Search Results for: blog living with frequent business travel

Gearing Up for a Business Trip

I go into serious organizational mode in the final week and days before a business trip. While the weeks leading up to the trip are likely spent on work-related details and putting together a conference or project—those final days and hours are spent on all sorts of details like stocking and organizing the cupboards, cleaning out my e-mail in and out boxes, and making sure all the laundry is done. There is just something about the pending trip that pushes me to try to get everything in the best possible order I can muster. I have a couple theories as … Continue reading →

Finding the Right Accommodations for Business Travel

With the increasing jobs and businesses on the go, more and more hotels and motels are catering to business travelers. If you have not been much of a traveler in your “traditional” job world and are now finding that your home business is requiring you to get out on the road (or in the air ), negotiating the confusing realities of finding the right accommodations for business travels can add a new challenge to doing business… With the internet and the ease of making one’s own travel arrangements, it is becoming less likely that a person will go through a … Continue reading →

What About Kids on Business Trips and at Meetings?

My experiences as a home business owner and even as a more “traditional” worker are skewed by the fact that I’ve been a single parent. Out-of-town business trips, conferences, and even meeting take additional care and planning. But, many home business folk often find themselves trying to decide if it is okay to take kids along on business trips and meetings? Once upon a time, things were really cut and dried and it was crystal clear that there was a separation between work and home. That’s not necessarily the case anymore and both necessity and changing attitudes have affected the … Continue reading →

How to Have Fun When One Parent is Traveling

I’m lucky that my husband doesn’t have to travel much on business. We’ve both been gone a lot this month, though. My oldest son and I were gone ten days on a trip to England and France with his eighth grade class. A couple of week later has my husband and the same boy off on a three day camping trip. It’s hard on all of us when we aren’t all home. It’s hard on the parent left at home, having to cover everything. It’s hard on the kids, too. The routines are different, and we all miss whoever is … Continue reading →

Packing Tips for the Business Traveler

For years, I worked for Sprint, traveling to seven different states for my job. Personally, I loved it but it required good planning to make it work. Typically, I would be home for two weeks and then gone for anywhere from one day to a week. At first, I packed just about everything including the kitchen sink but soon after having to lug everything through the airport, I learned to pack more efficiently. By packing the right things, you can save yourself a huge headache. First, you need to know your exact plan for the trip. For instance, I would … Continue reading →

The ABC’s of Frugal Living: 26 Tips to Live a More Frugal Life

The ABC’s of Frugal Living – 26 Tips to Live a More Frugal Life The frugal living blog at families.com is chock full of great information to help you live a more frugal lifestyle. We all strive to save money and the bloggers in this category are here to help. A: Amazing Dates Have a date night for less! New Cheap Date Ideas A Cheap And Fun Date Idea It’s Date Night Date Night On a Budget B: Budgeting Make a plan and stick to it. Be sure you watch where your money goes each month and try to do … Continue reading →

Whatever Happened to “Quality Time”?

In my early years of parenthood (nearly twenty years ago now) the big buzz word was “quality time”—instead of worrying about spending every waking minute with our children, we parents were encouraged to think about the quality of the time we spent with our kids. Quality was supposed to trump quantity. But, it seems that discussion has fallen out of favor, or at least fallen out of the public eye… You probably won’t be surprised to discover that I actually think that both quality and quantity are important. Now that I have lived through many years of parenting trenches, I … Continue reading →

I’ve Never Been Away From My Kids For Ten Days!

I am getting ready to take an international business trip that will have me away from home for a full ten days. I know that it may be hard to believe, but in the nearly 18 years I’ve been a parent, I have never been away from all my kids for that many days! Sure, they’ve gone off to summer camp or to stay with their dad for a week at a time, but we generally see and talk to each other every couple days even when they are off on other adventures. As for me, I’ve only gone away … Continue reading →

Working From a Hotel

If you do any sort of traveling for your home business, you may find yourself having to work from a “home away from home”—whether it is a hotel or motel—keeping on task and motivated in a hotel room might be a bit of a challenge. Some home business owners might find working from a hotel room a great reprieve. If you normally work from a bustling and busy household with all sorts of other obligations—you might find the peace and quiet of a hotel to be quite inspirational. OR—you might find it hard to concentrate outside of your element. There … Continue reading →

Hot Hotel Trends

When I hear the term economy hotel I instantly think of the types of properties that advertise the price of a room in neon lights on a large sign posted out front. When I hear the term upscale hotel I instantly think of the luxury properties that I could only afford to stay at if I won the lottery. And, when I hear the term “upscale limited-service hotels,” I really don’t know what to think. Well, not anymore. I recently got a crash course in what these types of properties offer travelers. Typically, their interiors look similar to the floor … Continue reading →