OFFICE SELECTION
You have probably heard the consulting stereotype.
Airport Monday morning.
Client site all week.
Home Thursday night.
Repeat.
That picture can still exist. It is not a universal schedule.
How much you travel can depend on the client, project, industry, team norms, and location of the office you join.
So “How much does this firm travel?” may be the wrong question.
Two consultants at the same firm can live completely different weeks
One consultant works with a local client and commutes from home.
Another flies to another city each week.
A third works mostly remotely with occasional client visits.
Same logo.
Different life.
That is why the broad consulting reputation only gets you so far.
Traveling as a Consultant: What It’s Really Like is useful for understanding what travel can look like beyond the stereotype.
Your office quietly changes the travel equation
Imagine an office sitting in a large market with many nearby clients.
Now imagine a smaller office serving clients spread across a wide geography.
Those teams may experience travel differently even if they belong to the same firm.
Industry matters too.
A project tied to physical facilities may create different travel needs from a digital strategy engagement.
So can the client's own working style.
Travel follows the work.
Not the recruiting brochure.
The number of trips is only half the question...
Candidates often ask:
“How many days per week will I travel?”
Useful.
But incomplete.
Consider what the travel actually looks like.
| Travel pattern | Sounds like | What it can mean |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly client travel | Exciting variety | Repeated airports and hotels |
| Local client work | Less travel | Longer ground commutes |
| Occasional workshops | Light travel | Intense bursts around key meetings |
| Regional staffing | More opportunity | Less schedule predictability |
| Mostly remote work | Maximum flexibility | More screen time and fewer in-person moments |
The same “two days of travel” can feel completely different depending on distance, timing, and frequency.
Travel can be a perk... right until Tuesday night
At first, the idea can sound attractive.
New cities.
Hotels.
Flights.
Expenses covered.
Client dinners.
Then imagine doing laundry on Sunday because your bag needs to be packed again.
Imagine a 6 a.m. airport run after a late night.
Imagine making plans that depend on a project schedule you do not fully control.
The lifestyle is the real variable.
That does not make travel bad.
Some consultants genuinely enjoy it.
Some value the variety and face-to-face client time.
Others discover that the novelty disappears quickly.
Management Consulting Travel Lifestyle goes deeper into that trade-off.
A Master’s candidate should ask a more specific question
Do not ask a consultant:
“Does your firm travel a lot?”
Ask:
“What did travel look like on your last three projects?”
That question forces the answer into reality.
You can follow with:
“Were those clients local?”
“How often did you stay overnight?”
“Has the pattern changed since you joined?”
“Does it vary much across teams in this office?”
Now you are learning about the office you may actually join rather than consulting folklore.
There is one more reason this belongs in office selection
Travel affects what “location” means.
You may pay premium rent to live near an office and spend much of the week elsewhere.
Or you may choose a city expecting constant travel and end up working locally most of the time.
Neither is automatically good or bad.
But it changes how you evaluate the office.
Think about your tolerance for unpredictability.
Think about relationships, routines, hobbies, and how often you want to be home.
Then compare that with the real project patterns people describe.
Because your office address tells you where your desk is.
It does not necessarily tell you where your Monday morning will be.