You are constantly in a mess however you don't have to travel to another property to do the work.

I bought my primary residence a couple years ago now and am hoping to use investing to allow my wife and I to travel more and enjoy our time together instead of grinding away in unsatisfying jobs.

I think that IF i like the numbers a turnkey company offers me and IF they hit those numbers, I don't mind if they spend money on marketing and travel.

During Christmas, I have been traveling and the landlord promised me he would have cleaned the carpet while I was gone.

Many owners give instructions as to how they want to review offers, which often means you won't hear a response for 2-3 days in most circumstances, longer if the owner is travelling or overwhelmed with the process.

I'm wondering if it might be worth it to give up some of the cash flow, in order to free myself up for travel, etc?

Be prepared to travel there and get feel for it, and that costs money (at least it did last time I checked). 

In my personal case, I like to travel around and probably only spend an average of a few months a year in my own bed, but it's still my primary residence.If you're legitimately going to leave it vacant for a year, you could make the argument that it's your main home, but to cover yourself, you should lay down as many arguments as possible as to how this is your real home.

We use a Marriott card and then use the points for rooms/upgrades when we travel. 

This means you need to budget money & time for periodic travel into the market of interest.