How Can You Be Two Places At Once When You Not Anywhere At All?

Posted on by glenchen

I love traveling. But I hate traveling for business.

Most of the time I just do what I came for, then hole up in my hotel room, just like I am doing now. I miss my family, and when I travel alone, I find myself wishing I had someone to share the trip with. It would be nice to consider a leisurely trip to somewhere exotic, like my convention trip in August to San Francisco. Now that will be fun. But often it is a pain in the neck. Maybe more.

I remember one specific week when I was conducting focus groups across the United States in February. In a week’s time I hit Raleigh-Durham, Boston, South Bend, Denver and Sacramento. Like I said, it was February. It rained on me the entire trip. I would get up at five or six a.m., check out and head for the airport, arrive at my next city, get my rental car, meet with the focus group facility and make sure arrangements were made, then stay up till midnight conducting the focus group. After that it took me a couple of hours to unwind, so I ended up getting about four hours of sleep every night. By the time I got to Sacramento, I was sicker than a dog. The shuttle driver who picked me up said, “Wow. Traveling for business! I wish I got to travel for business.” Just about that time, I was strongly tempted to commit homicide.

I got home to Idaho and was sicker than I have ever been. But I got the information I was looking for.

Today I flew into the Rio Grande Valley with the goal of making recruiting visits to two Christian academies here. Tomorrow afternoon I fly to Houston, and do two more on Tuesday. Sounds hectic, but doable.

I asked Saul, a student who works for me, and who has lived in the Valley, how far the two schools were apart. “Oh, 15 or 20 minutes.” So feeling pretty confident of things, I arranged my appointments 45 minutes apart. After I flew into McAllen, I decided to find the two schools beforehand, and chart out how long it took to get from one to the other. The first thing I did was head the wrong way on the freeway, but when I got turned around, I figured that it took 45 minutes from one school to the other. Sooo, tomorrow is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Once I get past tomorrow, things should get easier, knock on wood. I plan on getting up early tomorrow and spend a little time working on my book. School is hectic right now, and where I was ahead of my writing partner, now I am behind. So I hope to jot down some words in the next few days.

But tomorrow morning, pray for me, cross your fingers, or just send best wishes that I make it to both schools on time!

Blessings.