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Thoguh posted:Barring something unplanned between Christmas and New Years it looks like I'm going to be finishing the year with 93,933 MQM miles over 94 segments on Delta, 87 nights in Hilton Honors hotels over 27 stays, and 24 Hertz rentals. Plus a few odds and ends that weren't on my preferred loyalty programs. I'm an engineer who does integration on DoD projects, so the travel is spread out around the country but 90% of it is to one west coast and one east coast location. I've hit and maintained the highest level of Priority Club and National Car Rental status every year for the last 10 years. I find that unless I happen to use my hotel points for a vacation I'll cash them out for Amazon gift cards around Christmas time and use them to buy gifts. One thing that's nice and terrible about Priority Club hotels is how the perks are so hit and miss. One Holiday Inn in Billings MT will give me a free bottle of wine (and sometimes another bottle is waiting for me in my room) while others couldn't give less of a rats rear end about my status and will offer me a warm bottle of water if I'm lucky. Car rentals are pretty meh. I don't really pay too much attention unless I end up with a really nice car or a real shitbox. The only time I really benefit from National's Emerald Aisle is if I'm flying to Vegas but even then I'm usually grabbing a minivan or SUV.
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Dec 7, 2012 23:15
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Belldandy posted:Yep, you are right, You used to be able to get Lifetime Gold/Plat from the miles generated by the Citi AA CC but not actual yearly status via the Million Miler program back before they changed it this year. Can the admirals club sometimes block a seat if they know the flight is not sold out? I feel like they've mentioned it before to me recently but maybe it was them commenting on the status at the time and no one got placed there at the last minute. Seemed odd though as it was a bulk head and they usually find someone to put there.
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Dec 8, 2012 00:42
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Thoguh posted:How about everybody else? I finally hit Delta Silver in October. I have 41,644 miles with them. I have Hilton Silver (which seems to do exactly jack and poo poo) with 59,757 total points. I have ~28,000 points with Westin/Starwood preferred. What killed me this year was that I spent the first quarter of it going back and forth to Birmingham. We drove the company car up and, while I got a ton of Hilton points, I didn't get very many Skymiles until the latter half of the year. I also won't get any European trips, so I'll be trying to dink and dunk my way to status from here on out. How many of you guys are still on the road? I had my last trip for the year this week. I went Minneapolis for the second time this year and my wallet got stolen. It's been a ton of fun working things out with various banks! I'm slated to head to Puerto Rico the first part of January. Are you guys already scheduling for next year? Do your companies do a "freeze" period?
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Dec 8, 2012 05:15
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Hit Delta Silver in November 64k total miles, 37MQM Hilton Silver - 57k I have another trip Monday thats PNS-ATL-STL and back with a full week, maybe more at a Hilton. Which might push me to Gold with Hilton, says only 7 or more stays or 4 nights, which I'll grab next week. I see a good bit of travel coming on in the next few months for this project in STL, and only one ore two trips to DC/Ft. Meade area in the first quarter. Nothing long haul on the schedule yet.
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Dec 8, 2012 16:12
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I didn't travel so much this year and only wound up Gold with 52k MQM. My dept. ran out of money so all of my trips past october got cancelled. It has been kind of nice. Plus I have a lot of loving work in the lab that I wouldn't know what to do about if I was travelling. I kind of regret missing to go to Japan again though. I have no idea how many miler miles I got because I spend them but my balance right now is about 70k. I'm thinking of getting a credit card to boost that and going on an international vacation in the spring. The most bizarre thing that happened to me is that I signed up for Hertz #1 Gold Club at the beginning of the year. My first trip with it and I get off at the Gold Club place and my poo poo isn't there. Despite the fact they had sent me a #1 Gold Club card in the mail and I presented it to them, apparently it only signs you up for rapid return and you have to click an additional link on your web profile to enable #1 Gold Club. Then the dude in the gold club office started his up selling routine. Do you want to pay and additional blah blah for a Ford Mustang? And I was like, No, Come on man... and so he stopped, but then he said he only dates Japanese girls, with my Japanese colleague standing there who is a woman. I was like what the gently caress and so he gave the Mustang for free. The thing that pisses me off the most in travelling is definitely those Car Rental offices. gently caress.
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Dec 8, 2012 17:09
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sellouts posted:Can the admirals club sometimes block a seat if they know the flight is not sold out? I've honestly never asked, but I'll be traveling tomorrow so I can find out ! Morby posted:How many of you guys are still on the road? I had my last trip for the year this week. I went Minneapolis for the second time this year and my wallet got stolen. It's been a ton of fun working things out with various banks! I'm slated to head to Puerto Rico the first part of January. Are you guys already scheduling for next year? Do your companies do a "freeze" period? Still on the road here, I am normally booked out 3 weeks in advance. I am gone all of this upcoming week and the week after (thankfully I get a good excuse to miss my girlfriend's friends incredibly lame parties - WOO UGLY SWEATERS!!!), nothing during Christmas week and probably the week after but I already have some stuff starting Jan 7th.
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Dec 8, 2012 17:20
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So when you hit a status mid year, you have it for the following year as right? And you just have to hit it again or more to keep it active?
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Dec 8, 2012 18:46
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routenull0 posted:So when you hit a status mid year, you have it for the following year as right? And you just have to hit it again or more to keep it active? Generally yes, you get it for the rest of that year and the following year. The counter usually resets Jan 1 every year.
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Dec 8, 2012 19:14
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routenull0 posted:So when you hit a status mid year, you have it for the following year as right? And you just have to hit it again or more to keep it active? Yeah, this is why its debatable about bumping your status up right at the end of the year. You only guarantee 1 year plus a few days. If you let the miles roll over instead you might be able to hit it in mid year next year and have it for longer.
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Dec 8, 2012 19:27
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routenull0 posted:I see a good bit of travel coming on in the next few months for this project in STL The AA concourse was closed for a year for repair and they moved them into the old TWA section that had since been closed off and was just used for storage and occasional movie filming. The airport looked like a total backwater dump with all of the terminal windows boarded up for so long. kitten smoothie fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Dec 8, 2012 |
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Dec 8, 2012 19:41
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Uncle Jam posted:The most bizarre thing that happened to me is that I signed up for Hertz #1 Gold Club at the beginning of the year. My first trip with it and I get off at the Gold Club place and my poo poo isn't there. Despite the fact they had sent me a #1 Gold Club card in the mail and I presented it to them, apparently it only signs you up for rapid return and you have to click an additional link on your web profile to enable #1 Gold Club. The first time I got #1 club gold I had to use the office to sign paperwork and activate it. After that the only time I've been in a car rental office was at Avis to inquire how to rent the X5 they had parked next to my car. The frequent car rental perks are amazing timesavers. I prefer them over hotel perks.
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Dec 8, 2012 19:47
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routenull0 posted:So when you hit a status mid year, you have it for the following year as right? And you just have to hit it again or more to keep it active? Yep, and theres a bonus for being fast: I was at 100k or so miles within 5 months and my status was good to 2014.
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Dec 8, 2012 20:36
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sellouts posted:The first time I got #1 club gold I had to use the office to sign paperwork and activate it. After that the only time I've been in a car rental office was at Avis to inquire how to rent the X5 they had parked next to my car. The guy told me I had to do it online, and sure enough there was a link there to activate it. I never use a rental place that doesn't have a frequent rental program sign up through my company now, for sure. The desk people at hotels will bend over backwards for you even if you are not in the rewards program. They've saved my rear end so many times, I love hotel front desks.
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Dec 8, 2012 20:48
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kitten smoothie posted:I apologize for our awful airport. Although believe it or not it's better now than it was this time last year. It got a direct hit by a tornado Easter 2011 that blew out most of the windows in the ticketing hall, tore the roof off the American concourse, and threw some cars around in the short term parking. I've been going to STL for the past year or so, and the real only complaint for me would be the TSA area for Delta concourse, it is just so cramped and the repairs made it worse.
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Dec 8, 2012 21:41
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Uncle Jam posted:The most bizarre thing that happened to me is that I signed up for Hertz #1 Gold Club at the beginning of the year. My first trip with it and I get off at the Gold Club place and my poo poo isn't there. Despite the fact they had sent me a #1 Gold Club card in the mail and I presented it to them, apparently it only signs you up for rapid return and you have to click an additional link on your web profile to enable #1 Gold Club. National Rent-A-Car. When you have status with them (incredibly easy) you just walk onto the lot, choose any car you want, pay the standard price, never even have to talk to a person. No upselling at all, except asking when you leave whether you want an EZPass or whatever for tolls. They just ask, they don't try to push it on you. I used to hate renting cars, I've rented with every group. National is the best.
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Dec 9, 2012 16:43
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what is this posted:National Rent-A-Car. We have a company deal with most rental places but Hertz is preferred. Hertz #1 Gold Club is the same way. You get a car assigned to you that has the keys in it, but if you want another car you can just grab it. It was just a bizarre catch the first time where I wasn't really enrolled in the Gold Club despite them sending the card to me. Ever since then it has been butter.
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Dec 9, 2012 18:34
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Hertz and Avis have better selections to me along with being able to pick a different car if you don't like what you've been assigned.
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Dec 9, 2012 18:46
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Am I the only one who has never rented a car? I always take public transportation (if it is available) or taxis. I guess all of my trips have been to Europe or major US cities where the airports are fairly close and taxis/public transportation are readily available. My stats this year will be 52k BIS on US Air and Star Alliance partners hitting gold status on both. Last trip will be next Sunday to San Francisco for a week. Anyone else in the area? I don't participate in hotel or car rental programs. Although that will probably change in 2013 so I'll be asking for recommendations I'm sure.
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Dec 9, 2012 19:20
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what is this posted:National Rent-A-Car. National costs a lot more than Hertz with our negotiated rates. So I only use National in situations where Hertz just doesn't have a car available. But I loved their selection and service the few occasions I've used them.
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Dec 9, 2012 19:26
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Lyon posted:Am I the only one who has never rented a car? I always take public transportation (if it is available) or taxis. I guess all of my trips have been to Europe or major US cities where the airports are fairly close and taxis/public transportation are readily available. I've had status at pretty much all of the hotel chains and I like SPG the best with Hyatt as second best based on awards and overall quality of hotels.
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Dec 9, 2012 19:30
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Lyon posted:Am I the only one who has never rented a car? I always take public transportation (if it is available) or taxis. I guess all of my trips have been to Europe or major US cities where the airports are fairly close and taxis/public transportation are readily available.
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Dec 9, 2012 20:26
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Lyon posted:Am I the only one who has never rented a car? I always take public transportation (if it is available) or taxis. I guess all of my trips have been to Europe or major US cities where the airports are fairly close and taxis/public transportation are readily available. I used to take taxis semi regularly but I had two trips in a row where the driver made extraordinarily bad choices that ended in incidents. Other people in my division have also experienced crashing in taxis, those things are friggen traps. I go to universities a lot, and many of them don't have public transport connecting them to an airport. I love public transport though because it makes visiting things after work a magnitude easier.
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Dec 9, 2012 22:04
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Lyon posted:Am I the only one who has never rented a car? I always take public transportation (if it is available) or taxis. I guess all of my trips have been to Europe or major US cities where the airports are fairly close and taxis/public transportation are readily available. I never rent cars because having a car in the city for a week would be more of a hassle than a convenience. I usually only travel to DC though so it's very convenient to take the metro into the city or a taxi if I'm running late. In the city I usually just walk. I took the SuperShuttle from IAD one time and it resulted in a 3 hour trip from hell; Never again.
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Dec 10, 2012 05:06
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Renting cars in SF is only worthwhile when I have to be out later than the BART being closed (often). Or if I'm floating between Oakland/SF and Cupertino. I had to rent a car once at JFK because I was doing some work in upstate NY -- driving back to JFK to return it is a miserable, expensive experience. Not my dime, but drat. I have been there a bunch but never driven. I don't know how people that live in the area do it.
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Dec 10, 2012 05:30
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I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself?
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Dec 10, 2012 06:50
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Spookyblack posted:I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself?
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Dec 10, 2012 07:28
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:
Amen. If I want to change a seat, please show me the whole damned airplane as I am not necessarily using the typical criteria to choose that seat. And thanks for the added clicks to accomplish anything. To chime in with some Tell, I have traveled for work for more than 15 years, but have only recently been able to attain status on AA and Delta due to the policies my employer has for choosing flights/airlines, recently increased travel requirements from my employer, and the unpredictable travel locations to which I am sent. My job entails project management for several computing centers in the US and I travel 2-4 times a month for 3-5 days a week. The Bad: Personal life: ha, I used to have one, it flew away. Friends reintroduce themselves when they see me and ask me if I remember how to get home. A significant portion of our conversations consists of "I just don't see how you can do all that traveling, blah blah," and boy that never gets old. I miss out on the fun plans back at home and some of my groups of friends have just stopped inviting me to things, which is hurtful. Then again it's nice to sometimes stay in and not have to keep a cheery face on when I'm home; I've grown quite possessive of my free time. There are several season theatre tickets I bought that will have to be given to other friends to be used at all. My yard mocks me and my schedule aligns with the trash pick-up maybe once a month. I no longer buy produce. My nephew thinks I live in a suitcase. Dating? Oh please. Those are things you should weigh carefully as you advance through your career. Survivable when you're young, weeds out a lot of people as they start to settle into relationships and families. Clearly the grind can wear you down--but after being home for more than two to three weeks I ache for the change travel brings and get annoyed with the sameness of my physical office (also ache to punch my Muppet-like coworker who always sticks his head in my office after I return to yell, "HOWDY STRANGER HOW YA BEEN I FORGOT WHAT YOU LOOKED LIKE ARE YA TIRED OMG!!"). It does help that colleagues from other locations are often traveling to the same destinations and there are familiar faces to have dinner and drinks with. If there are friends or family near the area I'll catch up with them for a bit as well. I travel with many shoes and toiletries, suck at packing, and almost always have to check luggage. My usual bag is a hard-side four-wheeled Titan that has had the poo poo beaten out of it but holds up beautifully. Due to an unfortunate flight many years ago where I barfed on an approach to National with my boss seated one row away, Dramamine is now part of my standard pre-flight routine...doesn't mix so well with adult beverages in-flight though. Or maybe it does if other pax want to be entertained  The Good: So, rant over, I have been very lucky to experience a broad cross section of the US and a tiny portion outside the States on my employer's dime, and to have built a large network of friends and colleagues across the country. My employer allows me a fair amount of control over booking most of my travel (except there's often little to no choice on the airline) and for compensatory time if travel occurs during off-hours or the weekends. The TripIt and FlightTrack apps are essential and don't know how I managed without them. Silver on Delta, Gold on AA, additional scattered points on United, Southwest, and US Airways. Not enough mileage to use for more than one personal trip a year on AA/Delta but I rarely fly in my free time, so it's the realtime status perks I'm more interested in. Marriott properties are where I try to concentrate my hotel bookings. The current increase in travel is something I knew was part of the additional duties I sought out to line up a promotion which should bring good things soon. And there's an infinite supply of crazy people to run into and stories to collect! The Help Me: Keeping fit while on the road has proven difficult due to the inconsistent availability of gyms and free weights, so I invested in some heavy-duty resistance bands which helps some. If anyone has tips for eating healthier and staying fit while on the road I and my considerable rear end sure would appreciate them! edited to add pertinent stuff. Vortex Street fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Dec 10, 2012 |
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Dec 10, 2012 08:58
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Hey a travel thread, I'm sitting here sick as gently caress from being on a plane next to a gentleman who insisted that coughing in my general direction was more effective then coughing into his window, or a Kleenex. I'm a loss prevention engineer for a large insurance company and I specialize in conducting equipment hazard inspections of large chemical plants and pulp and paper mills all over Canada. I typically travel 2 - 3 weeks out of the month with an average stay being 3-5 nights depending on location. I'll sort of break down my experiences as other have; Geographic area I am almost exclusively invested in Canada, with about 60% of my work in Northern Ontario. And by Northern Ontario, I mean north of Thunder Bay, North of Timmins, all the way up to Hudson's Bay if I'm inspecting a mine. Due to employee turnover, I've been visiting BC quite a lot recently, in such exciting and major cities such as Mackenzie, and Skookumchuck. Those are lovely towns, with a paper mill and 0 restaurants, or hotels. I usually find a town nearby and drive to my site. About 2 - 3 times a year I will go to Boston, Vancouver, or Montreal for group meetings, which is enjoyable because I get to meet up with colleagues who I see 1 or 2 times a year. Travel Schedule As stated previously, I'm out about 2-3 weeks on average a month, but spring and fall are my busiest. I spend up to 6 weeks in a row traveling during this time, as this coincides with major plant shutdowns. I'm also a licenses boiler and pressure vessel inspector, so when mills, especially paper mills, shut down their recovery boilers, or do internal inspections of pressure vessels, I usually show up. I usually get about 1-2 months advance notice of a trip. All my travel is based on client availability, and they operate on their own scheduled. I have to be very flexible, so that means lots of changed flights and last minute cancellations. Luggage It depends on where I'm visiting, but I almost always bring 1 piece of large check luggage and a brief case with me. I have to almost always have my hardhat, safety boots, and various other PPE. All bulky, and not really suitable for carry-on. I usually go over the allotted weight requirements as well, especially if I'm bringing my boiler inspection gear with me. I have fall arrest systems, gas sensors, and heavy nomex coveralls. My company allows me to expense this fee however. Flights My assistant confirms my visits, and I'm responsible for the travel details. However, we use an outside travel agent company. I usually call up and tell them where I need to go and they tell me the cheapest flights. I try to stick exclusively with Air Canada, and am currently Elite status. Unfortunately, my company has a policy where if there is a +-15% price difference on a flight I have to take the cheapest flight. This means a lot of horrible West Jet flights, especially on longer trips to Vancouver, Calgary, or Winnipeg. This is what holds me back from Super Elite. In Northern Ontario, I'll fly Bearskin Air quite a bit, although they are VERY unreliable. I've had 3 of last 6 flights either late, or cancelled, stranding me in a small town. I now will prefer to drive 4-5 hours from a larger city like Thunder Bay, or Timmins instead of relying on small northern air companies. Meals I typically have a meal allowance of about $50/meal, so around $150/day is max. Now I don't normally indulge in $50 breakfasts, but I have noticed that prices have shot up recently. I also can expense beer or liquor, with an unspoken maximum of about 2 per meal. My company wants me to use my Corporate Amex card for all my meals, but in most of the towns I visit, they don't accept it. When submitting a due-employee expense, I just need to provide a receipt if the meal was greater then $50 in value. I'm a person with very little self control, and after a long day, especially if I worked through lunch, I'll go crazy at dinner and make myself sick. I think it also has to do with boredom since I'm dinning alone. Rewards I stick exclusively to Aeroplan, and my company pays the Amex bonus rewards so I can collect Amex points as well. I usually 1-1 convert to Aeroplan as I find the points/dollar ratio slightly better. I never use points for flights as I usually travel as part of packaged 'adventure' deals. I've amassed about 200,000 points so far this year. I've used them for xmas this year, getting a dyson hot/cold air multiplier, $500 pre-paid amex cards, and a 32" TV. With Amex and Aeroplan I double up quite a bit, and fill up gas exclusively at Esso. I also park at Park and Fly valet where you can collect Aeroplan, and I look for deals where I can double points by flying to a certain city. Personal Life I'm married and have a young son. My wife met me while I was in my current role, so she was use to me being gone while we were dating. Never really had trust issues on both our ends. She use to get upset when I would entertain clients, because she thought it was a party when it really is very tedious in my opinion. My salary allows her to be a stay at home mom for the time being, and my son is only 5 months old so he doesn't really know what's going on. I have a feeling when he gets older and asks me not to go, I will probably start looking for another position. A big problem on my end is when I come home from a trip, I just want to sleep in my own bed, have a home cooked meal, and do domestic stuff. My wife, cooped up all week, wants to go out for dinner, watch a movie, etc. After eating meals at restaurants for 5 days in a row I really don't want to do that again. I also never see my friends. Weekends are now spent lugging the baby around to the grandparents. It's kind of sad how months can fly by so quickly without seeing one of your best friends and you don't even realize it. Perks When I'm not traveling, I'm working out of a home office. I try and get as much done while I'm away, so I have quite a bit of free time when I'm home. I normally only put in 20-30 hours a week when I'm working from home, as I've more then made up for it during the travel weeks where I basically work non-stop. I get to see really cool stuff. I love industrial processes, and seeing how stuff if made. I've been fortunate to witness and do things very few other people will ever see. Downside After my son was born, I now miss being home, which was never a real problem before. With my wife we could chat, or videotalk, but I can't pick up my son, make him smile, etc. That's been hard on me. I can't keep a balanced meal. In the majority of the towns I visit, there is 1 or 2 restaurants, and for some reason the shittiest Ontario towns have a Boston Pizza which is usually the only place open late at night (I'm looking at you Fort Francis!). All the food there is gross, even the salads. And speaking of salads, I try and have chicken salads without dressing as my main meal, but pre-cooked processed chicken, deep fried on a bed of mushy romaine is really gross, and far to common. I also have a hard time working out while away. Most hotels I stay in don't have a gym, so I bring along my P90 plyo/kempo/yoga and try to do that every day. However, if I had to wake up at 5:30 am, drive 1 hour to a remote plant, work 9-10 hours, drive back, eat, I am way to exhausted to work out. I've been told that my company runs us like work horses, and if I switched to a competitor it would be a bit easier. I believe that's true, but for the time being, I'm getting excellent training opportunities I can't get elsewhere. For me, the deal-breaker will come when my son gets a bit older. I don't know if I want to keep this up when he starts to miss me when I'm gone.
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Dec 10, 2012 12:09
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Spookyblack posted:I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself? I send my itinerary to an admin assistant and she books it for me. Depending on how much I care/how much time I have I'll usually tell her what flights/hotel I want. When I am in a hurry I just send her the airport and the dates and let her do the rest. If the flight I want is too expensive she'll help me find one that is cheaper that lets me stay with Delta if possible (Unless we have a business need for a specific flight we have to buy a ticket within about $100 of the cheapest non red-eye flight of the day to the location). If I have to change my travel in the middle of a trip I'll call her if its during business hours or call our travel agency directly if not. Thoguh fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Dec 10, 2012 |
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Dec 10, 2012 15:14
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Vortex Street posted:The Bad: This right here is why I got out of the travel game. I was sick of my friends cutting me out because they just assumed I was going to be out of town, even on weekends. It really wore down on me, way more than the 4700 mile/week travel schedule did. It wasn't as rough on my marriage as it is for some people. My wife is a lawyer and she worked long enough hours that realistically we had just about the same amount of quality time if I was traveling or not. I was working a long term project in Vancouver and loved the city, so that made up for a lot of it. It did ruin the movies for me since I can spot way too many filming locations now.
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Dec 10, 2012 20:16
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Gail Wynand posted:I do it myself. Unless you are some C-level exec with huge demands on your time self booking is the way to go. You are the one who has the most incentive to maximize your comfort and not gently caress up your travel arrangements. Travel agents or secretaries..not so much. Can't agree here -- a good assistant will get the game and know your preferences. Travel booking is pretty basic with a few constraints and a pretty poor use of billable time when your rate is even slightly high. And if you don't think your assistant has a big incentive to maximize your comfort you're not giving them enough to do! 
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Dec 10, 2012 22:20
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My last trip starts tomorrow and goes through Friday but it looks like I will be at a little over 170,000 miles over 183 flights. 123 total hotel nights and 53 rentals (not days). For statuses unfortunately I will only end as Platinum on both AA and Delta due to the split. Hilton Diamond, Starwood Platinum, and GHA Platinum (just a few stays shy of Black  ).Spookyblack posted:I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself? My company has an agreement with Rearden, which is one of the largest travel services out there. They have an incredibly well designed (and incredibly slow) website that I use to book, I can call them when I'm on the road but it's a pain in the rear end and you get hit with an extra booking fee so we are told to try to avoid it. I'm pretty sure I could have our sales admin or executive admin book travel for me, but I like the flexibility that I have with booking it myself. what is this posted:National Rent-A-Car. I use National as well. My company has an agreement with National/Enterprise so those are the only choices that are technically in policy. I'm rent enough cars with them to qualify for executive elite almost 3x over, and I can say that it's a complete love/hate relationship. The special number they give you when you hit executive and then again with executive elite goes to the exact same call center as the regular reservation line, which means that if it is after hours it goes overseas. Their customer service is completely hit or miss, and they take almost all of the power out of their reps hands so you can end up getting transferred around forever when dealing with an issue. They also have some locations that are better than others, they are constantly out of everything but minivans at DFW. With that said I do absolutely love being able to just walk out and grab any car on the lot and pay the same price. I'm not sure what the programs from other rental companies look like, but I will say that once you hit Executive Elite and start getting a free day every 5 rentals you end up with more of them than you know what to do with. big dig posted:Personal Life It was amazing to read this given how spot on some of it is for my experience traveling. My girlfriend has gotten much better about it, but she still has a bit of trouble understanding that going out with clients until 11:00 on a Thursday night is not fun for me, it is generally just about the last thing in the world I want to be doing. I also feel terrible for the fact that she has to deal with me on the weekends. Much like you, when I get home on the weekends I just want to sleep in my own bed, have some home cooked meals, and relax. We very rarely go out to eat anymore just because I am stuck doing it most nights of the week. I've been focusing a lot more on being healthy while on the road in the past month or two. When my travel picked up at the beginning of this year my health deteriorated proportionally. I'm in a different boat in that almost all of the hotels I stay at have at least some form of gym, although the size and quality of the gyms are all across the board. I basically stopped ordering room service for dinner as a general rule, it's overpriced and generally really terrible. I mostly hit grocery stores and buy ingredients to make a salad, then pick up some precooked chicken breast (oscar meyer and tyson both make some pre-cooked chicken breast pieces that are fairly edible) and toss that on. Grab an egg white omelet from the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and since I often do lunches with clients I just pick whatever looks reasonably healthy from the menu at wherever we might be. It takes some real dedication to not just order a pizza when you get in somewhere at 11:00 p.m. but I will say that a healthier diet has really helped to make the travel more bearable for me.
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Dec 10, 2012 23:19
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Spookyblack posted:I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself? Myself. It tends to take up a lot of time too. What is everyone's hotel policy? I'm asking because my hotel policy is a bit nebulous. We have some preferred hotels but many places don't have them around. I typically just book whatever is close/or has a deal on hotels dot com or something. The tough part: the main HQ for our company is in another country. There the hotels are really cheap ($70/night with breakfast, internet, hot springs all included...) and are charge per person, not per room. So they put a cap on us of $100/night. Nobody really follows this and just puts up with getting complained at by the travel finances people. For example, I was working in a uni lab for a week so I got a deal on a hotel next to the uni for $139/night, and I could walk, which saved $20 a day on parking. I got bitched out even though all of the surrounding hotels were $170+. I guess they expect people to shack up in the ghetto. But a conference in Montreal at $220/night and I didn't hear anything about that 
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Dec 10, 2012 23:56
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i like Ham posted:It was amazing to read this given how spot on some of it is for my experience traveling. My girlfriend has gotten much better about it, but she still has a bit of trouble understanding that going out with clients until 11:00 on a Thursday night is not fun for me, it is generally just about the last thing in the world I want to be doing. I also feel terrible for the fact that she has to deal with me on the weekends. Much like you, when I get home on the weekends I just want to sleep in my own bed, have some home cooked meals, and relax. We very rarely go out to eat anymore just because I am stuck doing it most nights of the week. Eating well and exercising is one of the hardest things about frequent travel. If you're out drinking it's hard to get to the gym early in the morning. Most places I stay have poo poo gyms with maybe an exercise bike or two. Even worse is the crazy eating schedule everyone I work with is on (lunch at 1:30pm, dinner at 8pm). Traveling to the same city often at least lets you find some restaurants you like just to have some normalcy. I may be the oddball here because I'm a remote worker not a contractor. My trips are to spend time at our main office 9-5. I have nights to myself and whatever friends want to go out. I really enjoy meeting new people and always seem to find random crazy adventures: rock concerts, salsa dancing, DnB clubs till the wee hours, and insane porn moguls almost getting you kicked out of bars & restaurants. Weekend trips don't happen much but are the most fun because people aren't always available for dinner/drinks on a week night. I work from home the reset of the time and rarely need to leave the house. I usually decompress after a trip but by the next weekend I'm dying to get out and do something. My wife and I still go out to dinner, dancing, drinks, whatever very often. If I didn't enjoy going out then I wouldn't travel so often. Getting to work from anywhere in the world is a huge perk. We get to visit friends & family and take extended trips and I just put in my hours from wherever I am. My last trip of the year will be this weekend through the end of the month. Office hours in DC then staying on the east coast with family. Trench_Rat posted:what is the etiquette on bringing a prostitute to your hotel room?
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Dec 11, 2012 00:41
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Uncle Jam posted:Myself. It tends to take up a lot of time too. I just have to stay at or under whatever rate is set for the area. One trip landed me a hotel bill that varied wildly in rates during my stay due to a nearby conference--the low days were really low, the high days were far over the allowed rate, but it averaged out to $10/day less than the allowed rate. However the goobs working on my reimbursement were not at all savvy with a calculator and gave me all kids of hell about it until I spelled it out for them. too.
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Dec 11, 2012 01:54
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size1one posted:No experience with hookers, but here is a protip for bring women to your room in general. If you don't have a condom the front desk will often have some. Unless it's the Trump.
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Dec 11, 2012 02:05
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Belldandy posted:Unless it's the Trump. Correct, not all of hotel concierges will have them but a lot will. My current hotel of choice has some in the snack/drink cabinet. For the record, I like the hotel cause they have the nicest rooms at a reasonable price and for the availability of condoms. You will make a 3am jog to 7/11 exactly once and then you will never forget to pack them again. Vortex Street posted:I just have to stay at or under whatever rate is set for the area. One trip landed me a hotel bill that varied wildly in rates during my stay due to a nearby conference--the low days were really low, the high days were far over the allowed rate, but it averaged out to $10/day less than the allowed rate. However the goobs working on my reimbursement were not at all savvy with a calculator and gave me all kids of hell about it until I spelled it out for them. It's been my experience that the type of person who processes reimbursements are the least imaginative, most inflexible people I've ever met. I don't really think I can adequately describe how joyless and miserable every one of them seemed. Pray you never anger the accountants. They will not hesitate to nitpick your reimbursements.
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Dec 11, 2012 03:12
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size1one posted:It's been my experience that the type of person who processes reimbursements are the least imaginative, most inflexible people I've ever met. I don't really think I can adequately describe how joyless and miserable every one of them seemed. Pray you never anger the accountants. They will not hesitate to nitpick your reimbursements. This is true, and when it starts simply wait for them to make a mistake and land on them with both feet, preferably in front of the rest of the bean counting bullpen. It shuts them up pretty well for a year and I actually made one accounting waste of air feel so bad she cited me as a reason she retired early. I have that email framed.
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Dec 11, 2012 05:30
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Spookyblack posted:I don't think you answered this question yet but how does your travel/hotels get booked? Do you have an assistant/travel agent that does this all for you, do you do it yourself? My company has a corporate travel department. The project managers give them the dates for the travel, and they book the trips. Every employee that travels frequently has to fill out a travel profile and give their name, passport number, photocopy of passport, emergency contact information, and your frequent flyer/hotel membership number. They do the rest, and will also try to accommodate your preferences (like you can say that you prefer window seats or that you want to stay in a hotel room with two beds). This group also came in handy once when I was flying to Ottawa. We had to make a layover in Detroit, and there was about 2 hours between our arrival in Detroit and our departure. Within that 2 hour window, a tornado touched down and all flights were cancelled. We called corporate travel, and they booked us a hotel for the night with no problem. They also got us an early morning flight to Ottawa so that we could support the client the next day as planned. ...Except that two of us didn't have proper attire to wear to the client site because our luggage was lost between Detroit and Ottawa for an entire day.  Uncle Jam posted:What is everyone's hotel policy? My company's preferred airline is Delta and the preferred hotel chain is Hilton. If a client has a better deal with another hotel, we go there. In Toronto we got a "VIP rate" because the client had a deal with the Marriott by their site. I couldn't tell a difference, but whatever. We aren't strict about adhering to the preferred hotel, though. Delta is pretty standard for us, though, because we fly out of ATL. Also, yeah, gently caress finance departments and being nitpicked about expense reports. Unless you want me to go to McDonald's everyday, forget about the corporate meal guidelines. Thankfully I've never had any trouble, but I know people in my group who have had expense reports rejected because there were 5 beers on a tab for 4 people. Finance acted like that was the worst poo poo ever, but then another group went to dinner and just really tied one on. They had a $400 bill and I think only $80 of it was actual food. That expense report was approved with no problem.
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Dec 11, 2012 06:30
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Uncle Jam posted:What is everyone's hotel policy? Hilton/Marriot type hotel or below. I think the official policy is whatever the standard rate is for a 3 star hotel in the area is what you can get away with before they start auditing.
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Dec 11, 2012 06:40
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