Traveling as a working mom while balancing three kiddos, a working partner, geriatric dog and our schedule jenga is not for the weak at heart. In a global role my travel is even more disruptive, but wanted to share a few insights on “how we do it” and some of the fun that also goes along with it!
- We both minimize nights away if at all possible by taking early morning or late night flights.
- We work really hard to not travel at the same time. In ten years I think this has only happened once. This requires communication and major schedule coordination.
- We have a great network of trusted family and friends who are happy to lend a hand. I continue to try to reframe my feelings of guilt at asking for help to gratitude.
All that being said, I do love some things about work travel, besides getting work done of course !
- Focused alone time. I get a lot of journaling and reading done when I’m not distracted by evening chores / chauffeuring. This crazy 6 day trip resulted in many journaling pages, a new linked in post, this blog, five books ready and inbox purged. let’s go!
- Ability to explore new countries and cultures for work travel in the past 2 years I’ve been able to explore Spain, Ireland, India, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.
- FOOD and experiences. I found a secret speakeasy in my hotel in Singapore that none of my colleagues knew about. I also like to sneak in a massage if I can especially when traveling on 24+ hour flights !
- Business class flights. I’m a bougie business traveler, no doubt. But I’m not stranger to low budget airlines and family Nina has different travel standards. That being said for non business travel I do love the perks of my Priority Pass. I’ve used it often traveling internationally when traveling domestically in other countries or when United lounges aren’t available. More on travel soon as my new found passion is… travel hacking!
