The Minnesota Twins are currently in Detroit, having taken a late-night flight from Minneapolis. After four games against the Tigers, the Twins fly to Philadelphia for three games before returning home.

The man responsible for that travel is Mike Herman, Minnesota Twins, Senior Director, Team Travel. Earlier this morning, I talked to Mike for the newest Talking Travel interview.

A native of Minnesota, Mike talked about his path from St. Olaf to the Twins. A sports fan, Mike switched gears from pursuing a broadcasting career. After interning with the Twins, he has enjoyed more than two decades with the organization.

Mike explained the processes of chartering flights, reserving hotels and all that goes along with team travel. As complicated as that is on a regular basis, it gets even tougher when plans change due to a rain-out or a playoff run, although that is a welcome adjustment.

The Twins are in first place with about 50 games left in the regular season. While Mike is ready to make playoff travel plans, he doesn’t talk about it much, as is baseball superstition tradition. Actually, he stated he is already working on plans for Spring Training and the 2024 season. Still, if the Twins make the playoffs, Mike will have a little extra time, because they will host the first series.

In addition to learning all about baseball team travel, the interview serves another lesson. Mike proves a person can have a successful career in sports without being a pro athlete.

Talking Travel is a new interview series for Global Traveler. Subscribe to the GT YouTube channel to be notified of all future interviews and other travel-related videos.

— John Wroblewski, online writer