People hear “work travel” and immediately picture exciting dinners, fancy hotels, and a break from normal life. And honestly? Sometimes it really is amazing. I’ve had incredible trips filled with laughter, sightseeing, good food, and memories I never expected to make because of a job.
But then there are the trips that completely break you.
One trip in particular permanently changed the way I travel.
It started at 4am when I left my house for the airport in the pouring rain. Exhausted before the trip even started, I grabbed my coffee and headed out thinking it would be a normal travel day.
It was not.
Our flight ended up having a mechanical issue and was canceled. Chaos instantly exploded at the gate. Everyone scrambling. Everyone stressed. Everyone trying to find another way to get where they needed to go.
My boss managed to get redirected onto another flight and before leaving yelled at my coworker and me:
“You better be there at 6am tomorrow!”
No pressure, right?
My coworker and I searched frantically for flights and somehow managed to find seats that would at least get us into California… just not anywhere near where we were supposed to land. We ended up rerouted into Los Angeles instead.
Thankfully, I checked into my new flight immediately because one amazing airline attendant took pity on me and made sure my bag was found, rerouted, and retagged so it would actually arrive with me. That alone felt like a miracle.
By the time we landed in LA, we still weren’t done.
We had to drive all the way to San Luis Obispo to pick up my rental car. We pulled into the rental place literally right before they closed at midnight. Somehow, against all odds, I got the car.
But then my GPS completely betrayed me.
I got lost.
Over and over again.
Driving in circles while exhausted, frustrated, and trying not to cry.
When I finally arrived at the hotel, it was 1am California time… which meant it was already 4am back home. A full 24 hours since I had left my house that morning.
I was beyond exhausted.
But the final punch to the gut came when I opened my suitcase.
Everything inside was soaking wet.
Apparently somewhere back in Florida, airport security had inspected my bag and didn’t fully close it before it sat out in the rain. My clothes, shoes, toiletries… all drenched.
And after all of that?
We still made it to the meeting at 6am.
To this day, I honestly don’t know how.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t my only rough travel experience. Since then I’ve dealt with missed connections, sprinting through airports, delayed flights, near misses, and countless stressful moments wondering if I’d even make it to my destination.
What used to feel exciting now fills me with anxiety.
Now I overplan everything. I avoid tight connections completely. If I can get a nonstop flight, I will pay extra for it. If I absolutely have to connect, I need at least a two-hour layover or I spend the entire first flight panicking.
Travel anxiety is real, especially after enough bad experiences pile up.
And the crazy part is most people don’t see that side of work travel. They see the destination photos. The conference badges. The dinners. The hotel rooms.
They don’t see the exhaustion, stress, delays, panic, pressure, or the feeling of trying to hold yourself together while running on fumes.
Sometimes work travel is exciting.
Sometimes it’s surviving one disaster at a time and somehow still showing up the next morning pretending you’re fine.
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