Travel!

The May 30th Careers section of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a column by Paula Krebs of Wheaton College on how her academic travel has changed over her career, from happily sleeping on dorm room floors to being invited to conferences at destination resort hotels.

My work with the WEA has given me a chance to do more traveling, though I’ve yet to stay in a resort hotel. In fact, it’s usually a Travelodge or Ramada, almost always with a roommate. It’s worth it for the conferences, which are almost always good; I just wish the soda ($2.50 a bottle is not uncommon!) wasn’t so damned expensive.

The worst hotel I’ve stayed in, oddly enough, was the Sea-Tac Airport Hilton, where you had to pay a daily fee for internet access, a daily fee for parking, the food was ridiculously priced, and the rooms weren’t exactly all that wonderful. I think the Hilton is designed for people traveling on expense accounts who can pay $10 for a rum and coke without batting an eye, but that ain’t me. At all.

What’s your favorite part about traveling for the job? What’s your least favorite part about traveling for the job?