For any of you thinking how great it is to travel for work, think again. So far in the 48 hours I've been in Philly, I have seen nothing but the inside of a dim, freezing hotel in the middle of nowhere. Our hotel is not anywhere near the awesomeness of downtown and my favorite Mexican restaurant--El Vez. My one bit of excitement was last night's dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I wish I was kidding.
Oh, and yesterday's trauma: I made myself go to the gym, and was horrified to find that Fox News was the only thing on the TVs and I was subjected to Glenn Beck as I ran. I don't care what party you come from--that guy is an idiotic douche.
Anyway, the traveling is a strain on me personally (difficult to sleep, eating restaurant food, and long, overly-caffeinated days), and it certainly doesn't help the communication issues that SCL and I have. Neither of us likes talking on the phone, and when we do talk, it's kind of awkward. We both know that we hate the phone, but there aren't that many alternatives--Gchat, email, and Skype are other ones I can think of. It didn't help last night that I was pretty much falling asleep when I called him.
I think one of my problems is I don't want to just have a five minute conversation and then hang up. I want to stay on the damn phone because I want to feel connected to him. So we end up sitting there in silence, our phones up to our ears with nothing to say. And then of course I think there's something wrong because we have nothing to discuss (even though he's been working and I've been trapped in a hotel conference room all day). Back when we were just dating, we used to use Skype and video chat which was pretty fun. I enjoy seeing his face--and it felt like he was just in the other room!
Maybe it would be helpful to see the time apart as a time to recharge--and know that we'll reconnect when I return. But when I know I'm going to be gone for basically two weeks, that seems like it's not quite as sustainable. Luckily he'll be joining me tomorrow for my friend's wedding weekend.
Do any of you travel on a regular basis? How do you stay connected to the ones you love?
I don't travel But, when we cannot talk on the phone I LOVE to text =D
ReplyDeleteSCL still has a flip phone and pays per text, so I don't know if he'd be down with that. (I know, techie guy without a smartphone!)
ReplyDeleteOkay first off, I am so sorry you were subjected to Fox News. That just sucks.
ReplyDeleteDustin doesn't travel often but he does every now and again. The first time he did I was a little worried because we spend A LOT of time together. However, now every time he goes away I see it as a time for "me time" and I actually really enjoy it. We don't really talk on the phone much, usually he'll text me once or twice and he'll call to say goodnight. But even that isn't a long phone call.
I'd say look at it as a time to recharge and ENJOY it!
I agree - texting and email are best for us. Cute, short messages on the Facebook wall are also a good plan. Neither of us like talking on the phone, either. But yes, I think that to change your expectations of what "apart time" is about would be good. It's recharge time. It's "distance makes the heart grow fonder" time. It's time that'll just make him all the more excited to see you - and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, it still sucks. :)
I do see it theoretically as a time to recharge, but traveling for work is exhausting! And it's also more than occasional for me--more like 1/3 of my time, which is significant.
ReplyDeleteMost of the people I care about still live in TN an GA so I use Skype all the time. Texting works, but with the plan I have it can get expensive. Hope the rest of your trip goes well!
ReplyDeletexx,
Delilah
I was in a LDR where we talked every night on the phone for an hour or more. Some nights I'd fall asleep on the phone, because it would make me feel closer to him. Or I'd fall asleep with the phone next to me, because the phone had grown to remind me of him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you want to go so far as to have the phone associate with him in your brain. I think for two weeks you can might want to get a breath of fresh air. Hopefully there's public transportation into the city?
My uncle travels for work a lot and one would think, at first, it's an amazing job because he gets to see all these places around the USA...but then again, he travels at least every other week and has to leave his family.
ReplyDeleteLiving out of hotel rooms is not so fun when it's not for vacation!
bear and i spent the first year and half (until we recently moved to austin) seeing each other only 2 days a week. we were both consultants travelling m-f for 4 years and our first date was actually in a random city we both happened to meet up in (we knew each other from college). point being - been there. communication is so incredibly key in a relationship but it's ten times more so when you're not even near each other. We'd make sure we talked first thing in the morning to set the day off right and right before bedtime. no event was too small for a quick text and sometimes we even spent the night on the phone, sleeping. it's not easy and it's not fun but it can absolutely work.
ReplyDeleteI did long distance for two years, so I'm a big believer in the phone call. I demanded at least half an hour every single day of his full and undivided attention. Sometimes we had to work to find things to talk about, but just knowing that for half an hour I was the first thing on his mind helped...
ReplyDelete