It’s early morning, still dark outside, and I’m on my way to the airport again. I kiss my husband good-bye saying, “Call you tonight” as I run out the door with my luggage rolling behind me.

My busy workweek has begun. I’ll be at client offices through Thursday and then I head back home again. I keep extremely busy all week and the days go very fast – for me anyway.

While I talk with my husband every night, I am so busy with my schedule that I often forget what it’s like for him to be home alone. Though he travels frequently himself, I usually leave him on Monday and he heads downtown to his office.

In the evenings, I head to my hotel where I order a meal that someone else cooks. He returns to a house where the kitchen is quiet. He makes himself dinner and shares the time with our dog Toby at his feet.

He retreats to his home office in the evening, where we talk on the phone for an hour or more. He then heads off to a half-empty bed where he falls asleep next to my pillow. He wakes up and repeats this solo process each day until I arrive home at midnight late in the week.

He doesn’t say too much about my travel though I know that solitude bothers him. He’ll never ask me to stop traveling, but I know he’d love it if I did. He also knows that to stop the traveling would destroy my spirit as I love being on the road.

So we continue this ritual of me leaving him every week, counting the days and nights until I’m back home again and we can share a few days together.

I have probably left my husband over 500 times. Thank goodness he’s always happy to let me return again.

Sleeping in a hotel room can be tough. I’ve found a great way to relax and fall asleep to the scent of lavender tucked into my pillow case. Lavender is said to be a great natural remedy for calming nerves and helping to ease you into a sound sleep and the scent is wonderful!  This is why a few hotels give out lavender spray upon check-in.

Get your very own lavender sachet at Zen’s Purple Garden. Slip it inside your pillow case and feel the sense of calm when your head hits the pillow. Upon waking, scrunch it up and place it back in its travel-safe container. Use it again and again and again. It’s now part of my travel must-have’s. You’ll want to use it at home as well.

Each day have them take a 4”x6” or so piece of paper and draw a picture about something they did. If they’re old enough, have them write a few sentences on what they learned or what fun they had. Have them address it to mom and draw a stamp on it like it’s a postcard. They can add these ‘postcards’ to the pile of mail that’s awaiting your return.

Check out the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale. It weighs 10 oz. and can weigh up to 100 pound bags. Other frequent fliers have found this digital luggage scale to be very accurate. Allow for a 2 lb margin of error as the airline scale may differ.

You can also weigh your luggage on your home scale before you depart on your trip. Trouble is, your bag may be under the weight limit upon departure but they you buy lots of stuff during your travels.  A 40 lb bag can quickly become an over-50 lb bag! In this case, the digital luggage scale is your answer!