Strolling so casually

I'll tell you my one great business idea.  

When I travel - and sometimes my journey can be 15 hours or more, like mine is right now - I still eat and drink and in many airports shop for real, get my nails done, and even sleep if I can get a pass to one of the better airport lounges.

When I travel I still make it a point to take care of my basic needs.

Except exercise. 

Here's my idea: treadmills set up throughout the airport.

You can pay by the minute using the kind of credit card machine Kinkos uses when you need to make copies. Nobody makes copies anymore but you know what I mean.

When I was in the Amsterdam airport recently I could buy minutes in a resting pod with a massage chair and you know I did. Several minutes.  My colleague took a shower in Frankfurt after our overnight flight and before our onward connection.

Over the summer when I was traveling home from Las Vegas on vacation I had my lacrosse ball with me in my carry on bag and started rolling my pecs before I glanced around and realized I was getting the funniest looks.

"I just thought, well, you see the craziest shit in Vegas," one woman said as both of us cracked up when we caught each other's eye.

So no I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

It's not that I don't walk around a lot in airports. In some airports, it feels like I'm traveling the length of a football field to get to my connecting flight, and that's after standing in line for 20 minutes at passport control.

On this trip I made a conscious effort to avoid Heathrow because with all my hamstring issues I figured I'd need a 6 hour connection. (Passing up Heathrow is a big deal because you can do serious shopping at that airport including some pharmaceuticals at Boots that you just can't find back home.)

In some airports it feels like it would be less trouble to hop on any flight that's at a nearby gate to the one you came in on and just keep gate hopping until you get to your destination.

So I do move around when I travel even though I'm mostly spending hours sitting.

But this kind of exercise is the wrong kind because it's stressful, causing my body to produce cortisol, which makes me crave chocolate or really any food even if I've just eaten a meal, instead of endorphins, which give me an overall sense of well-being. (Ok chocolate does that but with a whole lot of calories, too.)

And because I always manage to lug around more bags than I planned I typically arrive at my destination feeling battered instead of refreshed, which is how I might feel if I used 40 minutes of my 3-hour connection to pace myself comfortably or even to exercise vigorously on a high-quality treadmill. 

Bags at my side.

Music in my ears,

Just saying.

See you next time!