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Can Business = Family Travel?
I remember when I thought that business trips were glamorous -- all-expense-paid vacations with smart luggage and ironed clothes. Then I actually took one.
I spent my days seeing the insides of office and conference rooms, my evenings in mock jocularity at hotel-ballroom Theme Nights, dancing the conga line with a hundred business associates stiffly trying to shake their "groove thang." Throw in the prospect of being away from the family, and I quickly saw how business travel could be considered a sacrifice, not a perk.
But these days, more and more working parents are eschewing the idea of lonely hotel rooms and are combining business with family time, getting work done while sharing memorable experiences with their kids. Last year, 4% of business trips in America included kids, according to the Travel Industry Association of America.
Business trips "are no longer belly-up-the-bar weekends away from home," observes Chris Tempesta, who in 1986 founded KiddieCorp (858/455-1718) to provide kids' programs at conferences. The programs offer crafts, field trips, games and social activities for children six months through 16 years during conference hours. Tempesta says her business has exploded in the 1990s, as conference planners began drawing better attendance when parents can bring the kids.
Many hotels provide bonded babysitting services, and some have toy and video libraries for junior guests. Some resort hotels have special camps for kids, with water sports, adventure trips, crafts and carnivals; others offer "kids suites"- an attached kid's room with bunk beds, VCR and play area (See "Hotels Who Mean Business," below).
Leslie Dashew, president of the consulting firm Human Side of Enterprise, has been bringing her daughter Baileigh on business trips since she was 10 weeks old. That first trip was to a conference in New York at which Leslie was giving a speech. A 16-year-old niece came along to lend a hand.
When Baileigh was 16, she accompanied her mom on another trip to New York. This time, she met her mom's client in the morning, went off to explore the city, then joined them for a business lunch. "She had not really sat in on a meeting like that and it was a new experience for her, " Leslie says. "She got to see a little bit of what I do. It has been really useful for her to travel with me and get to know the kinds of things parents do at work."
When Leslie, a divorced parent, traveled with the younger Baileigh she was often the only caregiver. She had Baileigh play with her clients' kids, left her with friends or relatives in the area, or let her play in the office with art supplies and the computer while Leslie worked.
Parents differ on how old they want their children to be before bringing them along. Daphne Telfeyan, an immigration lawyer, has brought her daughter Chloe, now five, to an annual trade convention every year since Chloe was 18 months old. Her husband comes along to watch their daughter; she, in turn, plays caregiver on some of his business trips. "At lunch time when I have a break I'll put on my bathing suit and get in the pool with her, and after the conference ends I'll get back into the pool. The big highlight of the trip for me is getting a break and spending time with my daughter."
Klaus Haasler, a Frankfurt, Germany-based lumber import agent, began bringing his son Matthias on transatlantic trips when Matthias was 18. "I wouldn't have taken him when he was younger," says Klaus, but now, "it gives me a direct and personal contact with my son. You have eight to twelve hours on the plane each way to talk, you have weekends."
Not all travelers have such positive experiences. "It was hard not to be torn while at the conference," says Miriam Roccah, associate executive director of a rehabilitation project for the homeless, about a trip she took with her seven-month-old. The baby was being looked after by a grandmother she didn't know very well, and she cried constantly. "I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to get to know her grandma. But because she was so young, it was traumatic."
I recall a situation I had with my own mom, Abbey Achs, when she brought me, then 16, and my sister, 13, on a three-week business trip to Spain. One afternoon she met a client in a dilapidated industrial town and left us to wander the streets outside. When the meeting lasted longer than expected, we got fed up waiting and stormed back to the client's office, demanding to know when she would be finished. "I was extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable," she says. "It was hard to have your private, personal life laid on top of your business life like that."
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