I’ve been traveling a lot lately, with four cross-country trips in the space of just over two months. Now I know that might not seem like a lot for the most battle weary road warriors out there, but for me, it was monumental.

Two of the first three trips had red eye return flights. While I’m not sure exactly what prompted me to go for the red eyes in the first place (it may have been the mistaken thought of “saving a day”), it had turned into a nasty habit that I had to shake.

Last week, I was out in Las Vegas, covering the Alternative Fuels and Vehicles conference. Early on the day of my return, my wife kindly convinced me - over the phone - to nix the red eye and push my return flight back to a more reasonable time the next day. It was one of the wisest travel decisions I’ve made in ages and I have my wife to thank.

Although I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually fall asleep on an airplane (under the right circumstances), that sleep is never refreshing. Rather then saving time by flying the red eye flights, I was losing time, because it wiped me out for 24 hours or more.

Life’s too short to walk around like a zombie. An extra night in a great hotel wins, hands down.