Business Travel with Family
Business class tickets, luxurious hotel rooms and dinners which even an epicurean would love… sounds glamorous, eh? What a lot of people forget is that business travel can also be a pain. There are long hours, airport hassle, impersonal hotel rooms and the loneliness of being away from your family.
Thank God, what used to be once-a-month became once in a blue moon, when I became a mother.
Manipulating projects in order to avoid visits (and instead be visited) is getting trickier. The few times when escape from a business trip wasn't possible, special arrangements were made. I have been known to plan an inexpensive, mini-vacation around these unavoidable trips. I do not care if it may seem inappropriate to some. As long as work is done, the bosses agree and the company is not milked for personal expenses, it shouldn't matter what everyone else thinks, right?
IMHO, turning some of your business travel into mini-vacations is a perfect answer for balancing the demands of work with the necessities of family.
You can also read About.com's take on Combining Business and Family Travel. A somewhat similar solution.
Little cars that make annoying sounds, loud shrieks from an excited toddler after a long meeting, MonstersInc. daily reruns and soiled diapers adorn what would have otherwise been my luxurious but lonely hotel room. I couldn't think of a better business travel alternative.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:27 am
Tickets for the entire family for the price of two? Sounds great, I also don’t seem to find the time for a vacation myself so I guess taking them with me would provide a good solution for some quality time
January 19th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Hi Melissa,
I noticed you are a business traveler and also juggling the responsibilities of a family. I thought you might be interested in http://www.ooVoo.com, a free video conferencing website that allows up to six people to interact at once. You might like the ability to send and receive video messages for free also. It is really a great way to feel more connected when you miss someone. Oh, its available for Mac too and it uses low bandwidth so it should work for anyone with a computer and web cam. So for those times when you can’t mix the business and family travel perhaps ooVoo can keep you connected.
Best,
Chris