How to Satisfy Your Travel Bug and Stay Part of the Team

Contributed by Molly Meyer, co-author of It’s My Company Too!

I’ve told plenty of people about running with the bulls in Pamplona. What I usually leave out is that I was the most scared I’ve ever felt in my entire life…and I’ve seen all three Paranormal Activity movies.

At the San Fermin festival I thought to myself, “How fast can these bulls really run? How close will they get to me, really?” Ha. That was before I stepped onto the world’s narrowest street next to the scariest man I’d ever seen that wasn’t acting opposite Bruce Willis in an action-adventure movie. He had chosen to run next to me for a reason. I was small, young, female, blonde… I’d run next to me too. If it came down to it and he had to out-run his neighbor, I was guaranteed hoof-meat.

I forgot to mention that I wasn’t on “vacation” when participating in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was traveling while working (not to be confused with traveling for work). I’ve split the last three years nearly equally between North America and Europe. In fact, I’m writing this from the stony beaches of Croatia. I’m not a full-time freelancer—although I was able to co-author a book while traveling. I’m actually the Creative Director of a marketing company based out of Chicago.

Not many people understand how I “get away” with this having a steady job while traveling the world lifestyle. But, when you understand the kinds of things you require in order to produce your best work, then both you and your organization can justify the freedom to work where you want as much as possible.

I find it extremely difficult to be in one place and pump out the same imaginative work day after day. If it’s not running with the bulls, it’s dancing at Oktoberfest or singing karaoke on a cruise ship. I crave a change in scenery, if not to satisfy my curiosity or placate my impending boredom with monotony, then certainly to enhance the part of my brain that collects life experiences, cultivates them, and spits out something new to use as a marketing bit.

Maybe I’ve never used running with the bulls as material for a client’s advertisement, per se, but I do channel the emotions I’ve experienced in situations all over the world—like the complete helplessness of mind-numbing fear—to create something that offers comfort to consumers who might be experiencing similar emotions. It’s a win-win for both me and my organization—they get a deeper chest of potential material, and I get the satisfaction of experiencing its contents.

Through all of my “experience mining,” I often find myself feeling frantic trying to keep track of the time differences, project deadlines and creative briefs while balancing my need for adventure. When I first started out, I was lonely, overwhelmed and stressed. I had to reassess my situation.

How can a committed, entangled employee of an organization have her traveling cake and eat it too?

I put together a bible of do’s and don’ts for how to maintain human contact, give my best work to my organization, and earn a paycheck.

Do’s and Don’ts of Staying on Top of Deadlines

Do use tools such as Dropbox and Evernote to keep shared files, organize and prioritize to-do lists and share documents. Email isn’t always the most efficient, especially when working on collaborative projects.

Don’t assume that you can remember everything you need to finish for the week. Things will start to slip through the cracks.

Do make use of the train, bus, or plane rides from one place to another. I’ve found that a train is one of the most productive atmospheres in which I can put myself.

Don’t think you can stay out all night, every night and still have enough energy to put in a full day’s work. This isn’t college, and these aren’t your midterms. There is a balance to night life; and, at the risk of sounding like my mother, you just have to pace yourself.

Do balance working between weekdays, weekends, day and night. Sometimes you only have enough mental energy to put in six hours on Wednesday. So what? You have seven days in the week in which to complete your work.

Do’s and Don’ts of Seeing All the Sites

Don’t waste your time cooped up in a hotel. Nothing is lonelier than spending time in your hotel room by yourself.

Do ask locals where you can find cafés with free Wi-Fi. Enjoy a cappuccino and work for a couple hours. Try another café the next day. A fresh perspective can literally stir your brain cells.

Don’t skip that world famous statue because you don’t think you have time.

Do bring your work with you, and work outside as often as possible—preferably near something you’ve always wanted to see. You’re in a foreign place—what are you doing inside?! Bring a smart phone or tablet with Wi-Fi to check emails, and do work that doesn’t require internet when you’re off the web.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Staying a Part of the Team

Do call or email first. Think of your work as a relationship. Nothing says, “I’m just not that into you” like a lack of initiative. Make time for constant communication, or someone’s going to get dumped. (HINT: It’s probably going to be you.)

Don’t rely solely on emails as a means of communication. Emails cause distance, and that’s when you start to feel unimportant.

Do take advantage of services like freeconferencecall.com and Skype. The sound of your co-workers’ voices re-motivates you to give your best effort when it is so easy to say, “I think I’ll skip work this afternoon and go to a museum instead.”

Molly Meyer is a marketing professional, freelance writer and co-author of It’s My Company Too!, which will be out October 23^rd, 2012. As the creative director for nuphoriq, a Chicago-based marketing group, Molly translates strategy into fresh and compelling creative for multiple mediums. Molly was an All-Atlantic 10 and Academic All-American student-athlete at University of Dayton.