Those of us lucky enough to spend quality time on the road, know life isn’t as fun sleeping in crummy hotel rooms and eating equally crummy fast food. But I say, having been traveling quite often for work, spending weeks away from home. You have to look beyond the confines of your hotel room and explore. To make the best of the situation, start by asking the receptionist at your hotel, chances are they are local and know what’s what around town. I also recommend taking it one step further. If you’re anything like me, you spend weeks upon weeks at one shitty roadside hotel after another, so get to know the persons behind the counter. They are your gateway to what’s around, once you have established a level of comfort, find out where they go and make the offer to hangout. Easiest way to make friends. 
Now that you have made the step to get out of that hotel, where you can hear every conversation between the walls…oh, and those damn t.v’s. Explore, take a ride, just get in the car and get lost for a few hours. This is the absolute best way to see what’s around you. I feel that any length of time spent in one place, you’ll eventually start to feel at home, so learn the lay out and see where the locals go. You may be an outsider, but you spend enough time alone at a bar, you start to go crazy. I stress again, make friends! Currently, I am working in Seaford, Delaware…a quaint slice of heaven, stuck at the ass end of Delaware. Where the closest anything, is 18 miles away in Salisbury, Maryland. As you drive in on route 13, you start noticing small towns…then smaller towns…then nothing…farms and just flat. My initial thought, as I drove into town the first week was, “Holy crap, there is literally NOTHING here”! How wrong I was. I finally started taking my own advice, and I just got in the car and drove. I found the country roads to be rather calming after a long day of work. The scenery was something to take in, which, if you’re from the big city, you appreciate the green landscapes. That was step one of my adventure. Then I got hungry, with the surplus of fast food chains (which anyone in this position knows, is your worst enemy) there aren’t many places to get a home cooked meal. Which is something to be expected out on the road, but I strongly recommend you avoid the quick and easy. If you have a refrigerator and a microwave, you’re set. What I found to be the cost effective and healthier choice…prepare meals the day before you leave. Make enough for the week or find the local grocery store and get things you can heat up or keep in the fridge. Don’t dis-credit the chain restaurants, eat healthy and tip big, easy way to start conversation and make friends. Now, speaking of making friends, we got to talking about the shore, which I had no idea was only about 25 minutes away(restaurants are a great source of local information, especially at the bar). After which, I was offered to come hang out for a weekend at their beach house, one of the perks of being friendly I suppose. 
At the end of the day, you have to make the best out of where you are. It may not be home, but you can’t lock yourself away in the tower either. The next time you travel for work, get lost or as I call it “accidental exploration”. It’s the only way you’re going to make your stay bearable. Also, don’t forget to do some research and pack accordingly, you never know how close you’ll be to the beach. Oh, one last though, invest in a good pair of headphones to drown out those annoying hotel neighbors.
My name is Carl Cencetti, but you can call me C.J, Carl is my Dad. I currently work as a Safety Consultant, Instructor and Site Officer. It’s a great job, I love what I do and genuinely care for people’s well being. Best part about it, the travel. Although, it’s not the most exotic of places…but it’s places I’d never have gone before. When I’m not traveling for work, I like to play xbox and go to the gym, I like to break a mental and physical sweat. I’m not very good at writing a bio, so you’ll have to deal with this. “There isn’t life with out love. Do what you love and you’ll always feel alive” – Me
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