After decades of airports, delayed flights, and hotel beds that defy both logic and lumbar support, I’ve learned one universal truth…travel might broaden the mind and give you a sense of freedom, but it definitely compresses the spine too.. You’d think that after all these years I’d be some kind of travel ninja…breezing through TSA, sleeping upright on a plane like a meditating monk, waking up refreshed and ready to go. Nope. Somewhere along the line, the game changed.
Travel is a young person’s sport now. It takes flexibility, patience, and a tolerance for living out of a suitcase that looks like it barely survived a bar fight (I currently rotate between four, depending on where I’m headed). I used to chase that chaos…the rush of boarding groups (I’m a Southwest guy, keeps the stress low), the late-night check-ins, the spontaneous “one quick drink” that somehow ends in closing down the bar with old colleagues. These days, my excitement depends mostly on the pillow situation in the hotel room. Gotta have enough of them to prop up all the parts that complain.
The War on My Neck and Back
Let’s be honest…my neck and back are over it. Airplane seats are shrinking, and whoever approved them must’ve sworn off vertebrae. “Lumbar support” is apparently just a rumor. I pity anyone stuck in the middle-seat from D.C. to L.A., especially if there’s a tuna sandwich involved next door.
Hotel beds? Forget it. They’re either marshmallow soft or plywood firm, never anything in between. I’ve given up pretending otherwise and started traveling with my own pillow. It feels like giving in… but also like survival.
The Allure of Virtual Work (Almost)
In theory, the virtual-work boom saved us. No flights, no baggage, no backaches. And there’s some magic in opening your laptop from wherever…Maryland, South Carolina, Houston, or the back porch with a cup of coffee and a Wi-Fi signal strong enough to do whatever I need. Screen sharing deserves a standing ovation…right next to coffee and Advil.
But something’s missing. I like people. I notice things when I’m in person (I have a Psychology degree and was always going to be a spy, lol), the furrowed brow, the half-smile, the nod that says, “keep going.” You can’t get that from a wall of blank squares on Zoom, GMeet, Teams, FaceTime, etc. etc etc. And now half the team hides behind initials while “multitasking” (a fancy word for eating lunch offscreen).
I get it, though. We’re all tired and bored with the common muting, bad connection, pets jumping on keyboards, etc. Still, it’s hard to build chemistry with black tiles and notetaking bots…yes, I use one too, guilty as charged.
Video Fatigue: The New Backache
Video fatigue might be the quietest epidemic nobody warned us about. The lag, the self-awareness, the constant “You’re on mute.” After a few hours, I find myself staring at my own video wondering when I started looking like the guy who owns two heating pads. The brain isn’t meant to process twenty flickering squares while pretending to “engage.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for it…most of the collaborations I’ve had this year wouldn’t exist without video calls. But it’s still just a tool. The real spark happens face-to-face, maybe over dinner or mid-laugh, when you realize you actually get where the other person’s coming from.
Conference Season: The Great Westward March
This year has basically been one long “Welcome to the West Coast” tour. Optech will make the 5th conference in Vegas this year. I’ve been to Vegas almost fifty times in my life, but only once for an actual personal touristy type trip. I love it, truly, but my East Coast bones are begging for balance. Nashville, D.C., Florida…these places feel like home turf and frankly, they come with no jet lag.
Don’t get me wrong…conferences are energizing. You reconnect, swap stories, trade lessons from the field. But by the fourth Pacific flight of the year, you start questioning if everyone forgot there’s life east of the Mississippi.
The Beautiful Chaos of Human Connection
Still, nothing beats walking into a room full of peers…handshakes, real smiles, old stories that never seem to get old. That kind of energy wakes up all the parts that travel wears down. It reminds me why I still love what I do, even after 27 years.
Sure, the body protests, but the mind still lights up. Every trip, every conversation, every late-night laugh, it all adds to the story. Travel teaches you to adapt, find humor in the hiccups, and appreciate the little wins (like an aisle seat or a halfway decent pillow).
Maybe travel really is a young person’s game. But it’s one I’m still gladly playing, just at a slower pace through the airport these days. The magic’s not just in the meetings; it’s in the in-between moments…the coffee chats, those hallway handshakes that turn into something more.
So here’s to the weary travelers, the red-eye survivors, the ones carrying heating pads next to their chargers. We might move slower, but we still show up. Because for all the back pain and delays, the people make it worth it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m icing my back and checking flight prices. Preferably somewhere with decent pillows and an East Coast zip code. Because in the end, travel keeps humbling you, it’s never about the logistics. It’s about presence. Even when your body’s begging for a nap, something keeps you moving.