Qoute;
Now my problem - From tonight until next saturday I am away on business I will be staying in hotels. So noone will know... I also have always had a binging eating problem - so cue expense account, no supervision, boredom, privacy etc - Im frightened as these are all big triggers for me.

The problem is that "you will know", and that will screw your whole thinking process up.
You can take some good recovery books.. Take your laptop, with some good movies and chill. Go for a walk and enjoy teh scenery and some fresh air.. go find some AA meetings and meet some different people.. Make your telephone work and call some people in recovery. Go to a nice restaurant, chill, gorge and maybe get to rap with somebody..
If a stanger ever ask me about buying me a drink I say; I have a weird-o reaction and I usually break out in the funk.
Be true to yourself.

You are going to be tempted when you're off to yourself like that.I used to have to be out of town on business,and that was when I had some of my wildest sprees.I would think I'm in a strange town,nobody knows me,or what I'm doing,so here goes.I have a feeling this will be a big test for you.Remember-if you don't take the first drink you damn sure can't get drunk.You will be the first to know if you slip.To thine own self be true.Listen to GNR's advice.Don't just go without a plan.If you don't plan to stay sober,you're planning a drunk.

Dipso

As you may remember I am ahead of you on the home detox front c80 days but then again I have been off work so that aspect is easier than you have it

Take your laptop and get on here or other sites, go to the movies whatever floats your boat

I saw my mum for the first tiem since November this week - havent told her - she knows the depression is back but nothing about the alcohol - for me my friends need to know but my mum doesnt- it would only worry her

Good luck

In another posting you say "I have 19 clean days since this morning, i have lost 9lbs in weight, my skin looks great, I feel awake for the first time ever - I can actually FEEL for the first time, instead of just being numb".

Please hold on to those thoughts, use them to reinforce your resolution and remind you that you are on the right path. It is what kept me going and I am one year without alcohol - I can remember what it felt like being numb (to use your very apt description) and I prefer to be "not numb".

I travel a lot and spend many days in hotels - it is hard, but read what others have written, it's all good advice. Good luck!

YOU will KNOW and that's the ONLY person that matters!!!!!
I kept thinking when I left my X, no one will know, no one calls or comes over, who cares?
ME, MYSELF and I CARES and would KNOW!
All or nothing?
Choose the nothing.

Congrats on day 19. :)

Do NOT go in without a plan of action. Laptop for support, phone list, hit the gym or the pool to remind yourself that you're strong and healthy. You won't feel like overeating or drinking if you know you're going to workout. Also the endorphins help a lot with cravings. Get to know someone at a nice little coffee shop or eatery. Check to see if there's a yoga studio around. Meetings. Whatever you need to feel OK and stay sober.

Dipso:

Hmmm....that's a tricky one. Everyone's given you some great advice, and Sobernfree is right -- this will be a big test for you --- but think how great and how much stronger you'll feel if you PASS the test!! You'll always be able to say to yourself, "Well this (whatever "this" is) isn't NEARLY as hard as the time I had to go away on business for a week when I was only 3 weeks into recovery, and I didn't drink then..."
I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

Please allow me to share with you my story of last Christmas Eve (my first w/o drinking since I was a kid)[trigger #1]:

I was at work. People were giving each other gifts. One of my coworkers (who had no idea I had quit drinking)asked me to meet her out in the parking lot at her car. When I did, she tried to gift me w/ a small bottle of her husband's homemade special Xmas brew, which she described as "very strong and very good." (This was a gift from the heart. Remember, she didn't know I quit.) She opened the bottle and STUCK IT UNDER MY NOSE and said, "Doesn't that smell good?" [trigger #2]

It took every ounce of strength I possessed to thank her, "very sweet of you, appreciate it, blah, blah, blah..." and then to say, "but I don't drink anymore." She looked astonished. "Ever?!" she asked. "No," I said. "I can't." And I left it at that.

When I left work, I met my significant other. I was already in a MOOD from the near brush with the hard liquor and from the fact that it was Christmas Eve, so I picked a fight with him (how charmingly Alcoholic of me!!) I stormed out of the restaurant, furious.[Cue: trigger #3 -- strong emotion]. I sat in my car and I wept into my steering wheel. And the thought in my head was "I want a f***ing DRINK!!!"

Then I told myself, "No. You don't. You're just upset. Go home, do something to distract yourself, and everything will be fine."

And it was.

I don't know, Dipso -- for me, my issue w/ drinking is all entirely in my head. The day I quit, I told myself there was no going back. No matter what happened, drinking alcohol was not going to be an option. And I meant it.

I was a HUGE DRUNK. If I can do it, ANYone can -- all you have to do is WANT to do it. And you wouldn't be on this site asking for advice if you didn't want to stay sober. Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing every day. We're all here for you!!

a plan of action is imperitive. keep in mind "to thine ownself be true" so even though no one else will know you will. there are aa meetings in every city and even if you're not doing aa you may wish to sit insome meetings to further your resolve. if you don't have a car, someone will come pick you up. i did that for several years when i had sober lengths of time.

You just gotta remember how good you feel about not drinking anymore. Doesn't it feel great that you've been making it this far?! Imagine how GREAT you'd feel Years from now!

Sure, no one will know, but YOU will. Will you want to lie to people how long you've really been sober? Trust me, it sucks to have to lie about it.

I like GNROSES' advice - find someone else in recovery and talk to them while you are away.

dipso take your A.A.book read about dr bobs nightmare. my sponsor tells me the world is cruel and we have to learn to live in it. gnr made good sugestion. find a A.A.group.remember alcohol is cunning, baffling, and powerful. try not to wait till u are in ur head to find a way out.stay on top of ur game because alcohol is a subtle foe-good luck

Well here is my plan, I will rest, I will swim at least once a dayin my fanct hotel lol, i will invite my mum to come on tuesday. I will read a book I bought, I bought my food in advance so I can avoid the drink aisle, i will work hard on work projects

Theres a church nearby I will pray. I will stay here,

I honestly believe that if you want to stay sober you will do whatever it takes (at least I feel that way about my own sobriety).

I have one idea; Call ahead to the central office of AA and find out where a meeting is each night, get the directions and go to them.

Do you have internet access this week? If so, stay close to the DS board.

Go to AA meetings. Out-of-towners are ALWAYS treated like long-lost friends! :) You may get invitations to coffee or even dinner, a great way to spend some delightful sober hours (and may help with the temptation to binge on food?)

I like the numerous comments that YOU will know. That was a turning point in my sobriety. I had a couple relapses because "no one will know." I was several weeks into my (hopefully last) recovery when I got that temptation, and I really got it in my gut, that I would know, that GOD would know, that I did NOT want to lie to MYSELF any more. For the first time it wasn't about how it would look to anyone but me.

I haven't had a serious moment of temptation or desire to drink since that day. Maybe you're going through a similar moment -- and maybe you've had your last serious temptation to drink! I pray that it's so.

I think you'll be fine. :)

I was sent to Austin for a conference and HATED being stuck in the room. Out my window and across the freeway there just happened to a "gentlemans club". I got online and found the closest AA meeting to my hotel. I called, got directions and headed out. I immediatly got lost and finally found the place at just the right time. They were closing the meeting. Someone walked up and asked if I was the guy that had called umpteen times trying to find them. I told him I was. He told me a number of them were going out to eat and they would enjoy having me as company. That "meeting after the meeting" was one of the better times I have had in AA. Perfect strangers and a lot of laughs. Cool thing is I remember it today. If I had gone across the street to this day I would be trying to remember where my money went.

Thanks for all the support :)

Last night my first night away (I cancelled the saturday as i felt vunerable) Last night was a success.

Thought I have a new colleague here too, who wanted to go for a drink last night and again tonight and I think everynight.
I am on medication for a bad back so that was my excuse - though I went for a water last night, strangely I wasnt tempted. :)


Get this, today in the classes I teach we were discussing integrity and someone asked how honest they had to be in an exercise and I said there is a saying that goes "to thy own self be true"
I felt so happy.And I feel proud of myself.