Archive for Travel Man

A Shift in the Travel Man Matrix

photoTravel Man’s been working close to home quite a bit recently, and it’s been quite the shift in our daily household routine.  He has been driving back and forth to work each day for a few months now.  That may seem elementary to some of you, but for my Travel Man it’s a whole new way of working.  This means commuting on the Southern California maze of freeways, navigating around town, and dealing with the exhausting traffic.  Plus this is not his “usual”  or his favorite mode of transportation to work.  The “usual” mode meaning a drive to the airport, and jetting off to his work destination.  In case you haven’t read about my Travel Man before, he’s what I lovingly refer to as a Road Warrior.  He travels quite extensively for his job, and prior to the past few months is normally “on the road” Monday through Friday each week.  You can read more about our crazy lifestyle here.

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This is the first time in a long, long time where he has been home at some point each night and gotten to sleep in his own bed.  What I find interesting about this scenario is that there are a few things I need to make sure I’m watching out for that I would have previously not worried about too much during his “usual”  work week.  

Here’s a list or my top 5 things I’m paying more attention to and observing around the house:

#1 Laundry– The main thing I need to remember is check the laundry.  On most trips Travel Man gets home and I empty his suitcase into the washer.  Not the case right now, I have to remember to pay attention to how full the hamper is (or the space immediately in front of the hamper) Ha!!  This has been a big,  huge change for the household organization.  Not in a bad way, mind you, just a change.

#2 Menu Planning- The menu planning needs to be in place each week to keep me sane.  A lot of times when Travel Man is “on the road” I might just have a simple toasted cheese for dinner or a chicken patty sandwich. But knowing that he is coming home for dinner at some point every night I have been much more diligent with my menu and meal planning.  This is a good thing for the entire family.  Eating out less, and eating home cooked meals more.

#3 After work routine– When Travel Man is “on the road”, I don’t usually see first hand how tired  he is after work.  He needs his quiet time, and his reboot time, that’s what he does.  I don’t usually see this side of his work life, until now.  He has carved out a little desk space for himself in our garage/ his workshop, and so far he’s able to escape the noise of the household when he needs to the most.

#4 Hobby  Time – Notice that doesn’t say “Hubby” time, although I do enjoy my hubby time.  It says hobby time.  You see as a “Road Warrior” there is so much of your work week spent traveling, hoteling, and eating out that it does not usually leave a lot of time for hobbies once you are back home.  But now with Travel Man not having to jet away somewhere each week I am finally seeing my husband have a little time of his own to discover and enjoy some hobbies.  His favorites are wood working, tinkering with our trailer-getting it ready for the next trip, and selling “stuff” on Craigslist.

#5 TV Time–  This is kind of unusual but here it is.  There are certain TV shows that I record on our DVR each week.  With Travel Man gone so much (previously) I would watch “my shows” while he was out-of-town.    This may seem trivial to some, but it is definitely a shift in our home life.  Now we watch more TV together, and I record less of “my shows.  Or we are able to just listen to music, and read together instead of watching any TV at all.

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Travel Man’s crazy schedule has calmed down so much over the past few months if he starts to fly all over the country again we’ll probably both go nuts missing one another.   I’m not entirely certain we’ll be able to successfully manage shifting the matrix back to the airport life.  We are always so grateful and blessed to have our time together at home.  Of course we’ll do what ever is necessary for Travel Man’s work world, but the Road Warrior  lifestyle would be on a different path once again.

 

 

On a Road Warrior Trip

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Last week I made a trip to the Denver area with my favorite Travel Man.  It was a quick work trip, but we got to spend some much-needed time together.  His work schedule has been a little crazy recently.  We were celebrating our anniversary and a certain Travel Man’s birthday during this week.  It was a lot of fun to be together to celebrate, and do some travelling together.  This trip I dropped Travel Man off at work and took the rental car to do a little exploring.  While I was cruising around by myself for a few hours I noticed that a few things were a little different in Colorado.

1) The grass here is so green. I’m very jealous. At home in Southern California we are in a Stage 3 drought alert. In our neighborhood we are restricted to watering our lawns just three times per week. Our front yard is surviving ok, the backyard not so much.

2) I drove around by myself with the rental car while Travel Man was at work. This is the first trip that I have done this.  I realized I should have been doing this much more often over the past couple of years. I have a fairly good sense of direction and got around town just fine.  And of course there was shopping involved.

4) I’m reminded that my Travel Man’s work life is constantly in a state of flux. The customer he was taking care of here needs parts to repair their machine.  Receipt of those parts will delay finishing the job. Travel Man’s schedule does not allow him to stay here and finish this one! He’s back on a plane in two days heading overseas.  This means we’re going home a day early and he’ll have an extra day to relax and pack his suitcase.

5) There are “Help Wanted” signs everywhere!  The hiring signs were definitely in abundance.  Every store I went into had a hiring sign posted! It was nice to see that for a change.  We haven’t seen that as often in Southern California.

6) I am blessed to be in this place right at this moment.  I can pack my bags at a moments notice and head off with my hubby to his next work destination. How many people get to do that every week? I’m a lucky gal.

Have you had a Road Warrior in your life?   Did you get to travel together much?  Or maybe you were a Road Warrior yourself.  I’d love to hear some of your best travel stories.

This post shared at the MidLifeLuv Linky party.

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Travel Man’s Been Away It’s Time for Things to go Astray

IMG_0211This week while Travel Man is working in New York City I had to take the car in for service.  Of course since Travel Man is gone it completely stalled on me while getting onto the freeway Sunday morning.  I know I’m a big girl and I can take the car in for service on my own.  It’s just that I don’t like to.  Thankfully so far the week appears to be going ok, other than the issues with my car. Fingers crossed for a quiet household week.  Hopefully I haven’t just jinxed myself!

The last time Travel Man was out-of-town for a whole week there were a few other things that had gone awry around the house.  Our garbage disposal died.  I tried to fix it, but was not successful.  So unfortunately I cannot add that one to my “Things I CAN fix” list. Travel Man was able to fix this one when he got home.   He did not want me to call the plumber on this fix.  Thank goodness we found out there was just a dime jammed in it from a certain granddaughter who shall remain nameless.  Next the pool pump motor went kaput!  This called for a complete replacement here.  Right before Travel Man went out-of-town the refrigerator door sprung a spring so it wouldn’t close tight.  We ordered the part and he fixed it when he got back home for the weekend.  The last thing that happened during this eventful week was one of the backyard sprinklers blew its’ top off.  So we had an “Old Faithful” geyser going in the back yard for a few days before I realized and investigated what had been happening.  Can you believe all four of these happened in the same week?Unreal how good ‘Ol Murph comes in the door when you least expect it.

I like it much better when Travel Man is home and does NOT have to spend time on household fixes (aka The Honey-Do List).  I would much rather he spend time with me.  I’m a little selfish like that. Being the wonderful husband that he is all of the repairs got completed before he left on his next trip.  I’m still waiting to get my car back.  Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious.  How does the “Honey-Do” list look at your house?  What’s the last thing you had to fix yourself around the house?

We Have our Weekends Back

IMG_2023-001There was a time earlier this year where Travel Man would be gone for weeks on end.  Weekends really did not mean anything to us because our time together was limited, and never the same day of the week.  Now don’t get me wrong I realize there are a lot of couples that go through life together with wacky, crazy schedules. We too are one of those couples. The nature of Travel Man’s work keeps it that way.

In July, Travel Man decided enough was enough and decided to make a job change.  He is in the same industry, service technician for food packaging machinery, but with a different company.  The company that he is working for now has given him the opportunity to have his/our weekends back.  He is now normally travelling Monday through Friday, and home on the weekends.  We are so elated with this transition, I am almost willing to say we are giddy, but I do not want to jinx the weekends.  I do not think either one of us realized what a tremendous toll his old job was taking on us.  It was affecting his health, straining our relationship, and generally making our lives crazy.

Travel Man started his new job at the beginning of August, and he has been home every single weekend since then.  Yay!!  We can now look forward to making plans for the weekend.  This is a new concept for us.  Going camping, going to a movie, the sky’s the limit. He’s home for family events, gets to spend time with the Grandkiddies, and me too of course.  It has really been wonderful just being able to plan for things to do on the weekends.  I did not realize how much I was truly missing our weekends together, until recently when we got them back.  I would always feel bad making plans for family events happening at our house knowing that Travel Man would not be home to join us.  Just that fact would tug at my heart strings.

We both know and recognize that there will be many times when he cannot be home or get home as planned. That is the nature of the work he does and the business he is in.  That’s ok.  As long as we both know there will likely be more times that we can make plans and fulfill those plans with a minimum amount of changes and disruptions.  We’re so thankful to have our weekends back.

A State of Waiting

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We all spend tons and tons of time waiting over the course of our busy days; the doctors’ office, waiting for medical test results, in line at any store, the bank (oh wait I cannot remember the last time I stepped foot IN the bank!), the gas station, etc.  Waiting can be stressful, and sometimes make a person somewhat wary.  I have a little bit different twist on the word waiting today that I wanted to share with you.

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If you’re significant other is a Road Warrior (aka Travel Man) like mine do you feel like you’re always waiting?  If you’re not familiar with the term Road Warrior this is my definition.  A Road Warrior is a significant other that has a job that requires them to travel away from home on a regular basis.  Your Road Warrior might be gone for a few days, or a few weeks.  They must travel to wherever the job takes them on a moments notice. In our case my Road Warrior’s mode of travel is almost always an airplane.  He likes to say he commutes in a tube.

So, when your significant other works away from the house almost every week it always seems like you’re waiting for one thing or another.

Waiting for the next time you will see them.

Waiting to hear how their day went.  Sometimes waiting a long, long time for this one.

Waiting to talk to them if you have something important to say but it’s not an emergency (if things start to pile up I always have to make a list for myself).  I have also been known to e-mail a list to my favorite Road Warrior if he is having a super busy week.

Waiting for the day they are coming home to arrive.

Waiting to go the airport to pick them up

Waiting at the airport for your favorite Road Warrior to get there.

Waiting to have a nice dinner together (spaghetti is the go-to, first night, home cooked meal at my house )  If we are going out to eat on the night that he gets home I have to choose the place.  This is because the Road Warrior has been eating in restaurants all week, and he’s tired, tired, tired of choosing where to go.

Waiting can sometimes seem like an eternity.  Waiting can test your patience, and put such a strain on your relationship, if you allow that to happen.  When your Road Warrior calls you to say he has had a bad day or is missing you, be a good listener. Always be encouraging, and tell him you cannot wait to see him.  Those are the things a Road Warrior needs to hear.

Waiting can be the pits, for both of us.  Probably the worst form of waiting is when the Road Warrior is on his way home, and then there is some sort of travel delay.  Ugh, those are times you need to have your patience in check.  You are waiting, he’s waiting. You’re both waiting.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  But then comes the best part of waiting, when the wait is over.  That’s when I am relieved that my Road Warrior is home safe and sound.  That’s when we are able to relax together, and just reconnect.  There’s no more waiting until the next trip.
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