After 7 years of experience in operational consulting the travel is taking it's toll. But I enjoy the work and have schieved good career success.Any advice on what alternative career opportunities there are avaiable or how to reduce the travel burden within consulting without taking a hit in position?

Had virtually same situation....6 years on the road with a big firm in UK, Europea and US, enjoyed the work, travel was grinding me down. Nearest project to home (Manchester) ever was 4 hours drive. In 2004, I joined a smaller firm (12 people) based in my region that had 2/3 of its work in the region. Reality was it worked really well for a a year. I was away a max of 2 nights a week. The only downside (and it proved ok for me) was a lot of driving in the region. BUT then they sold out to a larger firm and was back on the road within 3 weeks! Tried it, still hated it so now I have gone freelance and it works for us. If I find an attractive project that involves travel, as a family, we decide whether to take it as a discrete piece of work for a limited period. If an attractive project in the area is available, I am flexible with rate. So far (6 months) it has worked well. Maybe it would work for you - good luck!

TrickyI am in a similar position and having worked for a large firm and now a smaller firm am wishing to resume independent contracting (I was an independent for a while). Can you advice the best way of going back into contracting - any particular agencies/firms to approach etc??Really grateful for your and anyone else's insight and happy to talk offline.Thanks

Frankly, I find travelling time – on the whole - evens out pretty much the same wherever I’m working. Local work involves about an hour’s worth of travel at rush hour at each end of the day – 10 hours per week. A trip down the motorway perhaps 3~4 hours at each end of the week, but a few minutes drive to and from client from suitably-located hotel during the week. Substitute the motorway trip with a flight or two to the continent, and there’s not much difference. Having said that, my current situation – travel to Oz every eight weeks (26½ hours door-to-door X 2) plus weekly fly-in-fly-out to the job (7 hours total) is the worst I’ve experienced, panning out at an average 14½ hours per week. One also has to consider the value of the opportunity to experience other places (not the travel!) against the value of home life. Of course, as a consultant, isn’t a client supposed to think that the further you’ve come, the cleverer you are!!!