How to decide whether or not to take that work trip
Plus a doggo shout out and some light misuse of a popular pyramid model
Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.
Academics travel a lot. Conferences, research meetings, invited talks, program reviews, visiting appointments: the opportunities to and reasons for travel are plentiful, particularly for some academics. During the lockdowns, there had been some general musings that such travel would be reduced in the future, but painful online conferences quickly disabused us of that idea.
I have been reflecting on my own travel a lot recently. In 2024, I had the opportunity to take some pretty cool trips and meet with many amazing people. But I also became more aware of the opportunity costs of such travel. I often found myself thinking that time spent in airports could have been spent running with Sammie (photo below!), unsettled nights in hotels with unsatisfactory pillows could have been restful nights in my own bed, and conference dinners with boring speeches could have been meals with my family. And of course, lately I am reflecting on the questions of safety and travel. Recent aviation disasters and stories of travellers detained in the US are worrisome.
Travel decisions used to be easier. Do I want to go? Does it fit in my schedule? Decision made! Now the decisions are more complicated. I want to make them a bit easier again. As I work out my own thinking, here is today's small thing to try immediately.
One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Automate travel decisions with decision criteria
Fretting about decisions is exhausting, so I recommend automating decisions: select your decision criteria and then let the criteria do the work. You may have some criteria in mind, but if you don’t, try the criteria below inspired by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. (Yes, I know there is academic critique of this pyramid, but it was a useful structure for this!)
1: Does the trip support your and your family’s survival needs?
It is tempting to blow this question off. "Of course all of my basic survival needs will be met," my privileged mind assumes. But confirming this requires investigation. Shelter: Are there available accommodations that I can afford with my funding? Food and sleep: Does the trip require me to be at the airport at 4 am and then travel for 24 hours with multiple flight changes and limited access to meals? (Ah, small city travel logistics…) Family: If the flight is significantly delayed (since air travel is a shitshow these days), do I have firm backup systems for my child/elder/pet care responsibilities?
If the trip doesn’t support your and your family’s survival needs, either rework your plans until it does or don’t go. If you pass the survival needs criterion, move to the next question.
2: Does the trip support your safety needs?
Some academics must travel to unsafe places for important reasons. If this is you, I wish you safety in your work. I, on the other hand, have no pressing reason to travel to locations with legitimate safety risks.
How does one assess a legitimate safety risk? Government travel advisories are a good starting point. (Note: a number of countries now have travel advisories about the US.) Beyond that, there are personal considerations, including safety risks related to gender, race, religion and other factors. For example, I have an LGBTQ+ friend who is concerned about her safety in travelling to certain countries, and as someone living with chronic illness, I consider how the particulars of a trip might impact my physical well-being.
If the trip doesn’t support your safety needs, I suggest you either rework your plans until it does or don’t go. Once you satisfy the safety needs criterion, move to the next question.
3: Does the trip support your academic connection needs?
“My ‘academic connection’ needs? What the fuck does that mean, Loleen?” Well, I am glad you asked! Maslow’s hierarchy puts belonging and social connection after safety. This need even applies to introverted academics. Relationships and connections matter in academia. Networks are critical for information sharing and research development. And if you are going to go through the time and effort of travelling for work, ideally you will strengthen and build your academic networks.
While this critereon alone is not a decisionmaker, if the trip doesn’t support your academic connection needs, I encourage you to rework your plans until it does. (You can do it! See “How to strategically build your network when you despise networking”, “How to network at academic conferences”, and “How to cultivate your champions” for my tips on how to do so.) Then move to the next question.
4: Does the trip support your academic reputation needs?
Ack — a careerist ego category? Sorry: blame Maslow! But you do have esteem needs to ensure that you and your work are respected and recognized and to build and protect your academic reputation. So consider these questions:
How does this trip create positive academic impact?
How does this trip enhance or detract from your academic reputation?
Does this trip suggest support for something that you don’t want to be associated with?
Academic travel choices are not value-neutral. There are the travel carbon emissions. The human rights or environmental policies and practices of the location. (I include reproductive and gender rights here.) The event sponsors. Potential labour action or protest activity at the event site. The list goes on and on.
There aren’t easy answers and everyone needs to weigh matters against their own values. I have Canadian colleagues who are cancelling planned talks and conferences in the United States to show their opposition to the escalating dehumanizing bullshittery of the Trump administration. I have Canadian colleagues who feel it is important to attend US events to maintain academia as a form of soft diplomacy. Everyone needs to make these decisions for themselves.
If the trip doesn’t support your academic reputation needs and doesn’t align with your personal values, rethink it. But if it all seems good, move to the next question.
5: Does the trip support your academic learning needs?
Are you going to learn things on this trip? Will it spark ideas, creativity, and intellectual growth? Will the trip add more to your development than you would have achieved by blocking those same days off in your calendar and using the time to read and study from the comfort of your own home, office, or coffee shop? (This is an option, you know.)
This critereon might seem unnecessary. Not everything is about self-actualization, growth, and development. But consider if there is opportunity to build this into your trip. It might be through cultural learning, such as a walking tour in the area. It might be through attending a panel that expands your knowledge, participating in a workshop, or engaging in a conversation with scholars working outside your discipline.
The point of these five questions is to automate your travel decision. A bunch of yeses: take the trip. A bunch of noes: no reason to even consider it. A mix of yeses and noes: see if things can be adjusted to increase the yeses.
But perhaps there is an even easier automated response to consider: your gut. Ask yourself, “Do I feel good about taking this trip?” And then listen to the answer.
Until next time…
I am excited to report that my next work trip is an easy yes on all of the criteria. I am going to the happiest place on earth (no, it is not Disneyland!) for a field school. How do you make your own work travel decisions? I would love to hear from you — please leave a comment. And to those of you sharing Academia Made Easier: thank you. I appreciate it and I appreciate you.
Stay well, my colleagues.
P.S. A final travel note: if you decide not to attend something because of safety reasons or values conflicts, consider letting the organizers know why. (For example: “Until the United States stops trying to economically destroy my country, I will not spend my public research funds supporting the American economy.”) And then allocate the same amount of time in your calendar to other options for building your academic network, reputation, and learning, be it through travel to another location or to your local (preferably independent) coffee shop.
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Great timing! I’m about to take my first OS conference trip in 2 years. I’m in Australia so it’s a big deal. I didn’t know I had unconsciously Maslow’d it. But now I can add some more hierarchies to my gut feel! Thank you Lolleen. I will miss my dogs.