I am writing this as I travel and I cannot WAIT to share my guilty traveling alone pleasures. But first, let's start with the standard guilty mami disclosure: I love my kids, I love being with them, it's the hardest job I've ever had, but totally worth it.
Okay, now that we've got that over with because you know that every time you speak up as a mother and express anything other than delight at anything having to do with motherhood, someone (it may even be yourself) will make you utter, "But it's totally worth it, right?" Yes it's worth it. That goes without saying. Let a mother vent, will you?
Read more ¿Qué más?: Don't be afraid to travel with your baby
When I first became a mother, the transition was difficult, obviously life-changing. I no longer had long periods of time to myself, I couldn't do much of what I had always done. Even my body wasn't my own anymore. My children demand a level of contact and intimacy that I had never experienced. I missed me. I missed doing as I pleased. I missed sleeping.
Motherhood led to blogging, blogging turned me into a writer, and all of it added up to new opportunities and some of them involve travel. I get to travel! I love traveling for many reasons, but right now I'm going to tell you about the my guilty pleasures of traveling alone without my kids. Ready?
- I don't have to share. Nothing, nada, one single thing. If I buy something to eat, I get to eat it all!
- I get to go to the bathroom by myself. It is a pleasure even when it happens to be a public restroom. It's so much easier to go to a public restroom without kids. Why must they touch everything?
- I get to have my way with a hotel bed. That's right, I spend some quality time snuggling with a mattress that is all for me. I sleep. I sleep! I SLEEP!
- I get to wear whatever I want. I don't have to worry about nursing or my kids' grimy little paws all over me.
- I get to eat food when it is supposed to be eaten. I eat it when it's still hot and delicious without a child on my lap and it is heaven.
- I get to watch a movie on the plane. The whole thing!
- I get to watch cable in the hotel. We don't have cable at home and even if we did, I wouldn't get to watch what I want. Me, a hotel bed, and cable make an awesome threesome.
I realize these guilty pleasures are tiny, but they leave me renewed and help fill a place in my heart that is just for me. Oh and the real truth is that I don't feel guilty about it at all. I am allowed to have fun. Mothers are allowed to enjoy their time without their kids.
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