On the road again

Well after a couple of different projects it seems I am back to what I would consider normal for my job. Obviously the international travel was an exception and probably a onetime thing and the following project was 80% remote so I worked from home, but my current staffing is back to what I consider normal. I leave on Monday morning and return home Thursday night. Of course there will be times I need to stay 5 days a week and I am sure toward go-live there will be weekend work, but for the most part we will stick to a 3-4-5 schedule. That is 3 nights away from home, 4 days working at the client site, and 5 days of work (the final day is from the home office).

But it will take a little getting used to again. My corporate apartment in the UK was almost like home, more so the 3 months RG was able to live there. And home from November through March was obviously like home too! So now after a couple years of disruption I have to learn to operate on little sleep, compressed schedules, eating out of vending machines and restaurants, and dealing with hotel staff, the airlines, and rental car company. But the good news is that our lives are starting to feel the same as they did before RG left for her home stay requirement. Though I have to admit I was getting used to seeing her everyday rather that 3-4 days a week.

One perk of the job though is that our bills go down slightly when I am out of town. We only need the one car because I am not home needing to get around and the transportation at the customer site is covered so we spend less gas money, the food costs are reduced as I am taken care of on the road. Also because each day away from home is so packed with activity by the time I start to feel like I am away it is time to head home. A joke between myself and a counter part is that consultants don’t have Monday-Sunday lives. We have Got here today day, got here yesterday day, go home tomorrow day, and go home today day. Then we have in the office or work from home day and the weekend.

At any rate after some strange circumstances and a lot of different working environments I am happy to be back onto the normal weekly schedule. Though I must admit I probably wouldn’t mind being sent to Japan, somewhere in South America, or Australia for a project either!