On our 20th year anniversary, a very important client meeting came up. I wasn’t sure how to break it to the husband until I had – what I still think – is a brilliant idea HAH! Instead of saying, “I’m sorry, a meeting came up and I’ll be away for a week during our 20th Anniversary…” I said, “Surprise! You’re coming with me to Ireland for a mini honeymoon!” LOL See what I did there? Combining work travel with a milestone anniversary converted what would have been unpleasant news into a wonderful moment for us both.
Finding Work & Life Balance vs Work Life Integration
Do you believe in the phrase “work life balance”? I learned a while ago that this didn’t exist – at least not in my world. Work life “integration” seemed to be a more realistic goal. This was still difficult but a mindset shift that made it feel a little more achievable. Combining work travel with a milestone anniversary was one of the ways we managed to turn lemons into lemonade.
Combining Work Travel & Family Time
I tried to do this with the kids, too. Since Allie was little, she traveled with me when I had a customer meeting. As she started going to elementary school, I tried my best to schedule the meetings in a way that coincided with her school holidays or a weekend if it was domestic travel. The same thing applied when Isabella came along. It’s, of course, not as easy as it sounds because more often than not, the timing didn’t quite work not just for us, but for someone (hubby or sister-in-law) who could come with us to have fun with the kids while I was working. Still, I was very grateful for the moments when we were able to make it happen.
Visiting Ireland for Our 20th Anniversary
On this particular milestone anniversary, I had the husband come to Ireland with me 4 full days before my meeting which fell on a Monday. His schedule is pretty intense, too, so scheduling it this way meant he only had to take 3 days off. We arrived in Dublin on a Wednesday and spent the next 4 days together exploring, catching up over dinner, having breakfast in bed and waking up late! I mean… the ‘wake up whenever we want’ is perhaps one of those gifts that you can never get enough of, am I right?
Here are some pictures of our romantic getaway!
Next week, I’ll share more about a particular trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Our tour guide kept warning us that the fog has been really bad the last 6 weeks and not to expect to see anything. They kept reiterating this to us many, many times so we would not be disappointed or angry at them because, well, they had no control over mother nature! I hope you tune in next week to find out what happened <3
XoXo, Mirfie & the Chan Fam
PS Don’t forget to check out the rest of our culturally inspired stories from travels around the world on the blog HERE!
