My first trip back as a road warrior since maternity leave was slightly foggy and a little more than chaotic. I had high hopes that I would get on a plane, read a book and relax without hearing “Mommy!” or the crying of my newborn. But as I packed for my trip, I realized that I didn’t want to take the precious iPad away from my husband or son, for their own sanity sake! I didn’t want to buy a book to take with me, because that is just more to carry. So when I left that house around 5:45 am on Tuesday, I left the iPad lying beside my husband in bed so my son could easily find it. And the trip went all downhill from there! I park my car at the normal parking spot and realize I have no cash to tip the bus driver. I let him know I will make sure he gets a tip when I come back. Of course, I am on the flight back and I still have no cash! I check in for my flight and I go to the monitor to figure out which gate I am going to since it is not on my ticket. I should have known that something was wrong then when I didn’t see my departure time. I find a gate that seems to be the city I am flying to and find out that I am booked on the 7:15 PM flight, not the 7:15 AM flight. The gate to the 7 AM flight had just shut and I missed that flight. Quick thinking, what do I do? I have a 3 PM meeting. The first flight I can get on to get me to my destination won’t get me to Sioux Falls, SD until 4:30 PM. OK, maybe I can get off at Minneapolis and drive to Sioux Falls in time. I proceed to make flight arrangements and then quickly call Hertz to change my car reservation to find out the one way car rental is going to be like $700. OMG – my company is going to kill me when they see how expensive this trip is! I jump on the next flight and pull up the driving distance from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls. Oops! It is NOT as close as I thought and I wouldn’t get there in time anyway. I send a message to my client to let them know I would like to reschedule due to flight issues. I send a message to my colleagues that had planned on joining the meeting with me via conference call and let them know I am trying to coordinate another time. The man that sits next to me on the plane smells of BO. I guess it is an early enough flight that I can understand he crawled out of bed after a hard night and jumped on the plane…I can survive. As soon as the flight arrives at the Detroit airport, I am on the phone making new flight arrangements to get me back on a flight to Sioux Falls and I call Hertz back to change my reservation back to a Sioux Falls pick up. I rush to through the Detroit airport to get to the next flight because, of course, I was as far away as I could get from my next gate. The next flight I am in the middle seat and one of the men smells like he had been in a cigar bar all night. I land in Minneapolis and I ask the person at the gate to print out my new ticket for me. I ask her about my luggage and she sends me to the help desk. I go to the help desk and they say I didn’t have the right ticket printed out, so I get another new ticket. They have me go pick up my luggage so I can reissue it at the ticket counter. Good thing I have a long layover. I exit security, go to pick up my luggage to realize it is not there. They don’t know where it is. I go back through security and I go have lunch at a sit down restaurant. Mmmmm, they have a nice tortilla soup. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I take my first bite and I burn my mouth. Not from the heat, but because of the spice. What did they make this with? A habanera pepper? I set it to the side and the waitress asks if there is something wrong. I tell her it was too spicy and she says “Yes, I thought so too.” Ummm, couldn’t you have warned me??? She offers to give me something else. Of course, my taste buds are dead at this point. I walk across the airport again to the farthest point possible away from where I was to wait for my next flight. When it is time to board they came on the speakers saying that there was a heat issue with the plane and they were trying to get us a new plane, but it was going to be hot because these planes can’t cool off in this heat. After a slight delay, we board the plane. They guy sitting next to me smells like a combination of BO and a cigar bar. At this point I have been up for 12 hours. I am not sure if I smell any better! I arrive in Sioux Falls with enough time to turn in a report for my missing luggage that they still have no clue where it is. It might be back in Buffalo, they say. I check into the hotel, but can’t really freshen up much because I have no luggage. I go to meet my client for dinner. After a much needed glass of wine and a good steak, I head out to purchase some toiletries and golf items for the golf tournament the next day. Of course, shopping for clothes after having a baby is NOT my most fun thing to do. I would prefer to NOT buy anything at this juncture. I don’t mind the new shoes though! A few hundred dollars, I am prepared for the next day. Thank goodness my client already told me it was OK to wear my golf attire to the meeting the next morning that had been rescheduled due to the current days activities, or should I say SNAFU! Back at the hotel, I contact the airline and my bags are in Minneapolis. The next morning I get up and am almost ready when I get a call that they have my bags and will bring them to the room. They get up to the room with 2 bags. Only one of those bags is mine! The golf bag is still missing. I am back on the phone with the airline prior to my meeting with the client. I make it to my client meeting, somewhat discombobulated. We are not cramming 2 hours of information into an hour. We go over by 20 minutes. But their COO brought his wife’s golf clubs for me…nice! After the meeting, I run back to the hotel to see if the golf clubs have arrived. Then I run to the airport to find out they were there…sitting in the back! I grab them and run to the golf course. Quick check in and grab something to eat, since I hadn’t had anything but water. I sit down by my clients (all men). I have a letdown. Did I mention my pump had been in my luggage that was lost and I had not had a chance to pump. So, my breasts had been holding milk for over 24 hours. And it would be at least another 6 hours before I could. On a bright note, the day was beautiful and I had a very good golf day – even though I hadn’t golfed all summer and had only hit some balls to practice on Monday of this week. The bad news, by the end of the tournament, I had a headache turning into a migraine. I left before the dinner and awards. I return some of the items I bought the previous night for the event and I grab some food and head back to the hotel. Tylenol is not touching this headache. I don’t think anything is going to help but sleep. I fall asleep with the TV on and it stays on all night. Luckily I don’t sleep deeply and when the alarm goes off, I hear the buzz because the volume is not on! This could have been another disaster! But it is not a disaster…I am almost home. One more stop and I will make it home. My husband said he got 2 hours sleep due to our baby getting up. She must miss me. I miss her too. My 4-year old told me while on Facetime to “Get home NOW Mommy!” He misses me too! This is only going to give my husband more ammunition that he doesn’t want me to travel. But, I like my job. We both need to work to live our lifestyle. And actually, I need to work for my own sanity. I should at least get to work in a job that I like and I have a good boss! Welcome back to road warrior status! Another trip in 2 weeks, I hope I am more successful at booking and coordinating! But, the fogginess of motherhood has overtaken me and I am not as on top of life as I would like to be. It is very frustrating and disheartening to be this foggy, yet clear enough to know I am having issues!