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Here’s an edited transcript of this entry of Amy’s Outdoor Diary. Listen to the episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
How do you find time to go outside when I’m business travel? You know what’s not good for outside time? Really long conferences.
This week, I flew to Dallas, Texas, where I’m coming to you live now, for a four day conference.
Anytime I leave Alaska, I build in about a day of travel on each end. So that makes a six day trip with two days in airports and four days sitting in conference rooms for me right now. I love conferences, because they offer such an important opportunity to network and meet people and learn cool stuff. I also hate conferences, because they have super cold air conditioning, I never get enough water, I always want to eat too many snacks, and I always spend too much time sitting. But I have found that not only can I still get my 20 minutes outside during conferences, but that 20 minutes becomes even more important than ever before. It becomes downright necessary.
So how do I do it? It all comes down, again, to priorities. It means being very purposeful about not staying out too late, or drinking too much alcohol late at night – although I personally have not had a problem with that since going dry last August. And it means getting up a little earlier than I’d otherwise like to.
During conferences and during business trips, I make a special effort to get my outside time in during the morning. First thing before anything else. I do that to make sure that it actually happens. Work days during travel have a way of getting away from me and I wait too long and then I’m worried that I won’t be able to make it happen.
I also try to get in more time -actually more than 20 minutes. Bonus time during any breaks – heading out to a patio if possible for some fresh air and away from the hubbub. If I’m going to have a sidebar conversation with someone for an extended period of time, I also suggest to that person that we take it outdoors if the weather’s nice. Inevitably, we’re both grateful for having done so.
My outside time during this particular conference has included a few really great runs in the awesome, awesome spring Texas weather and some walks through some really well-kept city parks.
Before I left for Dallas, my outdoor time in Alaska was very, very different than it is here, including a quick ski Wednesday before I got on my plane. That ski It was almost foiled, by the way, by a pair of moose blocking my path. Talk about an Alaska problem.
Because I’m so grateful for the well-kept city streets and parks here in Dallas, this week’s real outdoor hero – which is a person, place or thing that makes the outdoor time great – is the city of Dallas’ park keepers. I don’t know you, but I love you. You’re doing a great job of making your city a pleasant place to spend time outside. Bravo!
