A freelance writer’s three-day work trip to Palm Springs turned into a high-wire act with a 3-month-old and a 2½-year-old. Packed into a hotel stay about a 2½-hour drive from San Diego—closer to 3½ with pit stops—she juggled interviews, meals, nursing, and lat
Being a freelance writer and editor means work can follow you anywhere. Sometimes that’s on a hospital bed during induction. Sometimes it’s at night after the kids finally fall asleep. On this particular assignment. it meant a hotel room in Palm Springs—three days of work with her husband. her 3-month-old. and her 2½-year-old toddler.
The trip was only about a 2½-hour drive from their home in San Diego. but it turned into roughly 3½ with all the pit stops. It was their first time bringing both kids on a work trip. and their first overnight excursion as a family of four. She admits she wasn’t sure what to expect. Still, she was excited to spend time together.
Before they even left, the practical realities were already taking over. The car was packed to the brim with diapers. clothes. carriers. and anything else she could think of for a multi-night stay away from home. This wasn’t happening in a quiet window either. She had just gotten back from her first-ever work press trip away from the kids the day before. while her husband had returned from a work trip a couple of days before that. She said she couldn’t afford to pause work experiences with her second child the way she had with her first.
Even with that, she wrestled with the decision. She described feeling overbooked when she agreed to both trips. but she was glad to take her family along for the second one because she didn’t want to be away from them again so soon after the first trip. With both adults traveling, the goal was simple: a couple of nights together as a family.
By day one, the trip had already split into two versions of her life—public-facing work, and private, constant care.
On day one. she was shuttled around with a couple of other journalists for a three-course lunch and a dessert tasting. During breaks and at night, she rushed back to the hotel to help her husband. On the first night. she remembers walking into the hotel where her husband was baby-wearing the 3-month-old in a carrier while she patted her toddler’s back. Both children eventually fell asleep.
That night, she said, the household slept soundly through the whole night—unbothered by the usual disruptions. The next day, she found, was not streamlined at all.
Between scheduled events, she returned to the hotel for a quick break to nurse before heading out again. Her husband, meanwhile, was behind on work because he couldn’t do virtually anything with the two young kids besides entertain them and explore the hotel.
That rhythm pushed the family into an exhausting rhythm of split attention. That night. she nursed the baby and patted her toddler’s back at the same time so her husband could work. She describes a brief, proud feeling of competence—“like a superhero”—before the reality of the hotel room set in. The room was one big open area. so once the children were sleeping soundly. she and her husband stayed in the bathroom rather than risk waking them. They whispered near the shower and ate cold mashed potatoes she had brought back from an event.
After that, both tried to catch up on work on their laptops and eventually went to sleep exhausted. But the night didn’t end there. The baby woke up more times than she could count, and the toddler roused from all the hubbub as well. She was drained. and one thought kept rising above everything else: she had to be up early for a tour of a date farm at 8 a.m.
Despite the disarray, she said she would do it again.
She enjoyed getting out for a few hours at a time and being an adult without constantly monitoring two kids. but she also came back to the “reality” of the hotel whenever she had a break and evening returned. In the bigger picture. she believes her husband did the brunt of the work while she was out and about—yet she still considers the trip a family memory they otherwise wouldn’t have had.
There were moments she could point to as proof that the chaos didn’t erase the point of the trip: bringing back restaurant dishes so they could try them together, watching her toddler take in beautiful hotel room views, and enjoying nice hotel breakfasts.
Long hours and late nights working were part of it. Still, she says they managed to fit in small family moments inside an otherwise work-focused trip—and that, in her mind, makes the whole experience worth repeating.
freelance writing work trip parenting Palm Springs San Diego hospitality remote work family travel newborn toddler hotel stay
Wait so she took the kids on a business trip? Wild.
Palm Springs isn’t even that far from San Diego though? Like what’s the big deal, sounds like she just needed more snacks and a better schedule. Also “high-wire act” is kinda dramatic lol.
I think the real issue is she kept saying she had interviews and meals and nursing like in the car?? I saw something about induction on the hospital bed but maybe that’s separate? Either way, bringing a 2.5 year old and a 3 month old sounds impossible, no matter how close it is. People act like freelancing means you can just do everything anywhere.
Honestly this just proves “work from home” is a lie. She packed diapers AND clothes AND carriers and then still had to do press stuff?? Then she’s like it’s a 2.5 hour drive but with pit stops it’s 3.5—cool, so basically she could’ve just stayed home and did the interviews on Zoom. Or maybe Palm Springs hotels don’t have nursing areas? idk. The title made it sound like something crazy happened on a literal high wire.