Ride Along? Traveling with Your Spouse! (Part 3/3)

Being married to a frequent traveler is tough.  Listening to your spouse describe what a fantastic place he/she just saw, once they finally get home, is even tougher.  Eventually the feeling that you’re holding down the fort while your spouse is dancing away in some faraway place that must be 1,000 times better than YOUR place has to hit home.  Traveling alongside your significant other (or “S.O.” for purposes of this discussion) is certainly an option and it can be fun!  It can also present some significant problems.  I’ve had the pleasure of my wife’s company on several trips (she wasn’t about to let me go to Germany during Oktoberfest without her), and I’m happy to offer some tips to make this unique traveling adventure a pleasurable one.

Whether it’s a quick lunch or an evening on the dance floor, you should at least try to make a scheduled date with each other during a business trip.  Spending some time alone will reinforce the notion that you actually do enjoy each other’s company, and it gives you both time to compare notes on what’s happening in the office and/or around the city as you’ve seen it.

While your spouse is busy in the office, take the opportunity to gain some advances in your social skills.  Make small talk with strangers, introduce yourself to people in your tour group, ask questions, and make friends.  This will give you an advantage when you do get pulled into your spouse’s corporate circle at a business event.  You’ll know a local person (or two), and you will know the local area well enough to be able to intelligently contribute to any social conversation that erupts with your spouse and his/her co-workers.  It also gives you confidence to try new things or to see new places by yourself.  This gets easier over time, but if you make traveling with your spouse a regular occurrence, you’ll be very comfortable in no-time

The last tip I’ll leave you with in this three part series is, above all else, “Be Flexible!”  Sometimes I feel like there is nothing quite as “liquid” (in terms of schedule) as a business trip.  Plans are constantly changing.  Last minute clients show up (or cancel), meetings are postponed, created on the fly, held over lunch, etc.  As the invited guest, you must be aware that there will certainly be times where reservations are made, tickets are purchased, etc, and you’ll just have to cancel them.  Expect it.  Try to be flexible when this happens.  Don’t let it upset you.  Repeat to yourself, “We’re staying here for free… we’re staying here for free...”

Business tripping with your spouse is a hoot.  As the “working spouse” on all of our trips, I can say that I’ve honestly missed a few “tourist worthy” events that my wife was able to see.  However, I was able to walk through the castles of Germany and see Stonehenge with her too, so it all seems to work itself out.  Most impressively, my wife has been able to see San Francisco, Venice, Rome, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, London, Naples, and Florence for the cost of airfare alone and THAT, my friends, is worth it!

EXTRA: If you have questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please send him a “Tweet” on his twitter account.  You can also follow Ken on Twitter @foodbreeze!