36:09
I think it's moruchin never had them. I never got
36:12
into that. But I mean, how do you go wrong
36:17
with a freshly made bowl of ramen, you know, with
36:20
some with some pork belly and some chicken Crown chicken.
36:24
That's what I had one night, And I think I
36:27
might be updating the Scott's Still Food and Booze Guide
36:30
for that too. Might be a good Asian place in town,
36:33
might be a good Mexican place.
36:35
Speaker 2: I reckon.
36:35
Speaker 1: I would tell you that area has some great Mexican food,
36:39
great Mexican food, A lot of good locally owned Mexican
36:43
food places out there to check out. But regardless of that,
36:46
like I said, you know, you got to have time
36:49
for yourself, you know, and whatever it.
36:50
Speaker 2: Is you like to do.
36:52
Speaker 1: You like to go to arcades, maybe there's an arcade
36:54
around you like to And sometimes you don't want to
36:57
go anywhere. Maybe you just want to sit and read
36:58
a book.
36:59
Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that.
37:01
Speaker 1: They have a pool downstairs at the hotel. Maybe you
37:04
don't have a pool at your apartment or your house,
37:07
or maybe you can't really use it for half the year,
37:09
all right, and we go down and go swim in
37:10
the pool for a little bit, the little things. You
37:13
gotta look for time for yourself, and that's what work
37:16
trips afford you. Even if it is only a couple
37:19
hours or only an hour or two a day, you know,
37:23
you still got to work. You're there to work, and
37:25
you know you got to treat it, take it seriously,
37:28
and you know, have a little fun. There's nothing wrong
37:30
with having fun, especially with your workplace, and if you
37:33
can anyway, but my advice to you is, if you
37:36
do go on a work trip, find time to relax
37:40
and take some time for yourself.
37:42
Speaker 2: You know, you deserve it.
37:43
Speaker 1: You work hard, you know, especially if you work in
37:46
a corporate job where you're making a lot of money
37:49
or you're making good money per year. Take some time
37:51
for yourself, you know, step away from that work laptop.
37:55
You don't need to be working till nine ten o'clock
37:57
at night. Step away from the laptop, go experience the
38:01
area you're visiting. You know, maybe you don't see palm
38:04
trees around all the time.
38:05
Speaker 2: Maybe you do. I don't know, you know, I don't
38:07
know where you're coming from.
38:09
Speaker 1: You can coming from any part of the country, but
38:12
experience the area you're visiting, even if you've been there
38:16
multiple times, you know, I mean, who knows. Maybe maybe
38:19
we're going to middle of the Iowa for work. I
38:21
don't know, I've never been in Iowa. I mean, I'm
38:25
sure there's some exciting places to go in Iowa. You know,
38:29
use that as an opportunity to explore the area you're
38:31
visiting and say, hey, maybe travel, Maybe maybe this is
38:34
for me, Maybe this is something I want to do.
38:36
You know, maybe you're going to the middle of the
38:39
city and you've got you only got a couple hours
38:42
at night, you know, from from the time you have
38:45
your team dinner or whatever. You know, maybe, Okay, I
38:48
got a couple hours.
38:49
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna
38:51
go check.
38:52
Speaker 1: Out this museum. You know that it looks interesting to me.
38:57
You know, I'm gonna go check out this. Maybe I'll
39:00
do some sight see, maybe I'll do a little city tour.
39:03
You know, experience travel, get get get that little taste
39:06
of it. Used the work trip is a great way
39:10
to get a taste of travel. And experience what travel
39:16
can really do and it can open it just opens
39:19
your mind up to all these different possibilities. So that's
39:22
my spiel on it. Uh, and I hope you enjoyed
39:26
my little work experience here. Of again, not really a
39:30
work trip from hell necessarily, but kind of close, especially
39:33
when you're flying there. I know I'm gonna have to
39:37
uh have some expenses to uh to account for with
39:40
full time job, but nonetheless, uh, it's all good. So anyway,
39:44
thank you for listening for this episode. I got another
39:47
deep dive coming up in the pipeline. We're focusing on
39:50
Atlanta right now, but I've got many more comings. So
39:53
the next episode will be the deep Dive, and then
39:56
I'm gonna try to do this once a week.
39:57
Speaker 2: Again. I'm sorry about last week.
39:59
Speaker 1: Obviously, I was working and I was traveling, so I
40:01
didn't get a chance to do a show. And I
40:04
like it better when I do it from the home
40:05
studio anyway, so it sounds better. At least I got
40:09
a professional microphone, and I don't sound like I'm talking
40:11
to you over my phone, so that's why I try
40:14
to do that do it that way. But anyway, again,
40:17
thank you for listening. If you're listening on the podcast
40:20
as your first time listening, hit subscribe and you'll get
40:22
another you'll get the next episode. You've got the deep
40:24
Dive episodes as well, obviously. Go on the website read
40:28
soolo Traveler dot com and hit that subscribe button. You'll
40:30
get the next edition delivered to your inbox. And check
40:33
out the archives. There's about over forty articles up there,
40:35
lots of good stuff. So for whatever it is you're
40:39
you're interested in when it comes to travel, all right,
40:41
that's gonna do it for me. Thank you for listening.
40:43
We'll see you next time.