It’s summer, the time of high temperatures, long days, and family vacations. The Home Warrior and I are going to South Texas to visit my grandmother for the upcoming long weekend, and then in three weeks we leave for Puerto Rico for a week (yay!!!!!!!!!). But in between those times, I have my first business trip to Chicago. As you may remember, my sisters both live in Chicago, so this is pretty darn exciting for me. (Also kind of surprising that it took five years to get me to Chicago for work, when I’ve gone to a lot of major cities. But whatever. I’ll take it.) Trying to figure out how I’m going to balance quality time with my sisters and all the meetings and work I have to do is requiring a lot of thought and planning. It makes me wonder about the people who bring family along with them on work trips–how does it work? Do you feel distracted while working? Do you do the same quality of work you would do without someone along? Or better or worse quality? I’m curious, so let’s do a poll! Thanks for participating.
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i had to be in chicago for a week, so i was planning to do just a half day on that friday and extend my trip through the weekend so my husband could come up Thursday night. well, things got crazy at work, so i ended up working almost all friday. thankfully, my husband was able to keep himself busy by walking around that day. the weekend got rained out on us, AND our return flight sunday got canceled. it was such a mess!
in the future, i will probably not try to combine work and family time because it’s too unpredictable what will happen at work.
This is really interesting to me! I would never have thought to bring someone with me on a work trip, unless it was for some kind of fun/team building meeting where significant others were invited. When I travel, I am usually in all-day meetings and end up working 12 hour days. I am always meeting with colleagues and clients, and it would be really strange if someone brought a companion. I do sometimes meet up with friends/family in the city that I am traveling to (college friend in NYC, family in NC, etc.), but even that is often hard to find time for! Very interesting poll.
I never bring family on my trips but my trips are not companion friendly unless we’re working together. I do try to stay with family if I am in a place where they are for work. It saves money and it’s fun to see them. They understand if I’m working at night or if I have a dinner meeting.
I’ll sometimes stay with family, and if I have a trip to a desirable destination planned I’ll occasionally delay my flight home and fly my wife out for a quick weekend vacation.
On the days when I’m working, it normally doesn’t make much sense to bring anyone with. No time. Extend a trip into a weekend getaway, yes. Bring someone else along for a weeklong trip, no.
I travel internationally a lot and have the flexibility to go earlier or leave later, so there’s always some extra time. And if my husband has enough vacation, he’ll come with me. It takes a lot more planning (and a hefty dose of FF miles), but it’s doable.