bananagrrrl,
Alone and unstructured time is a trigger for a lot of people. I was at an AA meeting last Sunday where this topic came up. A lot of guys in my group have had trouble on business trips, particularly when they travel alone and are alone in a hotel room at night. I think part of the problem is thinking "I can drink and get away with it and no one will ever know." I know I've had those thoughts when I was away on business. One guy in my group was in international sales and spent a lot of time in Rio De Janeiro which is a couples paradise. He was always alone in a hotel room at night and this really triggered him to get into vodka. Anyway, I think you should have a plan and structure your nights around a lot of activities so that you don't have idle time, AA meetings sound like a good part of that.