What is your day like?

What my work space looks like today. Three notebooks, my calendar, and laptop on the kitchen table.

     A few weeks ago someone asked me how many hours I work each day/ week and what my day looks like.  I know a lot of people think that I have an easy-peasy job here and I probably play on the computer all day and watch TV. Nope!  I'll give you a glimpse in to my last 24 hours just so you have a good understanding of how it goes down! Just for some background, I work from home and I also teach college courses online for a university. I have a 3.5 year old son who goes to preschool from 9am-3pm each day. So my day isn't completely about travel ;)  You'll see what I do, and for the most part it was an average day for me over the last 24 hours.  We'll start with Wednesday, August 31st.

• 9:14am- Called Royal Caribbean about two reservations that were transferred over to me but hadn't come through the pipeline.  Found the problem and a solution with the phone rep and got those squared away with final arrangements for dining and insurance.  New invoices drafted and sent to the clients.
• 9:45am- Talked on the phone with my mom about my upcoming plans for the weekend, upcoming Disney trip for Halloween, and baby shower ideas :)
• 10:00am- Started a load of laundry.  Put away the clean clothes from the dryer and laundry bin.  Vacuum upstairs of the house.  Put all my son's toy cars BACK in the playroom...
• 10:40am- Chatted on the phone with a client about coordinating a group trip for the holidays.  Discussed different variables, insurance options, room availability, etc.  Drafted a proposal for client and sent it over to her for the group to review.
• 11:15am- Met with a neighbor and friend to discuss decorations for my baby shower.  She hand makes them, so everything is custom.  
• 11:45am- Did some admin work for a Facebook group I help manage for my community.
• 12:30pm- Made a short drive to Panera for lunch "out of the house."  I have to break up my day a bit or I do feel claustrophobic with staying indoors so much.
• 1:00pm Dropped a package off at the post office. Headed back home.
• 1:15pm- Worked on a future blog post about traveling with babies vs toddlers/ preschoolers.
• 1:45pm- Laid in my bed for a few minutes to relax.  15 minutes to be exact.
• 2pm- Respond to a few emails.  Called travel insurance company CSA and got solid quotes for four different people/reservations for an upcoming trip.  Responded to a few more emails before I am away from my desk for a few hours.
• 3pm- Left the house to pick up my son from school.  Talked to his teacher. Changed his clothes for gym.  Talked about his day at school.  Drove right to gym class, no sense in stopping home for 20 minutes.  
• 4:15pm- Sat in the lobby reading and responding to emails while my son does his gym class.  Chatted with a friend in the lobby as well.
• 5:15pm- Met with the husband for dinner out, yummy Italian on this night.
• 6:45pm- Arrived home from my son's gymnastic class and sat down to make a few changes on a client's cruise promo package on Princess.  Sat on hold for 30 minutes waiting for someone at the cruise line.  Discussed the issue and had the change made.  Sent new paperwork off to client.
• 7:36pm-  Called another cruise line to make a payment and get a waitlisted dining time adjusted.  Had to do some sweet talking, but made it happen for this party of 5.  
• 7:45pm- Started bath time for my son, a little later than average, but my husband went out with a friend so I had to balance work/home priorities.  Did a night time snack (apple), story time, brush teeth, and backrubs.  Little guy was asleep by 8:45pm.
• 9pm Sat down to have a light snack for myself and watch an episode of House of Cards with my husband, now that he was back home.
• 10pm- Lights out and in bed.  Hey I'm pregnant right now and pretty darn tired at the end of the night!
• 5am-  Awoken by the cries of my 3 year old that he needed to go potty.  Took him to the bathroom.  Got him back in bed.  Mommy was now wide awake!  I decided to be productive and get started on my work for the day.
• 5:15am- Downstairs, made a bagel and cream cheese to get me going.  Started repricing cruises for my currently booked clients because Royal Caribbean has a "sale".  Repricing, emailing, and adjusting invoices for 2 hours.
• 7:15am-  Got my son out of bed.  Picked out clothes.  Coaxed him downstairs.  Made him breakfast.  Got him dressed.  Got him out the door for school.
• 8:15am- Left the house and brought my son to school.  Arrived back home around 9am.
• 9am- Called Princess again to get some more cruises adjusted with Sip & Sail promos.  Run in to dead ends everywhere.  Call back for another rep, same dead ends.  Gave up for now until I can call for another rep who will hear me out a little later in the day.
• 9:45am Start this blog!

So that adds up to 6.9 hours of travel related work in 24 hours.  Sure it's not the 10-12 that my husband works each day or 8 that an average person does.  But I'm definitely not sitting on my tush eating bon bons!