I always find it so interesting finding out how a few lucky people get to travel the globe for their jobs. So, do you travel alot for your job and love it? What brought you to this?

Business travel and vacation travel are very different. I have been to many exciting cities around the world on business and often see very little beyound the airport, hotel and client's office. Very long days and dining with clients at night, leaves little time to explore and really enjoy a city. I know some people will arrange to stay over a weekend to sightsee, and I have done this on rare occasions, but usually I am too anxious to get back home to see my family.

That said, I do love my job and it's nice to have the FF miles when it comes time for a family vaction.

Yes and yes. There is usually a way to get around and sightsee a bit (or a lot by staying over the weekend and even saving on the airfare with the Sat. stay) - often somebody who - inside the box - would expect to sit down and "do" one of those predictable expense-account "business" (actually more often than not more bs than business) lunches or dinners is actually delighted when - outside the box - I drop a hint that I'd much prefer to see his/her town during those hours we had already scheduled to spend together.

I'm lucky because I'm a journalist, so I've had amazing travel experiences, like riding horseback through the Siberian tundra, visiting a high-altitude gold mine in the Tien Shen mountains on the China-Kyrgyzstan border, and picking grapes during the Burgundy vendange... and best of all I get paid for it! I can't say I've loved every minute ... getting shaken down by Uzi-toting thugs in Baku was no fun, and I could have done without those bedbugs at the hotel in Costa Rica ... but hey, no job's perfect.

Over my 33-year career (all with the same employer) I've held several positions that required travel. Most has been in North America, but I also had trips to Europe and Asia.

Fortunately my employer is pretty liberal about allowing employees to take leave before or after a business trip--as long as there is no pressing need back at headquarters. So I've been able to take time to enjoy many of the places where I've conducted business.

yes, been travelling for many years on business. i tend to stay in one place for at least 4 weeks...often much longer. work has taken me all over the world and i find that i learn much more about a place over a (for example) 12 week stay than i ever would visiting as a tourist.

in fact, i think it's very hard to really get a feel for a place as a tourist. when you work with people, they will often let their guard down and you really get to know what motivates them, how they think etc. i laugh at the posts that imply that getting to know a place is about sitting in cafes sipping wine.

the best part of business travel is making friends and associations with people from all over the world.

Depends on the type of "business" and its travel. In my last job, for example, I went to London three times for 4 days each, over six weeks, but since I worked from 8 am till midnight (every bloody day!), I had no time to do "anything" except for some memorable meals.

The flip side is my employer always flew me business first class which resulted in, as newesttraveler states, a ton of FF miles which I then used for personal trips to Europe.

I wouldn't say I travel a "lot," but I've gotten to do a good amount of traveling for my job, mainly in the form of research trips to Europe (I'm a univ. professor) and conference trips (mostly in US with one exception coming up soon). There's less opportunity to check things out during a conference, but for every research trip I make time to see things. It's all about learning for me.

I travel to Europe about 10 times a year for 10-12 day trips and have done so for about 10 years. Business travel is not glamorous, just exhausting. Most of your life is spent in airports and business hotels. You have to ignore jet-lag and be bright and alert for client meetings. In a 10-day trip, I may visit three cities - Jan trip it was Oslo, Stockholm, Paris, London and I stayed in 5 different hotels. I often wake up in the morning having no idea which country I am in. Local offices like to make the most of my visits, so I may have 4 client meetings plus a dinner most days. I talk and talk and talk …. Last trip one of my colleagues said I was like a juke-box – put the money in, press the appropriate button and I sing my party piece

On the PLUS side, I always arrange a fun long weekend on each trip, which is wonderful. Last year, I did trips to Venice, Brittany, Galicia, Leon (twice) as well as London and Dublin. I also earn a massive amount of FF points, which I don’t use myself but can gift to family and friends.

Every year, I tell myself I can’t keep doing this, but then I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I've been traveling (domestic) for business for more than 25 years. Mostly I see airports and hotels/resorts (nice ones); occasionally I have a few hours to stroll through a city. Evenings are sometimes free, but I go to sleep early to be bright-eyed for another work day. The most rewarding aspect is all the frequent flyer and hotel points I accumulate for my personal travel. Do I enjoy traveling on business? Not any more.

I travel a lot and when I travel my "off time" is limited(I can't be up all night and expect to do my job the next day). I have meetings that are fixed BUT I do try to do the "walk home" rule which I learned from my Dad (he did international joint ventures for the company he worked for and some years spent more time out of the country than in). My father said that although he was often "wined and dined" in the evening, he would decline a car home (or take it half way) and see something of interest (my father was a history buff). The half hour was his way to unwind and yet it didn't interfere with his job. It requires a bit of homework (mappy is my favorite which allows you to choose a pedestrian route) but it is well worth it. I also use my business travel to add things to my must do list or "forget it" list. In my job many of the flights are not on commercial airlines so no air miles (if there were I probably would have flights for life for the family).

I've been fortunate to travel extensively for business dating back to July 1985, when I covered a thirteen state southern territory (North Carolina to Oklahoma, Texas to Florida) in the USA.

While commuting from Brisbane and working in a Sydney-based Asia Pacific role for a US company, I was away from home between 200 and 250 nights per year, making a two or three week trip to Asia every four to six weeks, and going back to the US twenty one times from November 1995 to August 1998.

Now, I travel within Australia only occasionally (one trip every six or ten weeks), and have one business trip back to the US every August.

Business travel is what you make of it, but it's certainly not as glamorous as many people believe. There so much wasted and unproductive time (taxis to/from airports, airline lounges, flight delays, Immigration % Customs, weekends away from family).

However, being able to see the world and discover new and interesting countries, people, and cultures is priceless, especially when you've gone to places that you otherwise probably would not have gone to were it not for your job.

My thoughts, and my thoughts only.

When we had our business we would fly within the US. I have to say that with all day meetings, business dinners in the evening and a cocktail hour between the meetings and dinner we didn't really get to enjoy whereever we were at unless we stayed a few extra days which was not always possible.

The thing people seem to forget is that while they're working, they're experiencing the country concerned in a way you never can as a tourist.

There's infintely more to Italy, for example, than a few museums and sites or a glass of wine in a photogenic village. And that meeting in Milan about market share, or the tour round the local retailers, exposes you to the way the real Italy - as opposed to the saccharine fantasy world of girlie scribblers about Tuscan villas - functions.

I've been fortunate enough to spend far more time driving round Malaysian petrol stations than stuck in Singaporean "Instant Asia" shows. And time listening to why German dealers don't like your new franchise programme gives you insights into today's (and in many cases, several centuries ago's) Germany you'll never get from a Rhine cruise.

Two central rules:
- While working, keep your eyes, ears and brain open
- Never miss an opportunity to read the local papers (you can pick up the gist of even the unlikeliest languages), listen to local radio whenever you can and watch at least the local news programme and the major soap on the hotel TV.

My youngest son is in diving insurance and travels in connection with this. He is currently on a four week trip to Thailand and tells me how much hard work it is.

I don't believe a word of it and..... I WANT HIS JOB!!!