Hitching a Ride: Turn Business into Pleasure for Kids

My dad traveled so often for work when I was growing up that we three kids gave him the affectionate nickname “Uncle Daddy.”

We’re sweet like that.

I was the only kid in the seventh grade that had pearl earrings from Tokyo and a gold bracelet from the far-away land of California. Back then, none of my friends had parents who traveled for work.

My dad, on the other hand, was away so frequently that he didn’t even know my ears weren’t pierced.

While we were in school, it was difficult to travel with him, but as we got older we’d sometimes hitch a ride on his business trips.

I was just out of college and gleefully unemployed (much to my father’s chagrin) when we all traveled to London on his corporate dollar.

We had a great time. Well, everyone except my dad, who ate something bad (England in the early ‘90s—need I say more about the cuisine?) and got a nasty case of food poisoning.

That was more than 10 years ago. Today business travel is so commonplace that certain airlines are known for catering only to the suit-and-tie crowd.

Squeezing in Together Time

Tom Parsons is a father of two, and he knows all too well what it’s like to be away from his family for an extended period of time.

After a weeklong trip turned into two long weeks away from his girls, Annie and Katie, he and his wife decided that next time, Parsons’ sojourn would be a family one.

“It was really hard to be away from home for so long, and most of the places I travel to are within five or six hours from our home,” he says. “Flying is more trouble than it’s worth, anyway, so we decided ‘why not?’”

The Parsons girls, now ages 10 and 12, have hit the road with mom and dad for the past five years.

The fact that the kids are home-schooled makes it easier to take them on the frequent trips that are required for Parsons’ work in the insurance industry. On average, he says, he travels at least once a month to places like Nashville, Tenn. and Charleston, S.C.

The Parsons family also turns the trips into educational opportunities to build on what they are studying at home.

“When we went to Washington, D.C., we had the opportunity to [visit] some of the museums and the National Treasury,” Parsons says.