To the Road Warriors

It's day four of my fifth travel season in the recruiting cycle of a college admission office. The tricks of the previous four seasons have been coming forth and I thought it might be helpful for my fellow road warriors.

For those of you unfamiliar with the college admission recruitment season, most of us spend 6 to 8 weeks one the road visiting 3 or 4 high schools a day with a college fair in the evening here and there.

My self, I travel to PA, MD, VA, DC, and Worcester, MA. I'm able to make it home most weekends, but there are a couple where I'm gone for more than a week.

That's a lot of alone time. It's a lot of dinners by yourself and a lot of down time. Over the years, I've found that there a a few things that help me get through it.

1. Prepare before you go. Make sure you are organized before you leave. Take care of any projects that you have open. You may think that you'll get to it on the road, but once you're out there it's very difficult to motivate.

2. Develop a routine. My wife thinks I'm a complete freak when we travel together. When I check into my room, I unpack everything. I hate living out of a suitcase because it makes me feel unsettled. I have to unpack everything and put it away before I feel somewhat settled.

3. Eat 3 meals. This one's a hard one for me because I'm not a big eater and I sometimes have to force myself to eat on time. When I don't eat on time or skip a meal, I start feeling down and lethargic. Extend this over the travel season, and it can really wear on you.

4. Eat well. Wife and I love our food, but the food we (who am I kidding, she) makes at home is very different from what you find on restaurant menus. Restaurant portions are usually huge and sauces rich. Even salads are usually drenched in salad dressing turning a healthy meal into a high calorie high sodium meal.

How do you get around this? Some restaurants will offer petite portions. This may sound completely lame and unmanly, but I often find that the petite portions is the perfect size. When you order a salad, ask for the dressing on the side. Limit apps and deserts.

5. Exercise. This is huge for me. If I don't exercise, I suffer. Just getting to the hotel gym and riding the bike for 30 minutes really helps my frame of mind. It also helps to keep the weight off from the travel season. Last year was the first year that I didn't put 5 to 10 pounds on and it was because I watched what I ate and worked out almost every day.

That's it for today, but I've got a bunch more. Look for part two soon.