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Tag Archives: work

Business travel vs. Private travel

03 Feb
Business travel vs. Private travel

As you may know from my previous blogs, my OH is happy for me to swan off on adventures such as my previous trips to San Diego or my upcoming expedition to Nepal without issue.

One of the main reasons for this is that he spends so much time travelling for work, he prefers to spend his own time enjoying his home.

The upside of business travel

Ben’s business travel has involved flying to exotic destinations such as China, Japan, Thailand and Las Vegas, and has included many fabulous experiences arranged by his hosts.

Before the world began to worry so much about the struggling economy and potential bribery, he would come home and tell tales of extravagant exhibitions with celebrity hosts, all night entertainment, Michelin star restaurants, day trips on yachts, spa massages and general revelry.

While I always knew that this was accompanied by the tedium of endless meetings and tough business decision-making, I rarely heard about that side of it. Why would I? That would be the last thing anyone would wish to discuss.

The downside of business travel

Until you experience long haul business travel for yourself, it is really hard to appreciate just how exhausting it is. Travelling on someone else’s dime means you must ensure your trip delivers value for money. Especially in this day and age.

You are a slave to your hosts tight schedules. You are flung into a foreign culture. Your body and mind suffer from jet lag, climate changes, water changes and the weird exhaustion suffered when sitting on trains and aeroplanes for hours and hours doing nothing.

So, if you have a partner who spends weeks at a time away for work. Don’t get too jealous. It really can be tough.

Here are some tips to help make business travel easier: 30 tips for better business travel from the special Business Traveller Guide report by silicon.com

Why is private travel so different?

As soon as you step onto a plane for your own purposes, travel takes on a whole different meaning. Private travel is rejuvenating and fun. The adventure is your own. Your schedule is your own.

You do still suffer from that weird tiredness resulting from sitting in transport though… Why is it so tiring to sit still and do nothing for so long?

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2012 in Adventure, Family, Life, Lifestyle, Travel

 

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God bless the cleaner!

10 Dec
God bless the cleaner!

It doesn’t matter how hard I try not to – I hate housework! As a result, the minute I could, I hired one.

I have NEVER regretted this move and, although I went through a few cleaning companies in the first few years, I now have the most wonderful, reliable cleaner I could ask for. She works for herself and is therefore  to do a great job. I LOVE her, and in a list of things I wouldn’t want to give up she’d be high up there!

One of my favourite things is to come home from work, unlock the door, and smell that glorious ‘freshly cleaned home’ smell. I then spend the next fifteen minutes gliding around appreciating the spotless surfaces, pristine floors, and (best of all) sparklingly clean bathrooms! I can’t remember the last time I had to clean a toilet – and I have no intention of trying too hard either! I consider myself an unbelievably lucky woman!

It doesn’t have to cost a fortune

I can imagine that some of you reading this might think I must be rather well off to be able to afford a cleaner. However, its less about how much you earn and more about deciding your priorities and budgeting around them. For me, when it comes to expenditure beyond the absolute basics, paying for the cleaner is top of the list.

She only comes once a fortnight, but this is enough to carry out all those big jobs that you’d otherwise spend your weekends doing; those toilets, the floors and windows, for example! Initially, to help justify the cost I started taking a pack lunch to work every day. I don’t buy as many new clothes or shoes, or even books as I might otherwise – but I do have the time to read the ones I do have!

Daily duties not withstanding

Of course, I still have to keep up with the day-to-day cleaning. But, because I don’t have to worry about the big stuff, this doesn’t seem quite such a chore.

For anyone out there trying to balance work, kids and home life, I thoroughly recommend spending your first spare £30-£50 or so on a regular cleaner. You wont regret it!

 
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Posted by on December 10, 2011 in Lifestyle

 

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Learning to leave your kids

06 Dec
Learning to leave your kids

Whether it’s to go to work, fly abroad, or just go to the shops, learning to leave your kids behind is one of the hardest lessons a parent has to face.

I must stress that I have no professional qualifications in this area and am therefore in no position to provide advice. However, as a mother who has had to learn how to say goodbye to my children for many different reasons, I can share my experience with you.

Be prepared!

I believe good preparation to be key. It is essential to first ensure that you:

  • have reliable and trustworthy childcare in place
  • remain in contact at all times
  • agree what to do in case of emergency
  • try to get into a routine as quickly as possible in the case of recurring separations
  • make sure you can return on time

Stay calm and walk away!

Then, all you need to do is stay calm and walk away.

This is the hard part. Your child may throw a tantrum, use super-focused emotional blackmail (they know you so well afterall), try to bargain their way out of the situation or, worst of all perhaps; appear not to care at all! Whatever there response, you are guaranteed to struggle emotionally. But that is the key; the bulk of the separation anxiety is rooted within you. If you can take control of yourself, your child will rapidly reflect that control.

When I was learning how to leave my children for the first time I was lucky enough to find experienced child care workers. They would not tollerate any nonsense – from ME! Whatever behaviour my child was displaying they would assure me that within minutes of my departure he would be perfectly fine, distracted by his environment. The quicker I walked away, and the less fuss I made of the situation, the more rapidly this miracle would take place. It took fewer than three phone calls following three different departures to convince me that this was indeed what happened. If I walked away calmly, my child would accept the situation calmly. I learned this lesson quickly. My children were even quicker on the uptake – of course!

Now, all these years later, this foundation enables me to travel without my family, for extended periods of several weeks, without any concerns regarding separation anxiety.

Have you any similar experiences or tips for less emotional goodbyes you can share?

 
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Posted by on December 6, 2011 in Parenting

 

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Finding that perfect balance… and keeping it!

04 Dec
Finding that perfect balance… and keeping it!

Throughout the past 21 years of motherhood and marriage I have tried nearly every combination of work vs. full-time housewifery. Thanks to my husband’s consistent ability to bring in the bacon, I’ve experienced the luxury of being able to end reasonably well-paid work opportunities in order to be at home for my children during the more delicate times in their lives, or when childminders became pregnant – which happened three times during two years!

Luckily, I’ve never had a problem with the concept of temping and my ability to learn quickly and use computers with great ease has generally kept me employed when full-time motherhood became unnecessary, or the mortgage payments demanded it.

In my experience there are pros and cons to both remaining a full-time mother and maintaining a full-time job while someone else cares for your children during the discrepant hours between school and work schedules.

The perfect balance is to be able to work just the hours during which your kids are at school, and being able to leave in time so they don’t have to come home to an empty house. But how many employers can accommodate that? And that’s before you consider long holidays, half-terms, nativity plays and those dreaded teacher training days.

It took a degree, lowering my pay expectations and a great many years of hard graft building a varied and desirable skills base, but I eventually managed to find myself exactly the right employer and exactly the right job. When my youngest started middle-school I began working as a part-time scientific copywriter, with the flexibility to work from home during holidays and random TT days.

It didn’t last of course. The company I worked for was so successful it kept growing despite the horrific economy and I found myself promoted to a team leader position that required me to be in the office every day. I know, in hindsight, I could simply have said ‘no’ to the promotion – but it’s hard not to accept a forward movement in your career. *sigh*

Ah well! At least I know that perfection is possible! Luckily my youngest son is now old enough to hardly notice my absence – at least that’s what I tell myself to try to avoid the inevitable guilt factor!

Have you ever had perfect balance then lost it? What did you have to compromise to get it and/or keep it?

 
21 Comments

Posted by on December 4, 2011 in Lifestyle

 

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