so if you haven't picked up on this by now, i've spent a lot of time in the last nine months on interstate 70 driving back and forth between STL and KC. what? you didn't notice?? i'll try and make it more obvious next time i come - which is in exactly 7 days....
KC is kinda becoming my home away from home, and my residence is usually in one of the rooms at the courtyard marriott on the country club plaza. the weirdest thing about staying here is that - um - the staff have kinda started to know me. and i know them.
jaime always answers when i call - and always makes jokes about how i'm an old pro at what's where. kerrie is the sales manager - she's always very helpful. there's the cute girl who had a baby four months ago and we always chat about how fast he's growing. there's the crazy girl who works in the breakfast cafe that i can't stand because she doesn't juggle hustle and bustle very well and will take my breakfast voucher and then try to charge me anyway. and the nice man who works in the breakfast cafe who i'm always relieved to see is on duty and doesn't think it's weird when i order both oj and a diet pepsi. and the night guy with the accent. yup. i know them all.
sorry - hold on - the phone is ringing.....
oh. that was my buddy jaime seeing if i needed a wake up call for tomorrow or a car arranged. i'm a gold status marriott member now - it comes with the territory. 62 more nights and i get to go platinum....
where was i. oh yes. this whole "learning to travel on business" thing has been an experience. i remember my days at WU when we would work on itineraries and appointment packets and such and we thought about how luxurious it must be to travel on business to exotic cities and eat on the company dime. and you know what i've learned (other than the fact that i can now direct someone from our office in overland park back to their office in columbia without google maps?) - i've learned that it's really not all that it's cracked up to be.
i wake up earlier here (jeff is kinda shocked by this. i also wake up to an alarm all on my own without rolling over and going back to sleep and telling someone to "go to hell" when they call to make sure i'm up in moving. in fact - i don't even need a wake up call - sorry jaime. jeff is also shocked that my showers aren't nearly as long and that i don't leave my pj's just thrown on the bed).
figuring out dinner is always a chore (although at least once a trip i hit up the olive garden in overland park for some capellini pomadoro - the to go guy - who i am also starting to know - always gives me about 7 chocolate mints - but tonite he forgot my fork so he's on probation).
when i get back to the hotel i kinda don't know what to do with myself. i work harder when i'm here, so thinking about work is not on my list of desires. i'm on pretty much all day and i don't really want to be around people. (introverts! unite!!) and half the time i'm in a hole that gets bad wireless reception so i have no internet. and even though i always bring my tennis shoes with the intention of walking on the treadmill - i'm always too afraid that there will be someone else in the work out room who sees me trying to figure out how to turn the darn thing on and laugh at me so i don't ever go....
i can't just curl up and go to sleep - it's too hard. so generally i fall asleep while dr. drew or nancy grace drones on about whatever hot button topic they have been obsessing on for a month. then i wake up at 3 in the morning - and they are still on which is really creepy.
and frankly - i find it kinda weird that every time i open a thing of soap to wash my hands, the housekeeping staff throws it away. i mean, isn't that just weird? and wasteful???
more than anything though - i miss my family when i'm gone. i miss making my own dinner. i miss my own bed. i miss decent cable channels.
i get to go home tomorrow. KC is nice (except for the whole chief's/royals fans) - but i'm always so excited when i get to go home. and it's proven when one sees how antsy i get once i hit traffic at 270.....
Have you memorized all of the landmarks while you're driving too? Like... hey...there's that trailer home pained like the American flag.
ReplyDeleteoh yes. warrenton. the big hill where i lose st. louis radio stations. the cow/ferris wheel. the house with the plane that does sky diving. the cow farm. the house with the caved in roof an white van. the golf course with the bronze cow or whatever it is. the boone co bridge. the weird looking building that looks like an old prison. the rv sales place. the truck stop where i stopped when i saw the fire on the side of the highway and asked them to call the fire department. coming back you add in the mizzou billboards.....oh yes. tons of landmarks.....
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