I don’t know if this happens to everyone, but traveling out of town for more than a night really takes it out of me.  I flew to Atlanta Tuesday afternoon and returned home yesterday morning, and today I’m still not back to my normal energy level.  I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make it to the gym; I have a couple of errands to run, all I want to do is nap.

There are a couple of things I think I can do better, things everyone should probably do when on the road.

Sleep

I have a hell of a time sleeping the first night I’m in a hotel room.  I don’t know what it is;  I’m normally in bed asleep by 10:30 and I get up at 5.  (Most nights I’m sleeping before 10:30).  On Tuesday, I got up at the normal 5am, worked for half a day, and left for the airport at 12:45.  I had a 2:45 flight that got in around 4:30, then I picked up a car and went back to the airport to pick up a coworker coming in on a later flight.  After getting to the hotel, checking in, and going out for a beer, I was in the room at 10pm.  Couldn’t sleep.

One bad night of sleep isn’t a problem, though.  It happens, even at home.  The problem is that when away from home, for some reason I have trouble getting to bed at a reasonable hour.  On Wednesday, we left the hotel at 7, got to the office at 7:20, and our meeting started at 8.  Meeting finished at about 5, and we were meeting a group for dinner (right next to our hotel) at 7.  That’s a long day for someone running on 5 hours sleep, but one day is no big deal as long as you get a solid 8 that night.  We were back from dinner by 9:30, and I could sleep until 6 the next morning.  So, as I’m getting into bed, I turn on the TV, and get sucked in to something on HBO and stay up until midnight again.  Continue reading