jobs that involve travel

anyone here have a job that involves a lot of traveling?

i may be getting a new job, it involves traveling 1 or 2 weeks per month for the next 18 months
the money is great, but i'd have to move to norfolk virginia and travel the above terms (travel is all over the country)
i'm married, have a 7yr old daughter, and a baby on the way
i'm the lone breadwinner

advice?

 

[Freejack2]

I drive about 50,000 miles a year for my job. I only need to stay overnight 4 to 6 nights every 90 days though.
If I had to do a lot more I wouldn't have taken the job. I don't care to be away from my wife for a full week or more.
When I was hired I spent my first 3 weeks away from home for training, only coming home on the weekends. Even knowing I'd only have to do that once, it was still hard on us.

You need to seriously think about this. If you take this job you'll be seeing your wife and kids upwards of only half the month (Do you even come home on weekends when you're traveling?). That can be really hard on a family. Jobs that require that much travel I don't really think are for married people. It would be one thing if you were an older couple with the kids grown up and out of the house but that's not the case here.

While I obviously don't know anything about you or your family, I'd have to say that you shouldn't take this job.

 

the traveling week would really be more like monday through thursday or tuesday through friday

 

[vi edit]

I've been in 10 states in 20 days.

I've probably slept in a hotel more nights than my own home since the first of the year. I probably drive 40,000 on top of flying a lot.

I've already made the promise to my wife and told my employers that when we have a child, my travel will stop. Even if it means finding a different job. I just couldn't put my wife and child through this much traveling.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I'm trying to get a job that will involve scientific exploration and making an historical documentary. The "job" goes a couple times a year for atleast three months. This summer is going through the Carribbean (sp?) as well as Jan-March of '05. Summer of '05 will be a trip to follow the path of the explorer Vancouver in the early 1700's up around Alaska. It's 90% sailing. Good money too.

 

[PanzerIV]

jntdesign were I offered the position in your situation I would decline. I hate traveling for work and wouldn't want to leave my kids for days at a time. As someone else said if you were single that would be fine but with a child and one on the way it sounds like rough going.
Also, do you really want to move halfway across the country or is that part ok with you?

 

[TMPadmin]

I don't travel much but having to leave my kids is the worst possible thing. And they really know where it hurts. My two year old tells me; "Stay papa, jacket OFF!, Shoes OFF!" He knows already. Needless to say I have to drive away blubbering.

I avoid travel at all costs! But without kids I wouldn't mind as much.

 

[Nanotech]

I think this the only advice you need is from your wife and children.

 

[AlienCraft]

You're a father. Your children's need to have you at home outweigh any material consideration. Decline and seek employment which keeps you at home. There are enough fractured homes as it is. No need to add another.

 

[rudder]

I used to travel for a living. I worked as a pilot and would be gone 6-9 days at a time. Occasionally I would have a great schedule and only work 9 days a month, but with a new baby at home it was hard.

Best thing to do is talk it over with your wife and try to honestly find out if she is cool with you traveling. And realize its hard to take care of emergencies when your on one coast and she is on the other. In my case we moved to where my wifes parents lived to that helped.

I still missed my children growing up so I gave it up for a lower paying IT job.

 

[Jeraden]

For 9 months I had a job with travel. For the first 5 months it was pretty much full-time out of state. I'd fly home on the weekends, or my wife would fly out to visit me. Some weekends I'd just stay up there by myself though. After 5 months, we worked it out where I'd work from home 2 weeks a month and work out of state. Working at home wasn't literally working at home, it was working at a branch office in my home city.

It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My wife was pregnant at the time, so it was actually kinda nice to get away cause she was very moody. By the time my son was born, I was into the 2 week here/2 week there mode. It would have been nice to be home more during that time, but really those newborns aren't that exciting (yeah, kill me, what can I say). However now that he's 3, there's no way I'd want to be away from home that much anymore.

Travelling is a good way to make money what you don't have a lot of family ties, but once you do, its just not worth it.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: TMPadmin
I don't travel much but having to leave my kids is the worst possible thing. And they really know where it hurts. My two year old tells me; "Stay papa, jacket OFF!, Shoes OFF!" He knows already. Needless to say I have to drive away blubbering.

I avoid travel at all costs! But without kids I wouldn't mind as much.

Awww. Exactly the way I feel when my son looks up with his big brown eyes and asks me where I am going or says "nooo don't go." Fortunately that's just for things around town and I only had to travel for work a few times since I've been at this company.

 

[Michael]

I used to travel 100%. Did it for 4 years in a row. Basically was on the road for 10 months of the year. Back most weekends, depending on where I had flown to. Sometimes only back every 2-3 weeks.

I worked with people who had kids.

It is fine for 2 years or so. Especially if it leads to a great next job.

Michael

 

[Garet Jax]

There is a reason why the money is great. It's because they have to pay well to get travellers.

I used to travel a lot in my job and have since switched companies and told the new one that I am not willing to travel at all.

 

[Gravity]

When you're on your deathbead, you won't be saying "I wish I'd spent more time in hotels so I could have a few more sq. feet in my house."

More likely, you be wishing you had invested more time in the life of your 7 year old. I travelled for 3 years and it nearly destroyed my marriage and I wasted many nights in hotels when I could have been impacting my kids.

Money will be left behind when you begin your dust journey (die), kids are eternal!

 

thanks everyone...some great advice here

if the travel was extreme, i wouldn't even consider it
but the travel in this case is more like - leave from home monday afternoon, leave from location thursday afternoon

my wife totaly wants to move, she hates it where we're at now
I think i'm still going to turn it down though :\