Better Business Travel While the Family Stays Home

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 25

This guest post was written by Erin Kane (pictured here), who is a work-life balance contributor for BusinessBalance.com

As any parent who travels regularly for business knows, we’re all just one canceled flight (or sudden high fever) away from complete mayhem back at home. Juggling work and family takes on a whole new dimension when one parent travels (never mind when both do!).

Over the years, I’ve had to travel to visit clients, attend professional development conferences, set up booths at trade shows and oversee special events. When I was in my twenties, this was deemed a valuable perk of the job. Now that I’m older—and have young children at home—it’s no longer as simple as packing a bag and heading to the airport.

While I trust that my husband is perfectly capable of feeding the kids (frozen pizza) and getting them to day care (it’s pick-up I worry about), I just feel better about my business trips when I’ve set everything in its proper place at home before I’m thousands of miles away.

For me, it all starts with an organized and well-stocked kitchen. With the economy being what it is—and our household budgets feeling the squeeze—it’s even more important to plan ahead, because making mealtimes easy also cuts down on the takeout bill. Try to buy only what the family will eat, like plenty of pre-assembled or frozen meals from the grocery store instead of food that might spoil from neglect. To facilitate an easy kitchen clean up, I stock up on inexpensive paper plates and plastic utensils from the dollar store.

Once the kitchen is stocked, it’s time to get organized. For me, this means:

* Preparing a daily schedule to share with a caregiver, babysitter and/or spouse. Be sure to include important times for the bus, day care pick-up and emergency contact numbers

* Organizing diaper bags, backpacks and signing permission slips and school paperwork in advance

* Washing the kids’ clothes to ensure the all-important T-ball shirt is clean come game time

* Swapping carpool schedules and confirming with other parents via e-mail

* Using Google calendar (or another online calendar) to lock in travel dates, log the kids’ extracurricular activities and share with others who need to be “in the know”

Once I have arrived at my destination, I use technology to connect with my kids back home. Skype and Google video chat allow me to see my kids and talk to them in real time (and it’s free!) So, even though I have complete confidence in my husband, it is so nice to see that the kids left the house that morning somewhat presentable to the public and that they have actually combed their hair.

So what do you do to prepare for business travel? How do you keep things running smoothly back home?

Erin Martin Kane is a professional freelance publicist who makes a living promoting media projects out of her home office. She specializes in public television programs and Web sites. When she’s not working, blogging or podcasting she’s chasing around her two little boys in a suburb of Boston. Erin blogs for the work/life section of BusinessBalance.com, a web site designed by Embassy Suites Hotels specifically with an eye for how to help business travelers on the road. She also produces the weekly podcast “Manic Mommies,” which she co-hosts with her neighbor, Kristin Brandt. It was through podcasting that Erin developed a genuine interest in technology, and today she’s constantly on the hunt for products and platforms that simplify her work and help her manage her household.

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