 Parenting is an amazing role and it also takes up a lot of your time. Today, I'm going to talk about why it's important to take a solo trip. Keep watching. But hey, my name is Kyla Denigno and in this episode we're talking about the importance of solo traveling as a parent. So I've taken three trips so far, August 2021, November 2021, and now April 2022. Yeah, so I thought this was the second solo trip that I've taken but it's actually the third. So the reason I forget about the Atlanta trip is because I was going to see the Black Panther Bruce Carter exhibit at a museum. That was the one thing that I had booked. So I went to see that event and then I just relaxed and slept and got to hang out with one of our bridesmaids and just enjoyed myself. So then the second solo trip I took was in November 2021 and for that trip I went to Chicago for 72 hours again and I booked a hotel and I slept and I was in the pool and I hung out and I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing. I watched a lot of Food Network. I don't even remember if I brought my laptop and so this trip was not so that I could attend an event. It was not a corporate function, nothing like that. The trip was solely for me to take three days to myself, enjoy, hang out and you know get some sleep. So the first reason is because you're traveling for yourself. These trips have no other purpose besides relaxing, sleeping, not thinking about food, you know ordering takeout or room service and just unwinding and that is really important because as a parent you are constantly sharing your time. Even when your kid is asleep, at least if you're like my husband and myself, we are watching her on the monitor. We're working with one ear out to hear if she's still sleeping. You know she's a really good sleeper but you're, you don't turn off being a parent. You can never turn it off. Even right now as I'm traveling I still think about my daughter. I'm FaceTiming her. I'm FaceTiming me, my husband. I woke up this morning. I looked at her on the monitor. So you never can turn it off and the solo trip is not for you to turn it off. It's just for you to have a weekend, have a day and just unwind, be with your own thoughts, right? I'm walking through the airport and I'm like I don't have to think about if anyone is hungry or what, you know, do you not want to sit down and do some work? Do you want to run around? Do you need to go to the bathroom? I don't have to think about any of that. I get to go back to kind of what do you want right now? Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Do you need anything? You just want to sit down and that is refreshing. So the second reason why solo travel is really important for me is because I get uninterrupted time to work and that sounds a little bit weird even saying it but I produce a podcast, I write blogs, I write for other organizations, I have different clients, I am pulled in a lot of different directions. I've started to consult part-time as well and there's very little time for me to just sit down, dig through all of it or even like this weekend I spent the time and I just caught up. I did actually bring my laptop so I'm not really a person who sleeps in. I still woke up at eight o'clock because my daughter usually gets up like 8.15, 8.30 so I still got up at eight but I just wrote a whole blog and then I started to outline a second one, right? My solo trips aren't for me to not work at all and completely unplug, it's just for me to run my own schedule however I want to. If I want a blog in the morning and I do anything in the afternoon, I can. If I want to go to brunch, come back and blog, I can. If I want to edit a podcast episode early, I can. There are no other demands on my time and also if I want to sit and read the four magazines I bought in the airport that were overpriced, I can do that too. For me, the ability to dictate your time however you want to is really important and I do not need that all the time. I was a willing participant and becoming a parent. I absolutely love our little family but it's also nice to get away for the three days and so the last reason that I think it's important for solo travel is I consider solo travel self-care 100%. This trip here 72 hours of absolutely nothing but relaxing and getting ready to hang out with a homegirl and have brunch like that's it and then you know what I'll come back to the room lay down and do nothing. So I think solo travel is really important because you don't have any other demands on your time. You get to dictate your own schedule and do whatever you want. You get to spend time with yourself and just relax and also I think that solo travel is a form of self-care hanging out with yourself finding out what's going on. How are we feeling? How are we enjoying life? How are we enjoying the solitude of this trip and then getting back to it. So I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you consider doing some solo travel and let me know where you want to go and how long you'll be there. So I will talk to you guys later. Bye.