Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Thanksgiving '22 Travelog #5
Woodbridge, VA - Mon, 21 Nov 2022, 12:30pm

On the first half of this Thanksgiving week trip I'm staying in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC for 5 nights. I'm in the town where I grew up. My youngest sister and her family moved back here, and my mom has moved in with them. When I visit I always get a hotel room. I can afford it, and it's more comfortable for everyone than trying to stay at their place. Over the years I've stayed at the same two hotels a lot. There are actually at least six hotels in the area I've stayed at on various trips; two of them, the SpringHill Suites and the Courtyard, are far-and-away my most frequent haunts. My Home(s) Away From Home, I call them.



This week I'm staying at the Courtyard. The photo above shows my room. I like the SpringHill better because the rooms are larger and there's an underground parking garage with an elevator. The Courtyard was noticeably cheaper this week so I picked it this trip. Though that sheltered parking would be nice this week because it's cold outside. Temperatures have been at/below freezing late at night & early in the morning. As a Californian I haven't experienced temperature this cold since visiting out here a year ago!

One aspect of Home Away from Home is that it's also Work Away from Home. I've been able to work remotely at my job for many years. Years ago it was called "working from home", commonly abbreviated WFH; I've switched to calling it "working remotely" in conversation and writing because it's not just about working from home. Once you can work remotely you can work from anywhere. Anywhere with a suitable workspace, a good network connection, and the ability to travel to be physically present as necessary, that is.

One nice flexibility with working remotely is that I can combine work and leisure on some trips. On this trip I'm visiting my relatives for 5-ish days, but not all day every day. I'm working 2 days out of 5. On these workdays, today and tomorrow, I'll work 8-5 or 9-6 then visit relatives in the evening. It's like a regular workday, except I'm somewhere other than my home for it.

On rare occasion working remotely has meant working from places a condo on the beach in Hawaii. Most of the time it just means working from a more or less nondescript hotel room somewhere. Like I'm doing today.