The young professionals group told me that I needed to be more upbeat in these postings - try to keep them humorous and stick with the funny stuff - and for the most part, I agree - keep it as light as possible, it is better for my AdSense - which I have you know is up to a whopping 11.00 balance right now - the really good thing is that I don't do this for money, it is my Chicken Soup for the Soul (you remember those books - my mom keeps a copy in the guest bathroom, and I have to admit, some of the stories are pretty good - they beat reading out of date copies of Southern Homes and Gardens...) but as usual, I digress...not really in that chippy cheery mood right now - I have packed my bags with the utmost of efficiency, have some workout clothes in the dryer along with the remaining clean underwear, and with the usual succinct ability that I have, the dry cleaning is neatly folded up in the replacement suitcase happily provided by the Delta baggage agent after exchanging an otherwise destroyed bag...another blog...
So to say that Up in the Air struck some melancholy chord would be an understatement - the scene of sitting in the hotel room, watching the world outside, seeing the places that you travel through, and are just as comfortable there as you are sitting in your own armchair - yeah, it was a pretty heavy film. It, pardon the overused term, hit the nail on the head - and sitting uncomfortably in a movie theatre as parallels to your life are broadcast to the folks sitting around you, well, just made me think a little too much. The fact that I actually have photographs of the airport at JIA - where I sit just about every Sunday - seems to highlight what we do - and when I say we - I mean the folks that you talk to in the terminal or see in the Crown room, or just happen to sit next to every couple of weeks on your way back home -
Life on the road is what it is - to some degree, it becomes your identity - you keep the miles, you get the hotel upgrades and nice bottles of water, you meet people and work with them, and you, for the most part, keep your distance - you do develop some relationships - mostly professional, mostly mundane and unprofound, and you do your job. You order room service, you maximize your point earning potential, you go to the gym, and occassionally, you wander outside of your hotel to see what is happening within one or two blocks of you. For the most part, you work, you plan, you finish, and you go. The airport signs get you there, the rental car agents greet you, the airline desk smiles and pretty much knows your first name, and then the folks on the plane offer to hang up your coat and get you a drink...
I don't focus much in this blog about the work that I do - there is no point to that - I am sort of a glorified tour guide, on really long tours, through really wierd territory - for me, it is not so scary, for the folks that I visit - maybe a little more scary, a little more hectic, and maybe too much of a glance into the unknown than they have had in several years - or ever - but I like the work - but when you see something that is a stark comparison to your life - you begin to question if it is the work that keeps you going, or the road that keeps you going - for me, I will remain undecided, but I know that when I step in front of the board tomorrow in Seatac airport, and look at where I am headed next, that there will be, somewhere in the back of my mind, the question - why do I do this again?
How many folks really do this for a living - there have to be quite a few of us out there who have hotel towels hanging from our towel racks, have little blue bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and convenient travel size soaps, and polish our shoes in the mornings that we are home with Hilton labeled shoe mitts...we open up the fridge door and have twenty little bottles of Dasani water and some extra airport size vodka bottles, and have bags of freshly dry cleaned clothes hanging in the closet, soon to move forward in the rotation for next weeks trip - hard to say, but if that movie is any indication, then none of us are alone in those hotels - when we are on the elliptical or down at the managers reception, or at the breakfast buffet - we are all there - just some of us are there a little more than others.
I hate to dwell on it - because, for the most part, it is an interesting life - people say to me all of the time that they crave to do the kind of travel that I do - and I think in my head of those 2 am replays of Dr. Dwyer's Power of Intention - do they really? For me, I can't sleep in my own bed, get pissed about the water pressure in the apartment shower, don't function too well after six or seven days at home, and spent the first Christmas with my brother in twenty years - so do they really want that kind of travel? Sure - it has benefits - I get to go to exciting places with all of the miles - I got a photo album for Christmas - a treat of Vegas and Bahamas and New Orleans and Orlando and Seattle and Florida beaches - all funded by hours of sitting on a plane, eating room service, and just doing my job - but I question whether those folks who crave the travel really know the kind of sacrifice that we choose to make -
That's the important part to understand about all of it - and the biggest thing that I took from Up in the Air - I choose to do this - it is a part of me to fly in and fly out, no permanent trappings other than a suitcase and a passport, and sometimes, you just have to come to grips with your choices.
Sorry Young Professionals, I am sure that something a little less melancholy will pop into my head for the next one, off to check in...
Until next time -
George
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