It’s Like Riding a Bike (Premium)

This morning, I got out of bed at 5:45 am after flipping around in a nervous, not-quite-asleep state that occurs every time I have to use an alarm to wake up at a specific time. I’ve had to do so only several times in the past year, almost always because we were flying to or from Mexico City, and no one wants to miss a flight. But this time was different. And, go figure, familiar.

For the first time in over three years, since November 2019, when I flew to Florida for Microsoft Ignite, I had to get up today for a work event. This wasn’t my first work event opportunity per se, there were others that I missed because of previous commitments or, in the case of just a week earlier, because I was sick (also for the first time in over three years). But it was the first time. In a long while.

In darkness because I was trying not to wake up my wife as much as possible, I dug a “Thurrott” dress shirt out of my walk-in closet, perhaps for the first time in over three years. (I write perhaps there because I have three of them and I have worn one at least a few times for work-related online events over the years.) Feeling like Michael Keaton resuming his role as Batman for a new generation, I donned the outfit, got in my car, and drove to Newark.

Not because I was flying anywhere, thank God, but because that’s one of the ways I can get into New York City: I park at the airport, take the air-train over to the New Jersey Transit train station, and then train my way into Penn Station in Manhattan. Followed by a short walk to the meeting spot, which in this case was a hotel. Door-to-door, this was about 2 hours and 45 minutes of travel: 90 minutes in the car, a few minutes on the air train, 30 minutes on the train (after a longer-than-expected wait), and maybe 6 minutes of walking.

Walking through the hotel's front door, I realized I’d been there before, and more than once, though I hadn’t recognized the name. And that my trip into NYC was, in many ways, on autopilot. I had tested various ways of getting from the Lehigh Valley to Manhattan over several years after the local bus company, Bieber, closed shop, and I had determined that this was the best way. Not a great way, not an ideal way. But doable.

Five to six total hours of travel for two 60-to-90-minute meetings, in one day. This used to be normal, used to be a regular event. Now, it feels … weird. But as noted, it also feels familiar. I recognized some people and caught up. It was nice.

But I’m not sure what the bar is on this kind of thing anymore. I know I won’t travel as much for work as I used to, that I will never come close to the 30+ trips that I logged in one particularly bad year. But Microsoft Build will surely be an in-person event this year. Ignite, too. There will be work travel. And I find myself conflicted about this, having gone through different stages of separation throughout the pandemic and having once been positive, absolutely positive, that ...