What do you do when you work/stay away for the week?
Discussion
Due to the location of my employers and being put on a project from there I am having to stay in hotels/b&bs around the area.
Just fishing around to see what people do with their evenings when they are away from home. I have got my running stuff so have the intention of having a run, except I left my trainers at home this week!
I know its going to vairy from place to place but I can't stand sitting in a hotel room all evening and I'm not the kind of person to sit in the hotel bar all night ether.
Thanks all look forward to hearing some ideas
Just fishing around to see what people do with their evenings when they are away from home. I have got my running stuff so have the intention of having a run, except I left my trainers at home this week!
I know its going to vairy from place to place but I can't stand sitting in a hotel room all evening and I'm not the kind of person to sit in the hotel bar all night ether.
Thanks all look forward to hearing some ideas
I normally travel to places across Europe (mostly in Belgium). I just go for walks to see what I can find, so a bit of sightseeing, finding a cool restaurant and then go looking for a good bar (preferably one with live music- which is difficult).
In the UK, the same but depends on the place. I often have loads of work to do in the evenings though, so I need to fit that in too.
In the UK, the same but depends on the place. I often have loads of work to do in the evenings though, so I need to fit that in too.
I worked away for about 5 years & got thoroughly sick of it after a while. Generally I tried to stick to the following
- 1 rule - never use room service
- 2 rule - don't have dinner in the hotel
- 3 try to get some exercise. not much good if you have forgotten your trainers but you could walk around the gym in your socks and pretend you are a super-serious dead lifter.
- 4 I found it helpful to have some routine e.g. On a certain day visit a certain type of restaurant, do an online course
- 5 rue how working away can make it harder to pursue egg chasing at a reasonable level.
Worse than that, I've been contracting away from home for 5 years, and therefore the B&B is out of my companies money, and the more I spend the less profit it makes, and the less dividend it can pay me.
Because it's usually 6 months or 12 months, I try and find a room in someone's house.
What I do is
a) Walk towards the town centre. Try and find a greek restaurant.
b) Swim - Find the details of the local pool, and go
c) Climb - Find a climbing wall
d) Social Clubs - Recent contract at Rolls Royce got me in a team in the Ten Pin Bowling League, with a handicap of 68.
e) If I find digs - Cycle.
f) Summer - Picnics - Just walk with a Baggett and some ham, and some pate, and a small bottle of wine, and plastic glass and just walk until I find a river seat.
Because it's usually 6 months or 12 months, I try and find a room in someone's house.
What I do is
a) Walk towards the town centre. Try and find a greek restaurant.
b) Swim - Find the details of the local pool, and go
c) Climb - Find a climbing wall
d) Social Clubs - Recent contract at Rolls Royce got me in a team in the Ten Pin Bowling League, with a handicap of 68.
e) If I find digs - Cycle.
f) Summer - Picnics - Just walk with a Baggett and some ham, and some pate, and a small bottle of wine, and plastic glass and just walk until I find a river seat.
I usually either:
- run every day
- do the work I need to ensuring that when back home I can rest
- find someone who will go out for a meal
- go to the local running club who usually will let a guest join them (even in other countries)
- Research something e.g. I want to lay a new driveway, how do I do it?
- Walk and see the sights
- Make the phone calls I never do at home to family and friends or better still skype
A few times when I was back in Barcelona, I would go and eat at a bar and the locals would engage in banter on the Champions league games
There are things to do but you have to ensure that you do something
- run every day
- do the work I need to ensuring that when back home I can rest
- find someone who will go out for a meal
- go to the local running club who usually will let a guest join them (even in other countries)
- Research something e.g. I want to lay a new driveway, how do I do it?
- Walk and see the sights
- Make the phone calls I never do at home to family and friends or better still skype
A few times when I was back in Barcelona, I would go and eat at a bar and the locals would engage in banter on the Champions league games
There are things to do but you have to ensure that you do something
I worked away solidly for 3 months, 2 in Rotherham, 1 in Reading, I broke every one of the rules listed above.
After a week I got fed up of eating alone in the restaurant, mon / tues was okay, but by midweek I'd be the scruffy bloke looking lonely surrounded by people out for birthdays and anniversaries so I get food sent up.
It's all too easy to look at a nice chicken salad on the menu and go "ah sod it" and have steak and chips and a couple of beers sent up - I never saw a bill anyway.
I'd often be working in one of the meeting rooms inside the Hotel, I once spent 4 full days without leaving the building - it had a terrible effect on my state of mind - I could never be a submariner. It turned me into an arrogant prick - I started looking at Bluetooth headsets and everything!
I spent far too much money on pay-per-view films, the £14.99 ones, if you know what I mean - I was shooting dust my Wednesday.
I smoked far more than I would have done usually and drank far too much, not going on a big bender, but 3-4 beers a night.
Rotherham was an especially tough gig, Friday traffic meant a 7 hour drive home at it's worst. Meaning I arrived home late at night on Friday, spent Saturday exhausted and catching up with chores at home, and Sunday I was leaving again by mid afternoon. I gained a lot of weight and looked and felt like crap all the time.
I'll never do it again through choice, but if I have to, I'll make sure I spend my time better, it's no life otherwise.
After a week I got fed up of eating alone in the restaurant, mon / tues was okay, but by midweek I'd be the scruffy bloke looking lonely surrounded by people out for birthdays and anniversaries so I get food sent up.
It's all too easy to look at a nice chicken salad on the menu and go "ah sod it" and have steak and chips and a couple of beers sent up - I never saw a bill anyway.
I'd often be working in one of the meeting rooms inside the Hotel, I once spent 4 full days without leaving the building - it had a terrible effect on my state of mind - I could never be a submariner. It turned me into an arrogant prick - I started looking at Bluetooth headsets and everything!
I spent far too much money on pay-per-view films, the £14.99 ones, if you know what I mean - I was shooting dust my Wednesday.
I smoked far more than I would have done usually and drank far too much, not going on a big bender, but 3-4 beers a night.
Rotherham was an especially tough gig, Friday traffic meant a 7 hour drive home at it's worst. Meaning I arrived home late at night on Friday, spent Saturday exhausted and catching up with chores at home, and Sunday I was leaving again by mid afternoon. I gained a lot of weight and looked and felt like crap all the time.
I'll never do it again through choice, but if I have to, I'll make sure I spend my time better, it's no life otherwise.
P-Jay said:
Meaning I arrived home late at night on Friday, spent Saturday exhausted and catching up with chores at home, and Sunday I was leaving again by mid afternoon. I gained a lot of weight and looked and felt like crap all the time.
This is the most awful thing for me when I go away. I make it rule now (as much as I can) to never be away on a Friday. The effect of this on 'home' life is just simply not worth whatever money I might be being paid.Well I managed a wander each evening, one of the evenings was to the local chip shop. I tried to go over to the local motor meusum but it was shut 
.
Well I will definitely remember the trainers next week as I don't think I could pass for a 'Lifter' in the gym.
Thanks all, glad it's not just me that can't stand propping up the bar while working away.
.Well I will definitely remember the trainers next week as I don't think I could pass for a 'Lifter' in the gym.
Thanks all, glad it's not just me that can't stand propping up the bar while working away.
I've done regular nights in London for the past few years.
I took the opportunity to walk and cycle everywhere, and go to a different restaurant every time.
I did some full weeks down, so just took the train instead of flying so I could use my own bike and not a hire one. It meant on my downtime I could go farther afield, which was brilliant.
I took the opportunity to walk and cycle everywhere, and go to a different restaurant every time.
I did some full weeks down, so just took the train instead of flying so I could use my own bike and not a hire one. It meant on my downtime I could go farther afield, which was brilliant.
I have worked away a fair amount over the years.
I usually found I had at least one friend or relative within an hours drive, so would spend time visiting people I had not seen for a while.
Luckily I have friends/ relatives dotted all over the place. Even going to Germany (Bochum/ Frankfurt) and the US (SC) I have friends and family!!
Biggest problem was Mexico - I had no connections there!
Mike
I usually found I had at least one friend or relative within an hours drive, so would spend time visiting people I had not seen for a while.
Luckily I have friends/ relatives dotted all over the place. Even going to Germany (Bochum/ Frankfurt) and the US (SC) I have friends and family!!
Biggest problem was Mexico - I had no connections there!
Mike
I generally just work a lot, 12+ hours a day.
Luckily there's a gym and pool where I'm stopping at the moment, otherwise I take my guitar.
The worst thing you can do is get lazy and just stay in your room all night though. When I'm on expenses I'm more happy to try new restaurants I might not like, at least then I won't have paid for it.
Luckily there's a gym and pool where I'm stopping at the moment, otherwise I take my guitar.
The worst thing you can do is get lazy and just stay in your room all night though. When I'm on expenses I'm more happy to try new restaurants I might not like, at least then I won't have paid for it.
P-Jay said:
Friday traffic meant a 7 hour drive home at it's worst.
Why not use the train ? (That is a serious question BTW)
I'm just starting a 6 month contract, where driving takes between 4 and who knows how long (I'm guessing 7 hours might not be unachievable with a bit of Friday Madness), and after the first 2 weeks (this week to find digs, and next week to bring my bike and 'stuff') I will drive 30 miles to Runcorn Station, get the 5:43 am train and Arrive (after 1 change) in Hemel at 8am, 3 miles in a taxi to the client.
Friday, I can leave at 12:30, and get to Runcorn by 4, home by 4:40.
If travelling with others I'll go out and have some food and a beer with them, usually we don't finish work until quite late when away so by the time we've eaten and had some drink it's getting on for midnight.
If I'm flying solo I tend to crash out in my room and read, I'm not a huge fan of sitting in restaurants by myself really.
If I'm flying solo I tend to crash out in my room and read, I'm not a huge fan of sitting in restaurants by myself really.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
P-Jay said:
I worked away solidly for 3 months, 2 in Rotherham,
2 months in Rotherham? I hope you were earning about £3m a year, because if not it wasn't worth it.
Ironically the assignment was going to "make or break" my career, it broke it ha ha. I did the job brilliantly, but managed to my department and my job obsolete in the process.
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