Every year Ballin spent at least six months, and often more, away from Hamburg, and during such absences the work he had to accomplish was not less, but rather more than that which he did when in Hamburg. Conferences followed upon each other in quick succession at all times of the day, and the time that was left was filled up by visits. Often the amount of work was so great that he had to get through a whole series of difficult problems in a single day. The number of visits he had arranged was always considerably augmented by numerous others not allowed for in his arrangements for the day; because wherever he went the news of his arrival spread immediately. He could never even think of travelling incognito. It is literally true that he was known to every hotel porter all over the world. He was in the habit of extending his hospitality twice a day to a larger or smaller number of business friends when he was travelling. At first his love of congenial society had prompted him to do this, but in after years he continued it because he wanted to secure some benefit for his company even in his hours of relaxation. Still, he was often quite glad when, late at night, he had come to the close of his day's work, and when he could let the happenings of the day pass before his mind's eye in the quiet solitude of his room, or, as he liked to express it, "to draw the balance of the day's account."
Even before 1900 the never-tiring energy of his mind and the excessive strain on his nervous system brought about a practically permanent insomnia which never left him either in Hamburg or on his travels. Only when he was on the sea, or was staying at his country house, did he obtain any relief; and at such times he could dispense with the drugs to the use of which he had become a victim more and more regularly and extensively as time went on. The fact that this habit did not entirely ruin his nervous system proves that he was possessed of an iron constitution, which only gave way under the huge strain caused by the war. When he saw that his life's work had been broken to fragments, and when he felt that he had not enough strength left for a second attempt of such magnitude, even his immense nerve force collapsed under the blow.