Married guy's traveling rule

Since getting married -- and in particular, since having a kid -- my rule of thumb has been to not be away from my wife and child for more than a week.

I violated that this time -- was gone about a week and a half -- and emotionally, I suffered for it.

Didn't take the wife and kid, since the wife had to work, and I the wife correctly predicted that I'd be too busy to do what I needed to do while trying to look after a two-year-old.

Pragmatically, the amount of time I was gone was about right for what I needed to do. In hindsight, I could've used another day or two at the end -- but I'd scheduled my return date to allow me to make a family birthday, and to change my return flight after I'd arrived would've cost several hundred dollars.


BTW -- public thanks to my parents, who paid for my not-inexpensive Brisbane --> Seattle --> Brisbane ticket, given that I bought it with about a week-and-a-half's notice. (The decision for the date to go through my grandpa's house came about pretty abruptly.)


--GG