Tag: Travel

Separation Anxiety

My body is miles above Earth en route to Chicago, but my heart is off with a ‘lil boy who is probably playing the Kindle and not even thinking about his mama. Separation Anxiety is brutal for balancing mamas.

The day began bright and early when I woke to work. I was alone for all but the last 45 minutes, the rest of the house silent. It kept me busy, not thinking about the fact that I would soon be going away from my kids and husband, but as soon as ‘lil Man woke up, all bets were off. My heart got heavy, and I started wondering if I was doing the right thing.

Now, before you get all, “moms deserve time away, I would welcome a break from my kids”, I must explain that I really don’t spend that much time with them, and even when I do, it is not crazy engaged. Last night and for a few precious moments this morning, both of the kids clung to my side. It really makes balancing, Leaning In, and trying to grow personally and perhaps professionally without feeling a ‘lil bit of Mom guilt.

The time to leave came, and the meltdown began. Evan lost his mind over not having his shoes on to go potty. It took me ten precious moments to find those shoes, and every second of them was filled with his tears and screams. Luckily, upon finding the shoes, he went potty and all was well…until we went to the truck. That’s when he demanded I carry him down the stairs and put him in his seat. Or may e it got worse when I kissed him good bye and he asked, “Mommy, will you come back?”.

Talk about heart break. Sometimes I wonder if I leave too much, am too focused on work and writing. But then I think about the things my ‘ill family has done because of my job and my writing. Soon enough, I will be back with my ‘lil guy and he will forget I was even gone. Now to get through the next three days without me missing him too much, because we all know he’s already moved on and back to being Daddy’s Boy.

For the record, Arianna is cool with the trip. She understands I work for money to “do stuff and buy shoes” and that I “write stuff on the ‘puter”. All she cared about was if I would bring her back a pink present. Hmmpfh.

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Take a Picture. It lasts longer.

Just love when you are in an airport and get stared at for letting your kids be kids. Thanks, fellow traveler. Hope your pictures of us being parents bring you some relief to your miserable world.

Kids, thanks for being you and for being troopers while we wait for our plane to get fixed. The pictures we are enjoying from vacation will make our memories last forever!

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Traveling with Money

Remember last week when I told you about how we are oh so close to getting our money into a good place? Well, one of the disadvantages of having a credit history like ours is that you don’t always have cards to use when you need them–like when you travel.

Usually, you need to have a card in your name in order to book a hotel room or rent a car. Pretty tough to do if you don’t have one–yup, I’ve been there. Or what if there is a great flight deal that you don’t want to pass up, but you don’t have just enough money in the bank to pay? You either lose it or pray you don’t go red.

And then, there is the issue of having money on hand without your bank being flagged that there are transactions outside the state/country (and a hold put on your account, eek!). When I went to France, I was all about getting traveler’s checks (which worked well); however, that was 10 years ago and the one and only time I traveled with them. Does anyone even still use these? This past trip, we traveled with a bunch of cash (which made me incredibly nervous).

And then, there is budgeting while traveling. How do you make sure you are staying within your budget? Well, one thing that I have never done, but am considering for my next trip, is purchasing a prepaid card from a place like Green Dot or here. You can use cards like this anywhere, and they can be purchased at grocery/drugstores. To me, it’s like a traveler’s check turned modern. (And, Green Dot even specifically calls out that “You can’t get into trouble by spending too much!” and that “your money is protected if your Personalized Card is lost or stolen.”–I like that reassurance!) (Visa also has an option where you can use these cards to book hotels and rent cars–how great!)

Another thing I worry about when traveling with money is losing my cash–hey, it’s happened! I don’t carry cash on a normal basis (too hard to track), so I am not used to thinking about what pocket might have had a $20 bill in it or where I dropped it when fumbling for my phone or keys or if it was in a piece of lost luggage. (Man, I worry a lot!) Why I don’t worry about losing my debit is beyond me, but it just never crosses my mind.

What do you think about traveling and money? Do you have worries or budget traps, or are you a money travel expert?

Hold Me Close

Anytime Mr. Burgher or I travel apart from one another, we suffer terribly from the “I Miss You”s. Funny thing is, the first five months of our relationship (and two of the engagement), we lived 617 miles apart. We would travel once a month to be together until he was able to move to PA.

The past few days, I’ve been off making page after page of memories (scrapbooking) with good friends in Denver. The kids seem ok…even though A is mad that she and Daddy couldn’t go on the airplane instead (so much for Lil Man!). While I am extremely happy, relaxed, and full of creative juices, I still cannot wait to be home and holding all three of my loves close.

How do you handle separation from loved ones? Do you have a nightly (or daily) routine that lets them know you miss them while away?