The Little Ways Travel Affects Your Everyday Life

Stop and think about how many impacts there are on your life because of frequent travel. Sure, there is impact on your family, on the relationships (or lack thereof) with neighbors and friends. These are the big, more commonly talked about impacts. But if you really take note of the numerous, little and seemingly silly ways where “travel” leaves it mark on us road warriors, your list will be longer than you’d think.

On my last weekend home, this hit me like a ton of bricks. Over and over again I saw ‘touches of travel’ throughout my home and ingrained in my habits. These habits have existed for a long time and I never realized how many there were.

Here are some of the impacts of travel on my home life (and as you read these, I’m sure you’ll come up with the start of your list):

• Magazines are piled up next to my suitcase for reading on the plane. They are almost never read at home.

• I get excited when the dentist gives me sample size toothpaste after my cleaning. A basket of sample size products lives in a cabinet.

• Clothing must look ‘travel friendly’ before I’ll bring it home. I hate ironing in a hotel room.

• The middle shelf of the pantry and the fridge are used for my husband’s foods while I’m away so it’s easy to know see leftovers to eat and new pantry items.

• My closet is arranged by colors for easy and fast selection of what goes into my luggage.

• A bottle of wine only gets opened if I’ll be home for at least two nights to enjoy it. Home only one night? I go without.

• Thick straws are kept in a drawer and used for running a necklace through to prevent tangling in my bag.

• Twist ties are not used for garbage bags, but instead are kept for ‘locking’ my zippers on my luggage.

• My juicer only gets used if I am home for more than a few days. Buying fruits and veggies for maybe two drinks just doesn’t seem worth it.

• Flight foods are a staple in the house (protein bars, apricots, nuts).

• Grocery shopping is done in small doses. Sizes bought depend on how many days I’ll be at home.

What always hits me the most is how many pots of coffee I will be home for. Some people count sleeps, some count days; I count pots of coffee. My husband Bruce and I share a pot of coffee in the morning and another pot after dinner. I’ll grind up a few filter’s worth of coffee ahead of time and when the last prepared filter is used, it must be time to travel again.

This was a real eye-opener for me to realize how travel impacts me even when I’m not on the road. I know I’ll just smile when I am back home again and discover another ‘travel habit’ that I’ve ingrained into my home life.

How about you? What’s something that has become a habit for you at home all because of travel?