The kids had a two week school holiday in early May so we made the most of it with separate trips to Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Brugge. All were working trips for me but I’ve figured out this year how to make these trips work such that I'm able to successfully balance work and play.
Making it work starts with the accommodations. For these trips I need to have wifi and need to have a separate bedroom for taking phone calls. This means we usually can't stay at a traditional hotel and instead must find a private apartment through Booking.com or Airbnb. This has worked really well. It has the extra benefit of allowing us to have breakfast and occasionally dinner in.
I'll usually work for a couple of hours first thing in the morning while the kids are getting up and going, then we'll head out as a family in the mid-to-late morning. We usually return in the late afternoon and I'm able to get another couple of hours in again before dinner. Depending upon what I need to do, I'll either eat in or go out for dinner and then work and take phone calls until about 11PM. It isn't ideal from either a work or play standpoint but it does strike an appropriate balance where I can do enough of both to be satisfied.
Making it work starts with the accommodations. For these trips I need to have wifi and need to have a separate bedroom for taking phone calls. This means we usually can't stay at a traditional hotel and instead must find a private apartment through Booking.com or Airbnb. This has worked really well. It has the extra benefit of allowing us to have breakfast and occasionally dinner in.
I'll usually work for a couple of hours first thing in the morning while the kids are getting up and going, then we'll head out as a family in the mid-to-late morning. We usually return in the late afternoon and I'm able to get another couple of hours in again before dinner. Depending upon what I need to do, I'll either eat in or go out for dinner and then work and take phone calls until about 11PM. It isn't ideal from either a work or play standpoint but it does strike an appropriate balance where I can do enough of both to be satisfied.
