[Closed] Working away. Hotel life!

Coke and hookers

Bike in the car is a good antidote. 🙂

I'm in a Holiday Inn at least 2 nights most weeks. I never (well, almost never) eat in the hotel, I walk a lot to find different restaurants, I argue with people on the internet and I've watched every episode of Grand Designs at least twice.

I bloody hate it. Work in construction too and seen too many guys who have spent their careers doing it, propping up the bar and on second or third marriages because they were never at home. Almost to a man they'll tell you that they regret missing their kids grow up.

But yeah, bike in car. Local swimming pool, jogging, cinema. Avoid as far a possible though!

Trick is to not to get into the habit of just sitting in your room working or in the bar drinking. Get out and see what's going on in the area.

And the one time I had an extended hotel stay job, striking up a relationship with the hotel assistant manageress was a good move too. 😎

Aah, Emma from Romford Premier Inn, I wonder what happened to you. 😘

Leeds bike park tonight. Just need to be careful I don't break anything or I'll be ****ed!

I work 6 weeks on 3 off on a mine in the middle of nowhere, there is very little to do. Netflix and Amazon Prime are my savior.

I'm usually busy in the evenings after work and then just fall asleep.

It's okay. No bed to make. Lacks a bit of character. Sometimes take my bike.

I do my fair share, always phone home to have a chat with the kids, have a walk around the local place (most of my travel is around Europe and Asia), bike when in UK or choose a hotel with pool. That said yes it's damn hard not to go straight in the bar and over eat.

Internet is your friend, documentaries, youtube, forums.

You can have a **** on top of the covers! 👍

I used to be away a lot, think 2 or 3 weeks each month. It’s not conducive to family life.

Most of the time I wasn’t alone so would be socialising with work folks every night. You can turn this around from bar/dinner if you are proactive in organising something like bowling or a pool night.

In the end you have to draw a line and pick a couple of nights to do some exercise.

Hotel with a pool and a gym helps, some of them might have a local running loop.

Been doing it for years, but I've got 3 more months of it to go and won't be doing it again hopefully.
I travel to my work on a Monday morning, tend to leave very early and work fairly late so normally too tired to go for a ride or train on a Monday. I joined a gym (David Lloyd) as there is one local to me and one where I work. I do get fed up with the hotel food. Some Holiday Inns are OK for food, I'll normally have a healthy lunch in work and just a ham sandwich when I get to the hotel later in the evening. Last night for example, I couldn't face hotel food and was too knackered to go out, so just had a bag of popcorn and a diet coke.
I then drive home on a Wednesday evening. I see the kids Wednesday night through to their bed time on a Sunday, so not too bad. I tend to work from home on a Thurs and Friday, get to do the school runs on those days.
I do tend to watch a lot of GCN, GMBN, Vegan Cyclist etc. Also, noise cancellation headphones will become your best friend. Listening to other peoples ipads can be incredibly annoying!
Make sure you stay in a hotel where you can collect your points, I've had a few weekends away with the wife on my points. Failing that use Topcashback, again I've done OK with this over the years mainly from hotel stays.

How’d you guys that do it cope with it?

At times it's pretty bloody hard TBH.

I have my guitar, a small digi effects box and a set of headphones. Put iTunes on, select music, plug in guitar and iPhone to effects box and play away all night.

Also, I run. But that's only straight after work for an hour. Try to get settled by 7pm, guitar and bed.

I make sure I have a regime, purely because it can get boring if you sit on the end of the bed wondering what on earth to do.

YouTube, iTunes Movies and iTunes all good too.

Thankfully it's only two nights, even that though is too much.

Best of luck, find a coping mechanism as best you can.

Been on the road in my jobs over the last 15 years. In one way it’s a privilege to do a job that takes you all around the world, but though i’ve Travelled the world i can’t claim to have seen it or know it. In the last 5 years or so I just did what I can to minimise the door to door time and got into the habit of using the hotel pool and gym to avoid hitting the bar and trying to eat as sensibly as I could avoiding in flight meals even in business class and eating in the airport if I could or at a decent restaurant before heading to the airport. But despite that its not a healthy lifestyle. I’ve just changed roles that has a lot less travel - a couple of times a year instead of every month, and so far relishing it. So much time to do other stuff, makes planning things with the family easier. Still enjoy the travel when it happens, but glad it’s so much less frequent.

I've been staying in hotels around Africa for about 50 nights a year for the last 31 years. That's even worse than in Britain because you can't really go out at night so you're confined to the security of the hotel compound. Hotel gyms are dire and you're quite likely to injure yourself on the equipment so as most Christian African countries brew very good beer you tend to just drink yourself into a stupour most evenings then lose the added weight when you return home and get back to your normal routine.

A couple of good books help pass the time especially at weekends. If you're lucky your local agent will take you out somewhere but they also have their own lives.

I find a HDMI lead for my laptop is very handy. Doesn't always work in the big chains, as the TV is normally linked to their system.

I've seen it from both sides, the one travelling and the one at home, and neither is easy. I'd echo what people have said regarding what you do when you are the one travelling but I'd add the difficulties when you are the one at home. You end up with all sorts of restrictions on your life. You have to be home at a certain time in the evenings to make sure you can take a call, you have to make sure all the housework is done so that weekends are free and then you have pressure spend the weekend with your other half at the weekend placing further restrictions on what you can do and we don't have kids.

What I'm saying is that if you are in this situation you need to realise the impact it has on your partner and maybe cut them some slack.

I try and find a local gym. Most crossfit boxes will take random drop ins if you buy a T-shirt or something.

I’ve been staying in hotels around Africa for about 50 nights a year for the last 31 years.

I got quite excited to see a rack of dumbells in the last African Hotel gym I stayed in. Turned out they only had one of most weights, which severely limited their usefulness...

Did it a lot pre-kids. Always unpacked properly when I arrived, tried to find a hotel with a gym, or at least made sure I could get a good walk or jog each day, always went out somewhere to eat, made it a rule to only have 1 pint in the bar while playing the "you two are not officially a couple" spotting game.

Nowadays, I'd take a bike and use my social media contacts to sort out some rides.

Glad I did it when I was younger with fewer ties. A mate does it now and finds being away from his kids tough.

+1 for not eating/drinking in the hotel. Get out, go for a stroll.

I was on the other side, working in hotels.
On some occasions it was scary to see people become alcoholics over a few weeks.
One chap used to hide in the lounge, waiting for his work colleagues to go up and shower. He would go in the bar and down 2 or 3 pints of Stella. At that point we stopped serving him and he changed hotel.

I only did this for a few months in Bristol.

Always took my single speed
Most times an electric guitar and Ableton on the laptop
Walked around town and local country

I thought it was cool initially but soon tired of it and I know I'd be bonkers if I kept it up for any length time

Trick is to not to get into the habit of just sitting in your room working or in the bar drinking. Get out and see what’s going on in the area.

This,

I've only really done it once for any length of time, but it was about 4 months all-told week after week after week.

This is one of those "don't do what I did" things. I ended up going down a real rabbit hole. After a few days of it I couldn't bare sitting in the bar alone, so I ended up having food brought to my room, steak and chips most nights. I watched crap on TV, ate and drank too much, hardly left the hotel. I put a pile of weight on, looked like shit, felt like shit.

Forced to do it again, I'd try my hardest to take my bike, but if I couldn't I'd try to get a better routine. Hope there's a healthy-ish option on the menu, avoid mid-week drinking and try to have a quick shower/change after work and head out for a walk or something.

I've been soradically away at short notice or away 4 nights a week at times for most of the last 10 years. Now I'm in a role where it's the same 2 nights each week and in the same hotel. It does get a little bit groundhog day, but it's also nice to be able to get a bit of a routine.
Sadly no gym available in the hotel (it's a very poor choice of hotels within budget around here), but I'm doing the Great North Run next month so this year I've had the motivation to get out running both nights as much as possible. Last year I bought the road bike with me occasionally and managed to fit a few 50km evening rides in at the height of the long evenings.
I don't eat in the hotel, I normally go to a supermarket and get a load of cooked meats, salad, wraps and stuff to eat in the room along with a couple of beers (more alcohol free at the moment). Luckily the hotel has decent wifi and open HDMI inputs on the TV's so I can bring a Firestick and plug it in for Netflix etc..

In terms of family, I do miss the children, but it's far better now knowing when I'm going to be away so my wife can plan around it. It's only 2 nights out of 7 away so I make sure I do bedtime when I am there and spend as much time as possible with the whole family. But then, I do feel guilty if I'm ever doing something with just me and friends such as a night out or very occasionally a day as I've already been away during the week, which is a bit frustrating as that is work and not leisure. Then I remind myself that they won't be young for long and I don't want to miss it all. There'll be plenty of me time when they're older.

I used to do 9 - 10months away worldwide per year on big engineering jobs. Up to 3month stints mostly middle East and north africa in the days before Netflix became available.

At first I used to take as many books as I could, finding a source of English language books was like winning the lottery!
Used to explore whatever city I was in - never had any issues
But after a few years of constantly overcoming boredom things started getting a increasingly silly especially on a 2year job that required 2 of us on site, mainly involving hire cars, climbing over 15floor balconies and things I shudder to think about now. It came to a head in a boozy small job in Bosnia that I realised I was going to end up in a local prison or dead.
I swopped it for commuting to Accrington everyday. Have been here 15 years and refused to go away for work when asked.

As others, I run a bit when I am overseas and use it to reset my body clock and also do some high speed tourism. I am a bit pedantic about not eating too much rubbish as well and avoiding going on the p1ss all the time. If it's UK and I can I take my bike, i'm in London a lot so get the train which means I can work and also take my bike if I'm there for a few days. Roll out and pick my mate up in East Sheen and join the hoardes in Richmond Park. Then have a beer and ride back to town, it's very pleasant. After 25 years of this though I'm getting out and taking a year off 🙂

I've worked away from home a lot in the past and have enjoyed it immensely, it was a hoot in my younger days. I have tended to get jobs in cities/countries I have wanted to visit. In hindsight it can be hugely damaging to relationships and family.

It is a very good idea to limit the hotel bar time, I've found the people in the hotel bar are in a similar situation to me - working away form home - and the conversations are generally similar. When away by myself I've explored the local area and sampled the local restaurants. Bike, walking shoes, computer have all helped pass the time. Getting out of the hotel is important for me as the room/hotel starts feeling a bit like a cell.

I don't work away from home any more apart from the odd night very occasionally.

As most have said, if practical take a bike but been an Audi driving five rider 😉 I also take the golf clubs, driving range or a round is a good way of eating up some hours!

But definitely limit the number of beers its easy to slip in to.... ahh just one more on expenses!!

Did it for a few years, but usually tied in with long drives and usually with colleagues there. The colleagues were 'sociable' so we ended up out drinking a bit too much (all on expenses). When on my own, I tended to stay in the hotel.

Only ever stay over about once or twice a year now. Can't imagine doing it regular - you've got to be disciplined.

Tea and masturbation.

Not at the same time, natch.

Its pretty grim in all honesty.
I've been working away from home for the last 8 years give or take. I've no kids which is a blessing.

Currently in the UK, and I get home at 9 or 10pm most fridays and have to mob again Sunday afternoons. Don't see my mates because I basically have to spend time with the other half because we haven't seen each other all week. Might get one cheeky ride in a week.

I used to bring my bike, but it got stolen out of the van so that's done with now. They key is staying away from the booze, hit the gym, stay active if you can, it's 99% mental. Pure gym is £14.99 a month and is everywhere. Don't eat in the hotel, and try and explore wherever it is you are staying!

There have been some good times however last year my house got compulsory purchased. My notice is going in this week and then I'm going to cycle tour the world with the other half - starting in November. I won't be travelling in my next role whatever it turns out to be.

How easy it is depends on the quality of hotel and the quality of where you are!

Fancy hotel with a pool and gym and spa in a lovely European capital city with plenty to do and a warm climate... I'm golden.

Crappy hotel in an unsafe location (see above re Africa) - it is super rubbish and depressing. I hate being confined to the hotel.

Budget UK hotel with no gym and on a trading estate or motor way junction - not so good but doable if oyu have a car. Drive somewhere to explore. Get out for a run or a walk if daylight allows. Drive somewhere for dinner or to go to a gym/cinema/pool. The Pay as u gym app is quite good for this.

I have got to know some quite random parts of the UK very well whilst working away.

As above - find stuff to do in the evenings to keep you out of the bar / restaurant!

I run a bit in the evenings, especially during the summer and use time away as "free" exercise time as it's not eating into family time and I don't feel guilty for buggering off for a couple of hours etc. In the winter I'll go to the climbing wall as not a big gym fan. I tend to stay in the same places so have a bit of a routine and know decent running routes or climbing walls etc. When overseas I do struggle a bit though - strangely part of the US have been the hardest - big hotel chains near airports with no "sidewalks" and no way of safely walking / running to or from them so have had to resort to gyms and treadmills.

For me, making sure i got out outside, visiting zoos and other outside stuff whenever possible. Checking museums for late night openings. Checking out if towns had interesting medieval bits etc.

But eventually I did have to stop the hardcore travelling as it wore me out!

Also hit up your social media - its amazing how many friends from sports or hobbies live all over the place in random places and will be up for meeting up

Yeah, eat in a restaurant, go for a walk, got to the Pure Gym, or bike ride.
We're only allowed 2 drinks on expenses, so I generally get a pint after work and then a glass of wine with dinner. I never do more than 2 nights though, so not too bad re: drinking.

Kindle is handy too! Also like to do a video call with my girlfriend and swan about in the bath if it looks alright

He would go in the bar and down 2 or 3 pints of Stella.

2 or 3 pints is not an alcoholic.

If it's city center, take up running, by the time you've faffed about getting back to the hotel, changed, gone for a run, got back, shower and bath it can waste a couple of hours.

If it's in the middle of nowhere, bike in the car and ride to the office and go for a long ride each evening.

Never eat evening meals in the hotel. TBH after the first fortnight I stopped eating out at all and just bought a bag of salad leaves and some cooked meat for dinners. Preferably stuffed in a backpack and go for a ride to a nice hilltop. Get a small backpacking cookset and make your own dinner mid-ride. I'd rather take on the calories of a cooked breakfast!

I try and avoid the black hole for freetime that is the internet. A bit of netflix/iplayer/prime etc but it's too easy to end up with way too much screen time and too little actually recharging your batteries (either socially or just unwinding).

For me, making sure i got out outside, visiting zoos and other outside stuff whenever possible. Checking museums for late night openings. Checking out if towns had interesting medieval bits etc.

But eventually I did have to stop the hardcore travelling as it wore me out!

FTFY

Be thankful you're not sharing a hotel with your clients 😐

When I go away, which is thankfully very infrequent these days it tends to be for large pan european project meetings. We'll all have to meet somewhere like Copenhagen which has direct flights from pretty much everywhere in Europe. Nobody in the meeting will actually live there so meetings will end between 5 and 6 then there's time for a quick shower and then we'll be expected back in the foyer between 7 and 8 for taking the clients out for the evenings entertainment.

That can go on for 2-3 days and used to be a couple of times a month with different clients. One of the few things I have to thank Brexit for is that that sort of travel is now largely unaffordable 😀

I've been doing it for 12 years now - not too often but tend to get peaks and troughs.
Did 3 nights at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow last week.

I never drink if i'm on my own, never eat in the hotel unless their is no sensible alternative, always try and get out for a walk either before or after dinner, and try to take my bike if in the UK.
I always phone the kids at dinner time, then phone my wife a bit later, once she's got rid of the kids to bed.
me being away is hard on my wife/kids as she works full time and has to do everything whilst i'm away.
But When i'm not away i'm always home by 5.30, and rarely do any work in the evenings, whereas she is a teacher who gets home later and works every eve, so her job also impacts family life.

There will always be travel in my job (Engineering - project manager) but i do try to keep it to a minimum, and would quite happily let someone go in my place if it was the right thing to do.

As others have said running or the bike can take a couple of hours up of your evening. Try not to get into the habit of drinking, and no eating at the hotel is a rule of mine to force me to go out and explore.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Books, Netflix and podcasts for the times when it's just too much like hard work after a long day as well.</span>

I always phone the kids at dinner time, then phone my wife a bit later, once she’s got rid of the kids to bed.

Agree with this.

Always, always, always make time to call home. No matter what time zone you're in, do it.

On my last stint of working away I bought a unicycle which I learned to ride in the hotel room.