Once Upon A Life In Business Class

Jerry reminds me of life on the road. Fortunately, the type of travel I incurred did not require me sleeping on someone else's sheets for more than 1 or 2 nights. The rest of the time I was there, I knew what went on in that bed the night before. (Don't ask.)

Once upon a time I traveled much as he does now. I worked as a field engineer for a robotics company based in Salt Lake City. I lived here, but I drove to work on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, (depending upon where the current project was), to Piedmont Triad International Airport between Oak Ridge and Greensboro, North Carolina. Typically I would spend almost two weeks on site and fly back to Greensboro on the following Thursday for a long weekend before doing another turn-around. I would keep the room paid for during that long weekend, thus, no heavy packing for the return trip. (And no unknown shenanigans in what had by then become "my bed".) Carry-ons often consisted of just a briefcase.

There were certain advantages to that schedule. The greatest being that I would get to actually spend time in places like Chicago, Toronto, Augusta, or Huntsville (Alabama), as a typical project may take as long as 18 months. The downside would be that I had to actually spend time in places like Los Angeles, Montreal, or Paris (France, not Georgia). My final project for this company was in Taipei, Taiwan. (It beats Montreal hands down.)

While I cannot lay claim to the feat Jerry proudly describes in an archived post, I must admit to once urinating on a CRJ200, which is nearly identical, just smaller.