Busy Season by the Numbers

Ok, I realize that I'm a little late in posting this...but post busy season I've been doing a bit of...well...nothing. 

Yes, I have been doing "stuff."  But there has also been several days of lounging about in comfy pants reading and/or watching TV. 

After spending 13 weeks on the road...I think it's allowed.  So...what was I doing while I was on the road?  Accumulating the following numbers:

Total number of days I was scheduled to deliver: 37
Total number of days I actually delivered: 36

States Visited:
Oklahoma
Minnesota (5 times)
Chicago-land (twice)
New Mexico
Indiana
Wisconsin
Colorado
Illinois (twice)
Ohio (twice)
New York
New Jersey (3 times)

Ok, so if you just added that up,  you'll see that that's a total of 20 trips.  In 13 weeks.  Meaning there were 6 weeks where I visited at least 2 states.  And one glorious week when I visited 3 states. 

More numbers time:

Nights spent in a hotel: 34

This number was fortunately minimized by the fact that I often got home in the middle of the night (11pm or later) just so I could spend the night in my own bed instead of spending the night in a hotel and waking up early.

Airline Miles:
Delta: 8427
United: 3488
US Airways: 1106
American Airlines: 1380
Southwest: 2328

For a grand total of 16,729.  I assure you, it feels like I have flown a million miles, easily.  But looking at the numbers, it doesn't seem like all that much. 

Driving...fortunately, there were several trips that were together, so in the 13 weeks I traveled, I only made 12 trips back and forth to the airport...for a total of 2477 miles back and forth between home, and the airport. 

And of course, there were a few sessions that I drove to, because it was just cheaper, and faster to drive back and forth...so that added up to 2540 miles...ish.  And that doesn't even count the miles I put on rental cars once I got to where I was going.  Which is probably another thousand or so miles right there...if not more.

Again, it seemed like a lot more miles than that.

So now that I've put the numbers to it, it doesn't look so big and bad.  But I'm still glad that those 13 weeks are behind me.

What the numbers, the black and white-ness of the numbers, what they don't tell you is that what it's actually like to live those numbers.  The countless hours of driving, in my car, in rental cars, in hotel rooms, eating take out or room service.  What amazes me is that when I tell people what I do for a living, and they hear that I travel, many people think that it's so glamorous to travel.  And that it would be so much fun to do so. 

Well...I don't mind travel.  I even kind of like it sometimes.  I occasionally get to go places that are nice to visit.  But by and large, traveling isn't glamorous.  It's dirty and lonely.  But hey, while I'm talking about being dirty...I am happy to announce that my neurosis about washing my hands kept me from getting my typical busy season/hell week cold.  Well...at least it wasn't as bad as it has been in years past.  But stepping back to the topic at hand...traveling...for work...not so fun.

What I will take this opportunity to say is that I still love my job.  Yes, I am incredibly happy that I have had a break.  But I do still love what I do. 

And that's what really matters.