Don’t Make Your Passion Your Job
Too much of a good thing is too much. Even in a career.
When I graduated from college, I went to work for Eastern Airlines. At the time, it was one of the major airlines, like Pan Am and TWA. That was before Expedia, Priceline, and Orbitz; before you could book your own flights on a computer. Truth be told, it was even before personal computers! The only way you could book a trip was to call the airline or call a travel agent.
My job was to convince travel agents to book their clients on Eastern Airlines. The biggest tool in the shed was what was called Fam Trips; short for Familiarization Trips. We were required to organize and escort groups of travel agents to visit destinations Eastern Airlines flew to. What better job could there be for a 22-year-old who had a passion for travel?
It was fun…. for a while. Fly to the Caribbean. Stay at a resort. Fly to Europe. Stay in a 5-star hotel. Fly to Orlando. Spend the weekend at Disney World and Epcot. Then I began to wish I could be home. Sleep in my own bed. Prepare my own food. Being on the road three out of four weeks, playing host to 10–15 clients gets old. When the front desk clerk at Disney’s Contemporary Resort comes to know you by name you know you’ve been to that hotel too often.
