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Five Things I Learned About Business Travel

2014 July 22
by WWGD

Miamipool

I am back at my desk after four (hot!) days in Miami and here are a few things I learned from my time on the other coast:

1. The older I get, the harder it is to leave my kids. I love having a career and I love to travel, but it’s getting harder and harder to say goodbye to them and to miss out on their lives, even just for a few days, so clearly I need to find a career (and a paycheck!) where they can come with me all the time. On my to-do list.

2. The more you miss your kids, the less you should check in with them. Every call made it that much tougher to be thousands of miles away so I think, for me, it’s easier to rely on updates from my husband and mom rather than speaking with them directly all the time.

3. Even though you miss your kids, sleeping in with a black-out shade on the windows and no one to wake you up at the crack of dawn asking for their cereal is really nice. It’s also really nice to enjoy nice hotels, restaurants and conversation with interesting, inspiring adults. And it’s really nice to read an entire book on a plane with no interruptions. So you need to enjoy those moments, guilt-free.

4. My kids are better behaved at home when there is only one of us parents to contend with. They were angels for my husband the entire time and he dealt with them beautifully. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

5. When you’re a mom, you’re a mom. Even when you’re off-duty. We were having a meeting in the hotel restaurant the other morning and a darling little girl walked by holding her younger sister’s hand and crying. No one was around and I could clearly tell they had lost their mom somewhere, given the look of pure fear in her eyes. I immediately put my meeting on pause and found someone from the hotel to help them because I couldn’t bear the thought of that little girl (nevermind her mom) being scared for one more second. Once they were happily reunited, our business meeting resumed as normal. And it was a nice reminder that even a working, traveling, busy mother…is a mother first and foremost.

*image above of The National Hotel pool in Miami, via me

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