Travel is a fact of life for most consultants. Many spend 45 weeks on the road every year, and some say they wouldn’t want it any other way. We know one married couple where both are traveling consultants. They often joke that they should write a book called “Marriage on Three Days a Week” because they only see each other from Thursday night to Sunday night most weeks. Of course, they take great vacations with all the frequent flier miles and hotel points, and neither one is left at home to manage the household while the other dines in restaurants every night and comes home expecting all the chores to be done. Like many others, they have learned how to be comfortable on the road so that their travel schedules are a source of new experiences and great stories instead of a hardship. If you learn how to be comfortable in your environment, you’ll do better work and last longer in this demanding field. There are two types of consulting roles, from a travel schedule perspective. One type of consultant is the real Road Warrior who is in a different city each week, often visiting two or three different clients and staying only a couple of days each place. The other type travels to the same destination every week to work on a long-term engagement over several months. Which type of travel schedule you end up with depends as much on your personality as on your skill set. No matter which type of travel schedule you have, there are some seemingly small things you can do to make yourself significantly more comfortable on the road. Enroll in every frequent flier and hotel points program you can. The biggest perks in business travel come when you get a free family vacation later. All those trips to Pittsburgh might buy you a trip to Honolulu or Prague or wherever your heart leads you. Whenever possible, use the same airline and hotel chain for every city. This helps you rack up the points faster, and it also establishes a level of comfort and familiarity for you from the moment you arrive in the city. Not every Marriott is exactly like every other Marriott, but there are enough similarities between them that you will begin to feel at home quickly. Packing for Travel Develop a routine for packing. Make a checklist that includes everything that you know you’ll need for any trip, including items like toothbrush and cell-phone charger. Go over the checklist every single time you pack a suitcase. If you don’t follow this advice, you will eventually end up spending $200 on a “charge everything” device and using a hotel toothbrush that will rip your gums out. Always assume you will have to carry your luggage yourself. If you aren’t sure you will need it, don’t take it. You can always buy one there. (Don’t accept engagements in locations that don’t have stores.) Pack something comfortable to wear in your hotel room and clothes you can wear to work out. Plan to sleep in something you don’t mind being seen wearing in public. In the event of a fire, hotels will evacuate two floors above and two floors below, even if it’s just a small fire in a trash basket. That’s what that loudspeaker above the bed is for. All luggage looks alike. Make your bag easy to spot on the carousel and less likely to be stolen with a few strategically placed strips of duct tape or a big pink bow. The military knows that rolled clothing does not wrinkle. Don’t fold it, roll it. Turn jackets inside out, fold the collar up and press one shoulder inside the other
Summary: [[Image:1102099113 386313c1ef z.jpg|thumb|300px|left|A Perseid streaks across the sky. Photo: Rongem Boyo/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/writemboyo/1102099113/ Flickr]/CC]] The Perseid meteor shower rolls through the sky once a year, peaking in mid-August. It’s caused by a trail of debris that travels along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which passes the Earth every 135 years. The 2010 Perseid meteor shower runs from Wednesday, Aug. 11 to the wee morning hours of Aug. 14. The peak will be the night between the 12th and the 13th. The Perseids are famous because they are so spectacular. In optimal viewing conditions, you can see between 60 and 100 meteors per hour streaking across the northern sky during the peak. 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for the Perseids, because the moon will either be a thin sliver in the sky or below the horizon during the peak nights. ”This article is part of ”’a wiki anyone can edit.”’ If you have advice to add about tracking meteors, log in and contribute.” ==Where to look== [[Image:Perseus.png|thumb|300px|right]] The Perseid meteor shower takes place in the region of the sky around the constellation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_%28constellation%29 Perseus], hence the name. It’s primarily visible to those in the Northern hemisphere after midnight. Once you find Perseus, that’s not the only place you should be looking. That’s just the center of the shower, or the “radiant,” the point from which the streaks will appear to radiate. The easiest way to spot the radiant with the unaided eye is to look for the familiar constellation of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopeia_%28constellation%29 Cassiopeia]. She’s the bright letter W in the Northern sky. The Perseids meteors radiate from a point directly below and slightly to the left. Both Cassiopeia and Perseus rise in the Northeast just before midnight, and move towards the Zenith until dawn. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/junnn/1102192658/ Here's a photo of what to look for]. If you’re familiar with the quadrant system used by most star charts and navigation systems, Perseus is in NQ1. If you have more sophisticated equipment, dial in these coordinates: * Right Ascension: 03h * Declination: +45ยบ ===Apps=== No, really — where the hell is Perseus? If you have an Android phone, get [http://www.google.com/mobile/skymap/ Google Sky Map]. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, get [http://www.star-map.fr/ Starmap] or [http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html Star Walk] ==Pick a spot== Big cities, suburban sprawl and other densely populated areas cause off light pollution — that hazy man-made glow that obscures the night sky. Tall buildings and trees can obscure your views as well. If you live in the country, you’re golden. You backyard is probably a great option if you turn off all the lights in your house. Otherwise, you may have to travel to somewhere on the outskirts of town, or a nearby mountain. Avoid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids Triffid farms] and do remember that temperatures can drop considerably overnight so take an extra fleece for any young observers and a flask of coffee or hot chocolate for the walk home. Find a nearby star party or shower party — gatherings of amateur astronomers that usually take over a remote parking lot or corner of a park where viewing conditions are optimal. They are usually free and full of friendly geeks with sweet meteor-viewing gear. [http://www.astro-observer.com/ Astro-Observer] lists the biggest parties, but do some searches for your local area to find the smaller ones. Just be sure to study up on the rules (no headlights!) before you go. ==Best times== The 2010 Perseid meteor shower runs from Wednesday, August 11 to the wee morning hours of August 14th. The peak will be the night between the 12th and the 13th. [http://www.tabwin.com/perseids/ Tabwin] is a website with comprehensive lists of optimal viewing windows for every corner of the Earth (with times in your local time zone), as well as tips for locating Perseus in the sky. See all upcoming astronomy events on [http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy_calendar_2010.html Sea and Sky's calendar]. ==Pack the right gear== One essential gadget for meteor viewing is a “Star light,” or a night vision flashlight that produces a dim red glow
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