Moms who travel for work- a question

[SnuggleBuggles]

I was in a hotel last week with my boys and heard 3 co-workers talking about traveling for work. The conversation was about safety because I guess something had happened to another one of their co-workers.

I had thought about taking a trip on my own back in March but had a pause thinking about staying safe alone in a hotel, mainly what if someone followed you in the halls or something. I have pretty good common sense but hadn't thought through a plan for this yet.

Have you ever felt nervous traveling alone? Do you know anyone who had a bad experience?

I always wanted to travel for work but currently don't work so no experience.

Beth

[fivi2]

I used to travel some for work and never had any issues. I will say that I did not enjoy traveling for work, but I didn't really go anywhere exciting. Prepping for a hearing alone in a strange hotel room ordering room service isn't all that much fun :) I usually went by myself so it wasn't like I was out enjoying a new place. This was all pre-kids.

eta: I did get out of the hotel some, but generally I went up the night before a hearing or something, prepped in the room, went to hearing in the morning, went straight to airport. Not a lot of time to just get out and do things!

[maylips]

I used to travel a lot for work - and no, I never felt unsafe or had anything bad happen to me. But I was always careful about staying in a hotel in a part of town I felt comfortable in. One job I had was with the state, so per diem was an issue but my boss was great about allowing me to go over if I ever felt uneasy in a hotel. I would describe myself as someone with a fair amount of common sense, too, and wouldn't hesitate to alert someone if I felt unsafe (like not get off on the same floor as someone if they made me uneasy, or asking a security guard to walk me to my car, etc.)

I did roam cities I visited (and the retail stores!) and even ate at restaurants by myself with a book in hand. Ah, the days before kids....

[wellyes]

Not really. I feel more nervous about my work commute since I basically follow the same path/routine every day I work.

Anyway my work sense me to nice hotels - it's not like I'm staying at roadside motels with by-the-hour clientele in the next room.

[mommylamb]

I wouldn't feel any less safe traveling for work than I would do anything else in my daily life. I do travel for work from time to time. To be honest, this has never crossed my mind. I've been doing some international travel lately, so I've been buying separate travel insurance that covers health emergencies (god forbid), but that's about it.

[smiles33]

I don't travel much anymore, but I used to frequently fly out to DC. I rarely use public transit, eat alone, etc. so it was certainly a new experience. I had nice hotels, but I'm paranoid to begin with so I'd eat early dinners (like 5 pm!), take the Metro back to the hotel before it was too dark/empty, and hunker down in my hotel room watching TV/surfing the net with the door locked securely (dead bolt and all!).

I think my fears were more about using public transit late at night. If I arrived at 10 pm I always took a taxi. Being in an unfamiliar city, not having many people around, and just being tired from the cross-country trip was not a good combination in my mind.

[citymama]

I travel for work and have never felt unsafe, but I do watch my back if I'm staying in a less than great hotel or neighborhood. I have always lived in big cities, so I follow the same general safety precautions I would anywhere. I used to travel a lot internationally, and that was often more challenging (and interesting!), esp. when traveling to places where I didn't speak the language, but not so much a safety thing.

[pb&j]

I used to be an airline pilot, and spent a lot of time alone in hotels.

I pretty much just used common sense. Never say my room number out loud, keep the deadbolt locked, etc. Also, when entering my hotel room, I'd always leave the door ajar for a few moments to verify I was the only one in there. I also didn't hesitate to have my First Officer (if male) accompany me to my room if anything felt fishy. Also, I did change rooms a couple of times b/c I didn't like the location/security of the room.

If there's a knock at the door, check through the peephole first. Verify the identity of any workers who come to your room. I'd also prop the door open any time there was a worker in my room, but I would not leave the worker alone in the room. Most of the time, if the a/c wasn't working or something else required maintenance, I'd just request a change of room instead.

My airline's contracts with hotels specified that all rooms had to open to an interior hallway, i.e. no motels where your door is opening directly to the outside. And no ground floor rooms.

During my time at the airline, I didn't know of any verified stories of anyone having any personal safety issues at a hotel.

[KrisM]

I used to travel a fair amount for work. Mostly in the US, but to Argentina, Britain, and Belgium a few times. The only time I felt unsafe was at the first hotel in Argentina and I didn't even check-in. I just had the cab take me to a different hotel that was much nicer and in a much better place. The person booking travel at the time was big into saving money, which is fine to an extent. But, since the nice "American" hotels were around $400/night, she booked me at a $75/night hotel. Um, big difference and for a reason!

Other than that, I'd go to dinner myself, etc. No problems and I never felt unsafe.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Thanks for sharing, everyone! It was never at all something that would have concerned me and I have stayed by myself in a hotel a few times (it's just been a while). I was just surprised to hear their conversation. It sounded like they had all had something that just set off little alarms in their heads at some point. But, it also sounded like they listened to those and made decisions that were good.

Beth