I’m feeling super down about the fact that I’ve never gotten to travel as a consultant. And now I’m switching into a company that’s a complete local model so I definitely won’t get the opportunity. Any ideas on how to cope with this? I fall into a pseudo depression when I think about it.

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I fall into a depression when I think about work travel to such exotic locations as Warsaw Indiana via regional shuttle and getting stuck on the tarmac for multiple ground holds due to lightning. Sure I can expense the cheap red wine that will give me a massive headache. And yes, I guess if I get stuck for the night travel will find me the last best western room available. Sure, I can even splurge for an Uber Black to drive me through the 1+hours of traffic back at O’Hare while I continue to furiously make slide praying that my laptop battery can last.

Trust me OP, other than a few nice dinners and a couple of great hotel stays in NYC you are not missing out on much. The FOMO does not match up with the actual long-term experience.

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Spent some time in great weeks in Iowa and Newark, NJ. Both in the dead of winter of course. 🥶

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You can experience travel - Fly into a major airport of your choice on the first flight out of your home airport on Monday morning, get a rental car and drive 2 hours, select an uncomfortable, inconvenient place to work all day, pick up Chipotle and go settle into the Courtyard and get your PC back out and do more work. Head back to uncomfortable, inconvenient work place when you wake up on Tue, Wed and repeat evening activities from Monday. If you are lucky you might squeeze in a workout in a shitty hotel gym. On Thursday, rush out of your work location at the last possible moment to make your flight and barely make it to the airport on time. Run to the gate. Get ready to board. Sit back down and wait while your flight is delayed in 15 - 25 min intervals. Get in to your home airport after midnight. Get a few hours of sleep and wake up to work all day on Friday.

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All that and feel constant sleep deprivation if there is a redeye or connecting flights involved.

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Personal travel > work travel

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What BCG2 said. OP sounds like your main issue is that you’re comparing yourself with your friends. And you know the saying about comparison.

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Honestly it's not all rainbows and butterflies with that. It's exhausting and sometimes you go to some terrible places and you just have to deal. I remember going weeks without proper sleep because of a busy project coupled with a ton of travel.
The biggest pro is miles and points, but if you plan properly you can get a ton with credit cards too

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Also check out Nerd wallet

I have the highest status with Delta and Marriott and the grueling travel it took to get there made me depressed as hell. The occasional travel perks are nice but they weren’t worth years of trading in my physical and mental health to earn them.

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This is so true. Even when I traveled a fair amount, I never got upgraded, there were ALWAYS serious, hardcore road warriors that travel every single day that are ahead of you in line. I know executives who have Concierge Key (above Exec Platinum) and they don’t even always get upgraded.

work travel isn’t a luxury. it’s so much on the body, mind, and spirit. the points and free dinners with teammates you may not love, and no personal time other than bedtime is not worth it. don’t waste your depression on this

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OP I can totally understand your concern. I joined consulting (years ago lol) largely for the travel. Ofc none of us can speak to what would bring you the most joy. However:

I had probably one of the best/most ideal travel setups pre covid. My projects happened to only fly me to big cities, management made sure we stayed in great hotels, had multiple amazing teams that I genuinely became friends with which made team dinners/happy hours on the road a lot of fun, and earned Ambassador status at Marriott and high status with *two* airlines bc I was flying so much. I truly enjoyed it at the time and felt lucky to have such an exciting and on the go career.

And yet - being grounded since covid I’m so much happier which has been a complete surprise to me. I get to sleep in my own bed every night. I have genuine friends in my city now that I have time and energy to meet new people. I can date because I can actually make concrete plans - no worries about delayed flights or sheer exhaustion on the one full night per week I used to be in my hometown. I have joined several groups (volunteer, hobbies, etc) now that I can actually attend meetings and social events. I cook my own food and have time for a consistent exercise routine so I’ve lost weight. I could go on.

If (when?) travel comes back for consulting I’ll switch to industry. The random upgrades on flights or hotel rooms simply aren’t worth the trade off to me now that I’ve lived both sides. My life is much richer without the business travel, and a free fancy room or first class flight just can’t compare. If you decide otherwise, that’s totally valid! But hopefully all of these responses help you make whatever decision is best for you from a fully informed perspective

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What about the travel was appealing to you? It can definitely get glamorized so maybe if you pinpoint the aspect you were excited about you can get positive experiences without all the drawbacks! E.g. if it was going to new cities, set a goal to travel to a new city every few months, if it was dining out treat yourself to new restaurant fridays

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^^agree with this. I was able to retain Delta platinum by signing up for their Amex Reserve card since they just had a great sign up bonus offer.

Ive had experience with essentially all consulting travel models: i work for a consulting firm where you initially don’t travel (maybe once every 2-3 months) , then travel a moderate amount (0.5-1 times a week) as you get more senior; at the tail end of my time, I also did the typically Monday-Thursday consultant schedule for an on site case.

I can say without a doubt that the best model is the one where you travel almost not at all. I felt very similarly to you when I didn’t travel - like I was missing out on points, status, and fun.

I can tell you that it gets old REALLY fast - both moderate and weekly travel. It’s exhausting because you have to get up really early / switch time zones, lose work time and efficiency, and constantly be on the move. Not sleeping in your own bed also sucks, even though I sleep very deeply in general.

I have millions of points and status, but would trade it for no travel any day.

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To be able to have substantial points to get free trips, you need to travel a lot. Getting up very early to delays and cancellations to standing in queues most of the time to having back issues from sitting long time in airplane, I don’t see a lot of positives about work travel. Also, the places I travelled to were small towns so not too exciting and even if it’s a great city, we hardly had time to to visit anything. I travelled for a year and trust me it was not as glamorous as it sounds. So, imo you haven’t really missed much.

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Not sure if this is a widely shared opinion, but i feel like i talked myself into accepting/enjoying the travel bc otherwise it would be too depressing to admit the reality. You’re likely not traveling to glamorous places.. and even if you do, you’re working the majority of the time or left exploring by yourself. i had a project in LA for 6 months while living on the east coast.. the flights were long, but i got to meet up with friends a few weekends instead of flying home. That was nice, but it also took me over 8 months to spend a weekday at my “new” apartment. i’d been paying rent for 8 months but never been around from a Monday/Wednesday until Covid.

The grass is always greener.. but i won’t lie, i miss a lot of travel aspects from pre Covid days. Like navigating new cities, accumulating travel points, and meeting up with local friends. But you can still book your own travel!!

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Omg I’d do anything to stay home with my cats. I specifically request it and then I’m asked to travel 😭

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Awww your kitties must miss you!!!

You think it's glamorous and it's not. When I traveled pre-covid, I got up at 3am to get a 6am flight. Once I got to the office I worked until 5 or 6pm. I got some food the went to my hotel. I tried to go to sleep by 9. I got into the office by 6:30 am and worked until 5 or 6 each day. Thursday's, I worked all day and tried to get home. There are only 1-2 flights after 5pm. If you miss a flight you are stuck. If you have a connection, you may not get home before 1am. It's it glamorous at all.

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sounds like less work hours though?

If you’re REALLY feeling down you could always go back to consulting as travel begins to pick up

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Off topic but OP can you tell me your offer with Slalom? I'm in the middle of interviews and it's been going well.

They really don’t. They are incidental perks that you get because of the lifestyle choice you make i.e. consulting that may result in lots of travel. But that doesn’t change the fact that what PWC 2 described (totally on point and hilarious btw!) actually pretty much sums up the experience and it’s not a great idea to make (or miss) that choice in service of loyalty programs. You also miss the daily life that your friends live in whatever city you live in and only get weekends to yourself in your own space. And everything else said above!

The occasional work travel, and personal travel is so much more joyful vs. a regimented weekly described above. It’s fine to do it for a little bit if comes your way but it’s definitely not something to regret missing out on. You realize that once you leave it and wonder why you did it. I’m sure you can find work travel experiences in this role or another one in the future :)

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I joined the army because I wanted to travel. I got to travel to the worst parts of the U.S. and other countries. I feel the same is for consulting. You don’t always go to exciting places. You go to random and boring places frequently. Sometimes even 40 minutes from your home. View consulting as the way to fund your personal travel desires. Half the time you travel for work you are so busy or tired you don’t even get to explore the place you are.

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If it affects you that much, was this your priority when you were looking for a job?

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Well sort of, joined Accenture because I thought I could travel, never got the opportunity in 4 years. So this time around it wasn’t a huge priority since I figured we won’t be traveling, but now I have friends that are back to full time travel so I’m feeling the effects of it

I appreciate the input, don’t you feel like the hotel status/airline miles makes up for it? I genuinely don’t know so really curious on the viewpoint there

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I concur with all these comments. I think that Covid will permanently change the default requirement that consultants must be onsite.

I always thought it was a waste of resources and time to require teams not only to be in office every day, but fly them across country, put them up in hotels, pay to feed them, suit them up, taxi in etc. All to get workers onsite that are exhausted, work 3 1/2 long days a week, and they spend a huge chunk of their time figuring out where to eat next, checking flight schedules, checking in an out of hotels, gaming their travel points, and gossiping about team members.

Not to mention when teams do go out to eat as a group, they often drink more than usual, so add a weekly collective hangover.

I think the era of the m-th road warrior is going to end. Or at least be scaled way back

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I know what you mean, just do some personal traveling on your own and work remote if you can

Why switch companies?
I agree with the commenters that the travel isn’t glamorous, but I did like spending time in different cities. I also love the variety that consulting affords.
If it’s not too late to switch back to a role that offers travel, go for it. Later in life especially it’s tough on relationships and health.

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