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In honor of the new Plantronics Voyager  Legend headset, Road Warriorette will be featuring some sponsored posts on behalf of Plantronics and has been compensated for her contributions.

Plantronics has recently released the much anticipated Voyager Legend headset! It’s being touted as the “world’s smartest headset”, and includes features such as smart call routing, precision audio, and caller announce and voice commands. To celebrate the newest member of the Plantronics family, we are giving away one Voyager Legend headset to a lucky reader!

How to win? It’s simple! Between now and Monday, November 12, write a comment answering the following question: How do you bring your business and personal life together during business trips? A winner will be chosen randomly from all of the entries on Tuesday, November 13. As always, only one entry per person.

When traveling for work it’s so easy to get stuck in the go-go-go mode. Bringing your business and personal life together can be really hard when you’re on the road a lot! But you’re not just a worker bee, so make sure you pay attention to the rest of you as well. Here are some of my tips:

Stay in touch. Make sure you keep in touch with the people you love. The Home Warrior and I talk every day I’m gone. I will also make a point to talk to my sisters, mom, and best friend when I’m gone for longer periods of time. Just because you’re away doesn’t mean you can’t maintain regular conversations! If you’re pressed for time, multi-task—chat while you’re getting ready for bed or unpacking (this is where a headset like the Voyager would come in handy!).

Take some time for yourself. Just because you’re traveling for work doesn’t mean you don’t get down time! While you’re on the plane is a great time to do something just for fun—read a book, watch a movie, listen to music, knit… Or take advantage of a layover and get a chair massage. Just a few minutes doing something you enjoy can help you maintain balance.

Make sure you get your work done! At the same time, it can be so easy to let time slip away while you socialize with coworkers or wine and dine clients. Those things are certainly important, but save time to do your actual work as well. Presentations don’t write themselves, as I have unfortunately discovered. (But don’t worry—the Voyager has a sophisticated noise canceling feature, so even if you’re out you can still take that work call. The office will never know!)

See the city you’re in. So many of us don’t ever look beyond the office and our hotel room, but all cities have something to offer! Try to eat out at a local restaurant, and taste a local specialty. If you have a little extra time, cruise by an interesting attraction or take in some scenery. It will help all of those towns you’ve visited stand out from each other, and remind you that there is more to life than work.

Click here to see official rules for the sweepstakes.

Good luck!!

It’s like she read my mind! Here I am, super busy, traveling Monday-Friday for many weeks in a row, worried about how to get everything done….And Corporette posts “Looking for the 25th Hour? Our Top Time Saving Strategies.” These suggestions are great!! I am especially thinking it is time to re-hire a cleaning person. I am interested to see if I can find any time saving strategies specific to women who travel. If I find any good ones I will let you know!!

Thanks Corporette!!

Today I start the third week in my five weeks of travel craziness. I have spent one week in Pittsburgh/Boston and one week in South Texas. This week I go to Nashville and Dallas. Next week I go to New york. And the week after that Ohio and Missouri. Whew!

How am I getting through it, you ask? Well first I have to admit that I am having to let some things slide. I am not cleaning out my personal email box as much as I would like, and the laundry is starting to stack up. However, I don’t feel like I am on the verge of a breakdown, which I was a tiny bit concerned about. I am very tired–but that could be because I got up at 5am this morning before flying to Nashville.

The main ways I am coping are:

1. Doing what several readers suggested–taking it one day at a time. If I focus on just the day ahead of me, it is a lot easier to keep from getting overwhelmed.  (Granted this is a little hard to do when I am packing, but that is where “Stay Organized” comes in.) Each night I spend at few minutes listing out what I need to do the next day, without really even thinking about the day after that.
2. Staying organized. Each night I list what I have to do the next day, for work, my blog, and other things. I also make very detailed packing lists, starting withwhat events do I have to attend, how many days will I be gone, etc., then planning the outfits for each of those. List making is a great thing to do during downtime at work.
3. Try not to stress. There are some things that I can do nothing about, and I just can’t spend my time worrying about them. Even if it is something that I could have prevented, I make a note of it so it doesn’t happen again and then I move on. Also, knowing that I will be gone so much for so long means that some things just have to give. For example, I am not able to do as much at church as I would normally do. Another example is the laundry–I just have to ask Home Warrior to step up and help with house chores more than normal.

I will keep everyone posted on my continued climb up the mountain…..stay tuned.

I recently got an email from one of my readers asking for help. Her question: is it possible to have children and still travel for work?

“My husband and I will start trying to a child this coming June.  I’m terrified, because like you I’m a Road Warriorette and I truly love my job! I’m afraid I will not be able to travel as much because of the baby and I’m afraid I can lose my job since I won’t be able to perform the duties as often.  I know I’m over reacting and things will work out, but do you or anybody have experience with this? any good websites? How will I pump while I’m away?

Any advise will be appreciated…Thanks!”

Now I will start this by making sure everyone knows–I do not have children yet. Home Warrior and I plan to start in a year or two, and this question has also been plaguing me. How do you travel all the time when pregnant? How do you have kids and travel every week?

I have done some research and talked to some moms, and I think I have found some good ideas for coping. I will save the “How to Travel When Pregnant” post for another day, but here is my advice for traveling moms.  If you have any suggestions or comments, please post them! Help the future moms/Road Warriorettes out!
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