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Secrets of a Traveling Mommy: Staying Connected
I travel a lot for my job. With a little one at home, a busy working outside the home husband, and a mommy on the road I have learned (and am still learning) some secrets along the way that I would love to share for other traveling mommies to make life a little easier. Whether you travel a lot for work like me, take a girls weekend every now and then, or just want to make life a little easier I am hoping that this series of post brings you a few tips and tricks that will help another Mommy (or even Dad) out.
This post is all about staying connected and what I do to stay connected to my family while traveling.
First of all…thank goodness for Facetime. I can not imagine being on the road in a generation prior to the invention of Facetime. It is a life changer. It is so nice to be able to call home everyday and actually see my little guy and hubby.
One thing I learned early on when traveling is that it can be hard on the little guy and me both…we both know we want to be with each other and the thought of being away from each other for a couple of days is hard. I knew I wanted to do something intentional to let my little guy know I was thinking of him while I was away but did not want to get in to the habit of buying something for him every trip. I watched a few of my friends do this and they were often scrambling at the last minute at the airport to buy a $30 souvenir knowing, if they were honest, that it would end up in the next yard sale. I thought about sending postcards but most of my trips are only for 2-3 days and the postcards don’t have enough time to make it home before Mommy is back.
So I came up with another idea and it has been a HIT. The morning (or night before if I fly out early) before a trip I let my son pick out one “friend” for me to bring with me on my trip. This ends up being a stuffed animal or action figure. He gets very excited to pick someone out and see where his “friend” ends up on their adventures. While away I intentional take at LEAST one photo a day of my son’s action figure or stuffed animal in the coolest locations I can find (although sometimes the best I can do is take a photo of the figure in a hotel bed or airplane window but he doesn’t seem to care) and text them to my husband. When my husband picks him up from school it is one of the highlight’s of his day looking at the photos and seeing what adventures his friend has been on with Mommy.
This has proved to be an easy way to show him I am thinking about him while I am away and something we both look forward to…instead of it being sad “Mommy is going out of town again” it becomes an adventure to see where his friend goes. Here are some photos of some of his “friends” on recent trips…it looks like most recently we have been on a Star Wars “friend” trend.
Sometimes I am in the photos and sometimes I am not. Although I will admit I have gotten a few strange looks from strangers as i pull out a monkey or Star Wars action figure to pose for a photo it has been a fun tradition we have created and something we plan to continue during the years of Mommy on the road.
Would love to hear if you have other ways of staying connected when you travel. Please comment below if you have any.
The next post in this series will be about one trick I have found for planning outfits for the kids while I am away to make life easier for Dad and so you can ensure they match ;).
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