Traveling Parent

Sticky infants?

2008-04-16T23:11:00.003-04:00

Nothing stops the road warrior, right?

We know how to maneuver around all the barriers and get to where we're going when everybody is stopped in their tracks. Even having young kids at home (and all that entails) can't keep us off the road.

Well it turns out that maybe there's one thing can make mighty warrior stick around: A new born. Our recent poll indicated that over 80% of us stopped traveling for a full 3 months after the birth of a child. For everybody else, travel paused for a month.

I don't think I've gone 3 months without traveling someplace even right after the kids were born. (I'm in that group that waited a month...or at least I think I am!)

Turns out all that spitting up and messy mess is sticky in more ways than one.

Traveling Parents give less than two weeks notice

2008-03-22T11:54:00.004-04:00

Despite the huge increases in the cost of air travel and opportunity to manage those costs by booking two weeks in advance, only 1 reader taking our poll was able to give their family more than two weeks notice about an upcoming business trip. Most readers could give 1-2 weeks notice with 40% giving less than 1 week.

I think this is pretty significant given the impact "sudden" changes in routines can have on younger kids. Not only that, but short notice adds stress to the spouse staying home because in impacts their ability to plan around your travel schedule. Things become more reactive than proactive. That could mean car pools, play dates, and other appointments fall apart, which amplifies that fact that your travel is interrupting routines.

All that carries a risk of creating a situation where nobody wins: stressed kids + stressed spouse = stressed business traveling parent!

What can be done about it? I suppose the general rules of talking the child and finding some way for them to become a part of the process (packing, checking weather, discussing their plans while you're gone, etc...) should help the kids cope. I'm not how that helps with spouse who is also left with interrupted routines.

Maybe with increases in airfares and cuts in the numbers of flights, all of us might be traveling a bit less. Or maybe we'll be forced to plan a bit further ahead in order to get the best fares.

Tips for the traveling parent

2008-03-04T21:05:00.002-05:00

These tips were developed by Dr. Sherryl Goodman of Emory University. Dr. Goodman was the expert I consulted with to write my books. Each tip provides succinct, practical, actionable advice for before, during and after your business trip. Even the most seasoned business traveling parent will find something useful.

I've shared some of these tips one at a time or another, but I haven't shared all of them in one place before. Until now. Feel free to share this link or the actual pdf (be patient: it's a little heavy at about 1mb) which is posted at the Google discussion group called Business Traveling Parents.

As I mentioned in an earlier post announcing the discussion group, I hope readers will use either tool -- this blog or the group -- to share their experiences.

Survey Results: Most travel 2-3 nights

2008-02-16T16:06:00.005-05:00

OK...it wasn't a scientific study, but the results of our recent poll showed that most of this blog's readers took busines trips that were 2 or 3 nights.

Oddly, that's not my experience. In my business travling experience, it's been either 1 night or 5+ nights. Unlike the survey participants, I don't recall taking many trips in the middle.

Another odd thing is that for my family, the short trips are more disruptive than the longer trips. I think I know why. With a longer trip, there is more planning and preparation, which means the kids are more aware of the fact that I'm leaving. The shorter trips get treated more casually and consequently, the kids are less aware. So when I finally announce I am not going to be home, it came across more abrupt to the kids. And that's not good for them.

Which creates an interesting topic for the next poll: How many days do you normally have between realizing you'll have to travel and actually leaving? Take the poll on the right and we'll compare notes.

Group Therapy for Business Traveling Parents

2008-02-11T00:10:00.000-05:00

I've just created a Google Discussion Group to help expand the discussion of issues facing families with a business traveling parent.

While I've hoped this blog would seed a community, the truth is it's me talking to you. And since I'm no more credible than the next person on being a parent or a business traveler, I've finally gotten around to taking this next step of creating a group. Importantly, this new group discussion has the potential to be far more valuable to the person staying home with the kids. (For starters, I've posted some new great tips from Dr. Sherryl Goodman of Emory University to help make the site helpful right out of the blocks.)

Take a spin to the link above and tell what you think. If you think I'm right (right that I've opened the discussion more wider and right that it's more helpful to the person minding the kids), please spread the word to spouses or other caregivers who mind the kids while you travel.

Let's all help the children of business travelers benefit from the great experience we gathered as a group...experience as parents and business travelers!

Traveling parents are mobile by definition

2008-01-26T14:06:00.000-05:00

Traveling parents are mobile in more ways than one: We are by definition on the move and we're also almost sure to be carrying a mobile phone.

Those two facts create another neat opportunity to stay connected to the kids while traveling. Did you know that many blogging sites (like Blogger) have tools that allow you to post to a blog from a mobile phone?

There's a good reason to blog from your phone instead of using it to call. We all make that promise to call home, but sometimes things come up that make that promise impossible to keep. That causes a big problem at home because it can add to the anxiety of disrupted routines and rituals. In a way, not calling is better than saying you will and then being unable.

So if you're not confident about being abe to connect via phone call, use your smart phone to connect via blog while you're waiting to take off, sitting in the back of a cab, or waiting for a meal. It's easy, fun and it may help the kids.

By the way, this post was created, sent, and posted from my phone, so please excuse any typos :-).

Amazon wishes they thought of this: Get two books

2008-01-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

While talking to my friend David Vanderpoel about staying connected with the kids while traveling, David shared a great idea.

When he travels, he sometimes goes to the local library and checks out two copies of the same book: one to travel with and one to stay home with his family. I thought that was a great idea. (David has a lot of great ideas.)

As I learned while writting the books, for kids 4-8 years old "rituals and routines" are really important in establishing a sense of security. Unfortunately, business travel disrupts both. But that's the beauty of his idea. Reading the story, seeing the same pages, even the both hearing the sound of turning pages helps keep the experince connected. All that helps preserve an important ritual and routine.

Amazon if you're reading, think about a special offer for business traveling parents.

Wrap that bag

2007-12-13T10:35:00.002-05:00

At OR Tambo (Johannesburg's airport), one in 5 bags will be opened AFTER you check them.

I don't have an offical source for that statistic, but a quick look around the airport confirms that travelers take the risk seriously.

I followed the advice I was given and wrapped my luggage in plastic (some call it "shrink wrapped", but it's really just a large sheet of plastic wrap like Saran). It took a only a few minutes and it cost R25 (less than $5.00).

If you don't wrap, at least remove valuables (including any gifts for the kids!) and carry them on board. If you do wrap, plan ahead because once the suitcase is wrapped up, it's going to be impossible to get anything in or out without starting the process again.

Gift ideas for business traveling parents to Johannesburg

2007-12-03T04:58:00.001-05:00

Since I don't have a "Sometimes I Work in Johannesburg" book, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the things I brought home for the kids.

Everything in the list below was bought at the Rosebank African Craft Market.

Beaded headbands (Rosebank lots of brightly colored, hand made beaded crafts)
Tribal masks (small, hand carved)
Finger Piano (traditional African instrument)
Leather book marks of the "Big 5" (Lion, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Leopard)
Cotton dress (this actual was made in Thailand, but it was nice!)

All these items are small and easy to pack and carry (key criteria for business traveling parents). They are also unique to the country and help to tell a story about the culture of the country. I'm not saying that you couldn't find these things someplace else, but more of the crafts in the Rosebank market were hand made and seemed "genuine".

If you've visited Jo'burg and have other ideas, please leave a comment. I'm sure other traveling parents will find it useful!

What was wrong with the drive to the office?

2007-12-03T04:58:00.000-05:00

Getting to work when you're traveling is usually a simple thing. Today, however, I found myself driving on the "wrong" side of the car, the "wrong" side of the road, and on the wrong roads to the office.

SA drives like the Brits: steering wheel on the right, on-coming traffic to your right. That was the first (and second) challenge. After that was the small issue of directions. Jo'burg is NOT a place you want to wander around. We had a map, but....

Eventually, we got to the office (only 5 mins behind schedule!) and lived to blog about it.

Why not take a taxi? Like many African cities, Johannesburg has a chaotic informal public transport system in the form of minibus "taxis". These are not taxis in the typical Western sense of the term – they won't give you a lift to your doorstep. Rather, they are small-scale bus services, often unmarked, operating with neither timetables nor formal stops. You can read more here.

There are taxis your hotel can call (I'm at the InterContinental Sandton Towers) that are more familiar to most travelers. But unlike many things in Jo'Burg, these taxis are relatively expensive. If you're here for a long time, you'll run up a big tab, which makes renting cheaper, and easier once you get the hang of it. (Tomorrow will be better!)

I guess the upside of today's commute is that if the kids ask "how do you get to work in Johannesburg?", the answer will be more adventurous than they expected.

Sometimes I work in Johannesburg

2007-11-22T10:21:00.001-05:00

I am leaving for "Jo'burg" Saturday.

This is a trip of record duration: 2 weeks. This is also a first-ever trip to South Africa, or the African continent for that matter!

This is also a 2 week period at a busy time of year. There are only 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'll be gone for 2 of them. Holiday parties. Buying gifts. Getting a tree...all the things that are so much easier when both parents are home will be made tougher because one parent (that's me) is traveling.

I'm hoping readers of TravelingParent.com who travel for extended periods can share some tips!

Thanksgiving Eve

2007-11-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

Forget Christmas Eve. For business travelers, today, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (or "Thanksgiving Eve") is the most hectic day of the year.

All projections are for record travel. According to a story on Yahoo!, a record 38.7 million U.S. residents are expected to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday.

Thankfully, I'm at home and staying local. So while I travel a lot during the year, this isn't one of the days I'm battling to get to/from a meeting.

If you're a business traveling parent this Thanksgiving Eve, share your story here.

Is this a hard sell?

2007-10-16T12:29:00.000-04:00

As a business traveling parent, this is a big conflict.

If you travel to places that you'd also visit for fun, the tempatation to add a few days is strong. I've only done it once when I added a day to a trip I took to Beijing. Otherwise, I tend not to add more time away from home.

Case in point: The recent trip to Barcelona. I'd never been, but didn't add a day to see any of the sights. A mistake perhaps, but I just couldn't rationalize it.

What's the view of other business traveling parents? How often do you add an extra day or two to explore the cities you visit?

Saturday business travel?

2007-10-06T18:58:00.001-04:00

Except for an occasional Sunday flight to get grounded in time for Monday meetings, I don't travel on weekends too much. Tonight though, I'm flying on a Saturday night to Barcelona.

I don't know what it is, but the airport has a different vibe (maybe it's the smaller number of people?). Wouldn't make it a date night destination, but it's actually kinda clubby here in the Delta Crown Room.

As if that wasn't weird enough, (weird in addition to Saturday travel and the nice vibe at the Crown Room), I'm flying international out of the T Concourse at Hartsfield . This may be a strange trip in deed.

I love to know how many fellow business traveling parents find themselves away from family at the airport on a Saturday night.

Another trip another tooth

2007-09-29T14:01:00.001-04:00

It happened again.

A tooth that was not so loose when I left, became a lost tooth while I was gone. This is the second time! Kid #2 lost a tooth while I was away, but happily the digital picture made it to the Blackberry half way around the world. This time, I was a bit closer to home, but it was the same deal.

I need to take a closer look at whether or not the tooth fairy has gone digital.

Any readers with ideas about what they've done when the tooth fairy visited while traveling for business?

We're back

2007-08-19T19:32:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile. I could blame it on business travel, but that wouldn't quite right, although I've been traveling A LOT.

It's really been an issue with work/life/work balance. Anybody with kids who works AND is doing the "start up" thing outside of work knows which goals and "to dos" fall to the bottom. (Don't worry family: I'm not quitting the day job!)

But I'm back and committed. Thanks to everybody who kept asking about this and encouraged me to pick it back up again.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it.

2006-01-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

A friend and former collegue of mine shared this with me this morning. In recounting his experiences as a kid who had a traveling parent, John explained how his dad made him feel like a part of the trip. Says John:

"Our deal was that he would bring me back a newspaper from each city he went to, and we'd each skim through the paper and chat about any interesting story about that part of the country. I think it worked for both of us, because it kind of included me in the trip."

Thanks for the tip. I'll be sending some books as a "thank you" on behalf of traveling parents everywhere.

Super slick web-based IM

2005-12-04T00:50:00.000-05:00

This post comes from Narita Airport in Tokyo.

What does that have to do with an IM client? Well, I travel with two computers: one for work and one for personal use. The work machine has restrictions about downloading and installing software like IM clients. So my personal machine has all the IM buddy lists. Switching between the machines is a pain.

Enter Meebo. Even though it's only in "alpha" release, it is wicked slick. Hit the home page, enter your IDs/Passwords for any of the major IM services (Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, Jabber/gtalk), hit enter and there you are...live and loaded with all your buddy lists.

If they can get my iSight camera to work (and for all I know, maybe it does...I need to check), I might be able to leave my beloved Apple safe at home.

Thanks to Jun Ying for the head's up.

Traveling Parents in New York get tips from WNBC-TV

2005-10-13T20:21:00.000-04:00

Flagship NBC station WNBC-TV gave traveling parents in New York some great tips today. Education and Family reporter Carol Anne Riddle delivers the goods. In addition to our books, she references another book for adults called The Business Traveling Parent.

A big "thank you" to Marisa Thalberg because her great newsletter found its way to Carol Anne and her wonderful producer, Michelle.

Traveling on a birthday

2005-10-11T07:33:00.000-04:00

Publish a book about business travel and what happens? Ironically for me, I ended up on the longest at-home spell in over a decade. Worse, when the spell was broken, it happened on an important family birthday: my wife's.

I had one idea to fill the gap (birthday dinner delivered home by my friends at Gourmet Station), but I'd be intersted in other ideas.

Any business traveling parents ever find themselves in a simiar situation? Post a comment and let us know.

Destination: Istanbul!

2005-04-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

Travel has been a bit slow, but it's kicked into gear with a trip to Istanbul. And, since there is no "Sometimes I Work in Istanbul" (yet), I'm going to rely on the Traveling Parent blog to help stay in touch with the kids back home. This trip, I helped set the stage by showing great map of the city and by sharing some the amazing history of this city.

I'm also bringing out the big guns: Apple's iSight camera. More on how/if that works next post.

NBC says our "Books Make Business Trips Fun"

2005-02-27T14:57:00.000-05:00

This past week, our books were featured on Atlanta's NBC affiliate, WXIA-TV "11 Alive". You can get a great look at the books there or on the Sometimes I Travel web site. Thanks to Donna Lowry, 11 Alive's Education reporter, for taking an interest in the books.

We're going off line at an airport near you.

2005-02-22T23:00:00.001-05:00

In just a couple of weeks, our books for business traveling parents will be available off line at selected Hudson Booksellers. Operating in terminals, shopping centers, and regional malls for over twenty years in the names of Book Corner and Hudson’s Book Corner, Hudson Booksellers will carry our books in addition to a selection of other popular books in a warm, inviting atmosphere.

So now, you can buy yourself and your kids a book on the way home. Safe travels and happy reading.

Thanks to Hudson Booksellers.

Tips for Business Traveling Parent: Give your child basic information about your trip

2005-02-21T13:45:00.000-05:00

Talk about when you will be leaving for your business trip and when you will return (keeping a calendar for the child to mark off the days might be helpful).

Also, talk about your return: the time of day it will be and something concrete that you and your child will be able to do together when you get back. Explain where will you be, how will you be traveling and how will you be spending your time

Tips based on information from our advisor, Dr. Sherryl Goodman

Based on this tip, each book in our series has a "notes" area on the inside back cover so you and your child can create a "log" for your trip.

2005-02-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

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