The topic is Moms on business travel.
I am here to confess that I am (guiltily) quite happy to be a Mom on business travel.
It is so nice to have a chance to worry only about me and what I want to do, not sort out the clamoring clatter of a bunch of kid’s voices and what they want to do. Travel with hubby, of course, is another much more pleasant matter, but we hardly ever get to take a trip anywhere together (kidless) anymore.
Not that hope for a return to those carefree days doesn’t spring ever-eternal.
This past weekend I was up in Fort Worth, covering my first NASCAR race for Motorsport.com instead of my normal NHRA drag racing work for Fast Machines. Even though I wasn’t in a hotel — I was staying with an old high school friend — it was great to be alone to relax and enjoy her company.
We had one dinner in a restaurant and I didn’t have to correct anyone’s table manners or take anyone to the bathroom. I took a nice long shower at one point, and not a single small voice banged on the door to use the toilet.
Unfortunately, business travel usually doesn’t involve much tourist action (I’m working, you know!) so I didn’t check out Fort Worth landmarks like the Stockyards or see fine American art at the Amon Carter Museum. I was in the non-glamorous Dallas Morning News pressroom at Texas Motor Speedway, instead.
But it was semi-divine to just be with myself, driving a car sans McDonalds wrappers.
Evidently I’m not alone in this guilty pleasure; a recent New York Times article quotes one business Mom who confesses,
“I can go home and deal with two screaming 6-year-old twins and a grumpy preteen,” she said. “Or I can go to the Four Seasons in Mexico City and drink Cognac in the bathtub.”
Yeah, I could deal with that bathtub, too.
So if you’re thinking that sometimes family travel would be a lot better without the “family” part of it, don’t feel too badly. You aren’t alone out there as a guilty Mom road warrior.
There are a lot of us pining for that nice, quiet hotel room where we hold the remote and SpongeBob is nowhere to be found.
{ 1 comment }
Hello, I wouldn’t feel to guilty if I were you, I think everyone would choose the bathtub and the cognac over screaming kids. I also noticed that you do a lot of business traveling. I thought you might be interested in checking out ooVoo. It is a free video conferencing website and it would allow you to actually see your kids while your on the road. It works for up to six people at once. The other neet thing about it is that you can send prerecorded video messages to each other. Its not like being at home with them but it is much more personal than a phone call.
Hope this brings your family one step closer while your at work!
Best,
Chris Turner
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