Sometimes, not often, I forget where I am when I wake up. When it happens I am not sure if this is caused by the novelty of a place, jet lag, constant movement, or the fact that most hotel rooms look, for all practical purposes, the same. It could be general disillusion.
"Stay home more," I said to myself at the start of 2015. Staying home during the weekdays isn't usually an option based on my current profession, which is a reality I am most often prepared to face. This job of mine enables and fuels what I can semi consider a bad habit of wanderlust. Most people plan and save for months to take a trip to Los Angeles, New York, or a trip abroad. I book international flights a week in advance and take weekend trips with no real thought. As much of a pretentious prick I feel like when I say this, it is has been my reality for the past 3 years.
I was starting to feel displaced. I was starting to feel jaded. I told myself to stay home.
This year I would not say that I have followed through with my command to myself. I've done this to myself, for a good percentage of the time that I could come home I go elsewhere. It is (in my mind) too hard for me to stay in one place, to stay still, for too long.
What does it even mean to be home though? When people ask me where I live I usually hesitate for a second and then answer "Austin". Home is where the heart is? Home is where you pay rent? Home is where.. what? Houston will always feel like home, but so will Austin, and to a lesser extent many other places I visit.
I decided I was going to calculate how often I have been home. I dug through my outlook calendar, airline phone applications, and iphoto and was able to determine where I have spent every night since January 1, 2014. I probably could have gone further back, but I think there was less variation at that time, and not worth my tracking. I plotted date vs. city out of curiosity at first then started running some numbers.
2014 (Jan - Dec)
Cities
| -1 | AUS | Austin, Texas |
| -2 | SLC | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| -3 | OKC | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| -4 | HOU | Houston, Texas |
| -5 | SXM | St. Maarten, Dutch Antilles |
| -6 | PHL | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| -7 | NYC | New York City, New York |
| -8 | LAX | Los Angeles, California |
| -9 | BRK | Breckenridge, Colorado |
| -10 | DAL | Dallas, Texas |
| -11 | AIR | In Air |
| -12 | IST | Istanbul, Turkey |
| -13 | PLT | Plitvice National Park, Crotia |
| -14 | SPU | Split, Croatia |
| -15 | Islands | Islands, Croatia |
| -16 | FRA | Frankfurt, Germany |
| -17 | IAD | Washtington DC |
| -18 | BOI | Boise, Idaho |
| -19 | TPA | Tampa, Florida |
| -20 | CHI | Chicago, Illinois |
| -21 | NOLA | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| -22 | SA | San Antonio, Texas |
| -23 | FRED | Fredericksburg, Texas |
2015 (Jan - July 10)
| -1 | OKC | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| -2 | AUS | Austin, Texas |
| -3 | LAX | Los Angeles, California |
| -4 | HOU | Houston, Texas |
| -5 | AIR | In Air |
| -6 | IST | Istanbul, Turkey |
| -7 | BOE | Boerne, Texas |
| -8 | BSAS | Buenoes Aires, Argentina |
| -9 | MDZ | Mendoza, Argentina |
| -10 | BOG | Bogota, Colombia |
| -11 | CRT | Cartagena, Colombia |
| -12 | MIA | Miami, Florida |
| -13 | STX | St. Croix, USVI |
| -14 | CST | Charleston, South Carolina |
_____________________________________________________________
Calculations:
2014
Total Home Time: 42.74%
(Houston: 26.21%, Austin 31.36% time at home when lived in each city)
Client Site: 40.55%
Remote Work Destinations: 1.64%
Vacation: 5.48%
Alt Travel/Weekends Away:10.68%
Nights in Transit: 0.27%
2015
Austin Residence, Total Home Time: 29.32% YTD
Client Site: 36.65%
Remote Work Destinations: 5.24%
Vacation:7.33%
Alt Travel/Weekends Away: 15.71%
Nights in Transit: 4.9%
Overall Conclusion: Comparing 2015 YTD to total 2014 year I have been home 13.42% less. There are 174 days left in 2015, and I don't really plan on coming home too much more. Reasons to be detailed at another time.
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