By Amy Nielsen
My mother was chief executive officer for an international corporation for most of my childhood. She traveled extensively on a global scale, often for more than a month at a time. Summers, when we were out of school, my sister and I travelled with her. She had her ducks in a row and was able to make it look effortless. She never seemed to over pack or forget anything. Every upset turned into an adventure.
I travel a lot myself now, usually by car and almost always with my kids in tow since we homeschool. This past week was no exception. On the itinerary were: stops to return our foster dog to his owner after a long deployment, routine medical treatments for my daughter with her specialist, and a little gathering called the Women's March. We were traveling from Maine to Virginia and back over 10 days.
I made a grave error when we left last week by forgetting my computer at home. We were packed tight on this trip since the dog was with us and I missed grabbing my school/work bag. All I had was my phone. At least it is a smart phone. Ok, smart might be a bit of a reach, but it is more tech savvy than I am.
Many of my work obligations involve heavy research on the web and online client meetings via messenger style apps. Easy peasy, right? I mean it's a smart phone and all. It is, until you try to write a 1,000 word blog with your thumbs. Research I can do. Conversations on messenger apps, I can do. But typing that much is beyond my patience level. I tried. I got thumb cramps.
My school lectures are all web based. I made that choice specifically when I was deciding on how to pull together an education that supports my career because I knew that I would be traveling. I work in a field where certificates and very specialized training are important. Somewhat like having a card deck of programing language certs, I need a library of credentials behind me. I am currently working on four different certifications at once. Most have several hours of lectures to watch, moderated online live discussions and lengthy exercises to remit every week.
I was optimistic that I would be able to at least listen to the lectures while driving. My route wasn’t taking us too far into the boonies and I have a decent service plan. What I didn’t realize is that listening to music in the car requires a vastly different attention level than listening to a school lecture.
As it happens, this trip had it’s own little hiccup when the rear tire of my car disintegrated at 50 miles per hour. It pushed our schedule back several hours and made us change vehicles. My car doesn’t have Bluetooth. The rental, a super fancy presidential limo suburban thing, had more bells and whistles that I could ever imagine. It also had Bluetooth.
My 15-year-old niece was able to get my phone to connect and I was excited to be able to try and get caught up. Not so much, the kids didn’t want to listen to lectures about business plans and client coaching. I tried listening with headphones but that was impossible for me.
I tried to listen and write when we stopped for meals or for the night but by then I was usually too distracted or too tired to concentrate on the task at hand. I got a few small lectures and assignments done, but not nearly half of what is still on the list.
I had a client meeting scheduled for one of the evenings we were away. I met with this client online via a messenger app so that I could send documents and research to her in real time. This meeting was the most successful of my work endeavors this week. Turns out the phone wasn’t too shabby at completing the tasks I needed. I learned a lot about the device and I feel a little more confident that if a client needs me when I am not near my computer I can adequately accommodate them. I wouldn’t say it’s my new preference for meetings, but it is nice to know it can work.
The upshot of this trip was that I learned while I set myself up to work exclusively online, if I can’t access the web effectively, it is useless. I also need to reevaluate the amount of time I need to spend working on school and make it a priority rather than something to slip in when I have a free moment.
Right now I am working on my mom’s computer at our last stop before heading home tomorrow.
In talking to her, I realized how much extra planning and time she put into what my childhood eyes saw as an effortless summer. Her first trips with us were bumpy too. She forgot important things along the way and missed some obligations.
What made it look so easy was her attitude. My ducks look an awful lot like squirrels and they are certainly not in a row. I don’t think they are even in the same state yet. And I know we won't hit every mark, make every appointment and we will occasionally miss commitments.
However, I also know that every trip we take will be more organized and better planned than the last one. If I can muster the courage to have a good attitude about the missteps, it will all work itself out.
