Travelling

Last year, with job interviewing and conferences, I traveled a lot. I was usually home on the weekends, but very rarely during the week. By the end of this period, I was completely exhausted, and didn't want to see the inside of an airport terminal for a long time. But, on a positive note, I'm now an elite member of more than airline (premier, executive, whatever). This doesn't get much, but at least I have cool, shiny FF cards.

Anyway, I vowed not to fly again for a while, and actually managed not to travel (for work) for several months. This meant missing one conference, but in the end, I think it was actually for the best, and I learned what my travel limits are. And what my husband's limits on my travel are.

Now fall is approaching, and I'm looking straight down a long list of tightly packed travel itineraries. It is not nearly as complex as last fall, but it still isn't enthralling. In early summer, I thought it would be best to try to squeeze all of my travel into the fall, since I'm teaching in the spring (I have a teaching reprieve fall semester). I was given several invited talks for fall conferences, which I accepted, so I am traveling at least once a month, if not more often. At least, I'm never attending more than one conference in one week. That happened last year.

Not to give the wrong impression, I do love going to conferences, giving and hearing talks, and interacting with my peers. However, traveling is very disruptive to both my personal and my professional life, and neither is very sympathetic.

Maybe next year, when I'm teaching both semesters, I'll try to spread out my travel more evenly. However, for this year, I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to attend any more events.

Unless I can get to them in under 2 hours...