Trending Content - Management Consulting Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
June 30, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
Been in for a few months and it still hasn't faded...it should last at least until I get all the various gold/plantinum accounts xD
One of my TA's is an MBA student that works for McKinsey. I asked him about the travel and he said after about 6 months the quality of the hotel stops mattering. Now he gets to the hotel, passes out, wakes up early, goes to meeting, and takes the next flight out.
Hotel quality still matters. There is a significant quality difference between a Westin towel and Courtyard towel.
Working at an MBB now - the novelty cerainly wears thin - the timing really depends on what you have going on in your life. Early on, you're busting your tail to make your brand and to invest in your future. At some point having a life during weekday evenings starts to matter (SO, kids, personal interests, etc.). If, how and when this happens is all a function of your priorities/values. For me, I drew the line after the EM/CTM/PL promotion.
As seekingalpha already said, I imagine that it varies based on your personal situation. My personal experience as a single unattached dude in my mid-twenties was that it took about 6 months before I was starting to get tired of being on the road.
It's not so much the travel that wears on me as what I'm missing. I've been traveling every week for ~2 years, and I actually enjoy being on the road now that I'm flying first, getting upgraded at hotels, etc.
But I wish I was around once in a while on a Tues / Weds night to watch a game with my friends or go out with my fiance. I've gotten tired of people calling me and then remembering, "Oh yeah, you're gone until Thurs - give me a call when you get back."
"Loving to travel" stops mattering when you actually have to do work that matters while you travel. You aren't traveling for vacation. Just FYI.
Missing out on things during the week does suck, but the time I was on a local project also caused interesting issues. Having people (mostly my girlfriend) not understand the extent of upredictability in my hours was tough. I almost preferred being away where I didnt have to deal with it. For me, it's the getting up at 3:45 on Monday mornings and dealing with airport B.S. and living out of a suitcase that i dont care for. That's the bummer for me.
So true, being local is even tougher! Having to explain no, I won't be home by 6, or I can't just work from home all day (like most Fridays) is tough.
.
.
I think one thing that people who haven't done the whole consulting travel thing don't realize is just how much you'll generally be working while you travel. Your not just kicking back on the flights. You'll have your laptop out making slides or working on a model 95% of the time your airborne. When you check into the hotel you generally have like 20 minutes to drop off your stuff before either heading to the client site or to a conference room to work with your team. The only downtime you'll really have between Monday at 5am and Thursday at 8:00pm is the time when your sleeping. Even when your getting upgraded all the time you barely notice because you always have your head down crunching on something.
That can be the case for some people, but I think that's close to the "fuck this shit" end of the lifestyle scale. I rarely work in-flight - typically read or sleep. And I'm usually done every night by ~9 pm at the latest.
.
Completely agree with both points, really depends on what point in your career you are. Early on (1 year in), working on flights, late nights in team room, etc tend to be the norm, if only to establish your reputation. Once you know what you're doing, you can control your lifestyle a lot better. I eventually chose not to work on flights (even if it meant watching the same episode of 30 Rock 8 times a month...).
I find the travel lifestyle is more enjoyable if you choose to leverage what you can control. I actually got more exercise while I was traveling since there was usually a decent gym onsite at the hotel. You get much better meals in general (trying nice restaurants in different cities is a totally underrated perk of the job).
If you are heads down focused on a laptop all the time, then the traveling lifestyle offers nothing. If you take advantage of your surroundings, then traveling can still be fun.
MBB, yes we're hiring.
This has been the case for my last ~3 projects, or 12 months - and only one was an ops frontline transformation-type gig. Mostly a function of working with partners with a rep for good lifestyle and getting my shit done during the day.
One thing to add - I'm definitely not tired of the benefits of traveling. If you like to travel for leisure, max out your points and they'll pay off big time. I took about $10k worth of free travel last year, and for our honeymoon in July we're not paying a dime out of pocket for hotels, flights, rental cars, etc.
I usually fly in on Sunday night flights rather than trying to wake up at 4AM on Monday morning. Also gives me a full, 100% focused day on Monday, as opposed to a tired, half-focused Monday. Then again, I never get to have my Sunday evenings...
Oh man, I think flying out Sunday is brutal - would much rather do an hour of work Sunday night then sleep on my flight Monday. Also, my fiance would kill me if I started leaving Sundays. That would flip things from 4 nights home / 3 on the road to 4 on the road.
Anyone here working outside the US? I was at a training with some colleagues from LatAm, and they were telling me the norm there is to work Friday morning at the client, then get home late Friday afternoon / evening. No one leaves the client on Thursday, and they often fly out Sunday - so end up with Friday / Saturday night at home. I guess the travel is more complex for them (multiple connections, etc), but made me feel like I have it good.
Debitis et aut itaque repellat consequuntur nisi. Non nesciunt placeat autem aut fuga ut qui est. Corporis recusandae nesciunt dolorem aperiam impedit earum. Fuga quia dolore delectus nobis id quasi corporis. Tempora a qui dignissimos quod occaecati sapiente sunt. Hic molestiae cupiditate officia tenetur voluptas omnis.
Voluptatem ipsa placeat maxime necessitatibus quod aspernatur. Deleniti eligendi provident voluptas enim quam aspernatur ab. Atque vel perferendis adipisci facere sint odio minus qui.
Exercitationem qui ducimus veniam tempore neque vero tenetur. Excepturi fugiat quaerat delectus ut. Repellat adipisci rerum eligendi aperiam. Recusandae maxime sunt voluptate quod. Atque deleniti minus voluptas explicabo. Dolores nulla reiciendis delectus in aspernatur.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Explicabo ea consectetur est blanditiis. Saepe provident corporis rerum dolorem fugit doloremque. Expedita aliquam magni maxime et est earum dolorem. Rerum voluptatibus placeat optio earum non.
Aliquid quaerat aut voluptates excepturi. Provident neque et natus qui est officia ut. Eveniet quidem repudiandae quod placeat rerum aut maxime. Enim ducimus eos deserunt reprehenderit minima dolorum. Blanditiis maxime vero sunt provident cupiditate voluptas. Corporis architecto quibusdam eligendi delectus voluptas quae.
Perspiciatis fugit enim atque eaque nobis cumque. Voluptate rem aut voluptatem rerum asperiores sunt omnis. Minima vero velit incidunt impedit et accusamus. Dicta ipsum expedita explicabo odit odit voluptas facilis nesciunt. Corrupti earum nihil quis autem eum aperiam dolorem. Et porro quis recusandae.