This post may contain affiliate or referral codes, for which I receive a small compensation and you get a discount in exchange. These help support the blog, so I can keep creating content.
I probably won’t be posting every day, but I will be posting a few times during my trip. It’s a business trip so it’s not like I’m doing anything extremely exciting to post about. But it is my first trip for business ever and first time flying in years. Pretty sure it’s been seven or eight years since my last flight. And I thought this might be a fun idea.
So, why am I headed to the Boston area?
Short answer: work.
Long answer: my team wanted to get everyone together from MN office and MA offices at headquarters. Which is in the Boston area. So, I’m traveling out with everyone in the ordering team from MN, which is nice so I’m not going alone.
This is one of two trips I’m heading there to in a total of a few weeks. I’ll be back out there the second week of September for a conference. So, it will be an interesting few weeks going from never traveling to literally two trips in quick succession.
What do I do for work?
I’m a client support specialist for one of the top five EHR (electronic health records) software companies. As I like to keep some privacy, I’m not going to specify which one. But I’ve been working there since May. And only this last week or two, I got done with my main training and now supporting customers specifically in the Ordering module. Basically the place where hospitals and clinics place all their orders: lab, medication, surgeries, radiology, etc. And soon I’ll be learning ePresribing.
Thoughts from before the flight
Considering, I haven’t flown in ages, I decided to take my mom’s advice (also company’s advice since they booked my travel time) and arrived at the airport 3 hours early. You know to have plenty of time to check-in, go through security, and get to my gate. Well… all that took me a total of 15 minutes so I was sitting outside my gate that entire three hours. Good thing I prepared for my trip with a Kindle loaded with books to read (starting with Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova), an iPod filled of my favorite music, and iPad so I could draw if those two things couldn’t keep me busy.
It was interesting being there so early as the rest of my team wasn’t there yet. Like they weren’t there for another hour or two after I got to the gate. Then our flight got delayed, so I walked to the other side of the airport to get from food from Chick-fil-a. Never can go wrong with their chicken nuggets. And that really helped settles my nerves knowing that I wasn’t alone and had some food in my system. Then it was a waiting game, which I had good tunes and book to distract myself with.
So, what all did I pack for my carry-on (backpack not the overhead bin one):
- Kindle: loaded with 8 books, ok technically 55 but 8 that I haven’t read before.
- iPad: so I can draw on Procreate.
- iPod Classic: freshly synced with all my favorites and a playlist called Chill to help with my anxiety.
- Gum: Juicy Fruit, was literally only thing in my apartments vending machine and didn’t want to buy any at the airport.
- Phone: so I can do literally everything. Have access to my boarding information and reservations, check work emails, hang out in Discord, write on here, etc.
- Laptop: technically I’m not planning on using it at any point during the flight but there was no way I was putting that in any other bag. I need the laptop for work once I get to Boston.
- Da Liquids: I realize I could’ve put this in my overhead bin bag but it just made things easier if it was with all the electronics and stuff I had to pull out at the security gate. But I did move it to the other bag once I got to my gate.
And that’s it, the rest is in my other bag and there’s nothing too exciting to report. It’s just clothes and makeup I’ll need for the trip.
Maybe I’ll do a ‘Get ready with me’ one of the days I’m here. I’ve kind of done that before with my usual quick makeup routine, but I haven’t done one that’s specifically travel related. So, maybe I’ll do that one of the days if I remember before heading into headquarters.
Plane Ride & Arriving in Boston
After our plane was delayed several times due to weather in Boston and ensuring we wouldn’t be circling the airport, we took off maybe an hour to an hour and a half after our original flight time. So, it was fairly late when we got to Boston. I read about half of my book during the flight.
After getting our rental car, my group headed into downtown to get some dinner. We ended up at a cute, small Italian restaurant called Bencotto. It was absolutely delicious! I had the chicken parmigiana with some penne pasta. Then we headed to our hotel when was a Residence Inn by Marriott, so we got apartment like rooms complete with ovens, desks, dining table, etc. Honestly, I was surprised but apparently it’s within walking distance of the office.
Once I got to my room, I promptly fell asleep. So, yeah that’s my entire first day of travel. I’ll have more to share later. Depending of course on what’s going on.
Hope y’all are having a great week!
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
Join the Howl of the Pack today by subscribing! To stay updated on everything I’m doing, follow me on Twitter as that’s where I post quick updates. Or join our Discord server. I do have a Patreon where I will be trying to give early access to things like YouTube videos or body paint looks. Also, if you like this post, let me know in the comment section, it really helps me figure out what content you guys appreciate. Don’t be shy I would love to hear from you!
