For Those with Traveling Spouses

Most of the time, he drives himself. We live about 30 minutes from the airport. If he goes on a long trip (2 weeks), then on occasion, I have driven him if it works out with my schedule. Sometimes I work or the kids have a committment, so I can't. He doesn't mind that I do not drive him.

My husband travels every week and I definitely don't take him to the airport. That's a lot of wasted time, plus his company covers the cost of parking, gas, etc. I love my husband dearly and greatly enjoy whatever time I get to spend with him, but I don't need to take him to/from airport just to get an extra 20 minutes.

I take my husband to the airport. Even when its a 6am flight and the airport is an hour away. Its just easier for us, because then I can drive his company car for the time he is gone and use his company paid for gas. Plus, my son likes to go to say bye to daddy. Also, I like to spend the extra time together, since we won't be seeing him for a few days.

My husband travels quite a bit and he ALWAYS takes himself to the airport. It's only 20 min from us as well and the company pays his garage fee. If you don't have a husband that travels alot then you don't get it. Those 20 min. of "alone time" or however you want to look at it, aren't going to make or break a marriage. It's about the rest of the time when he's home that matters.

Both my husband and I travel for work... it depends on how long we're going to be gone and possible bad weather during our trip. If t-storms (midwest t-storms=hail) are predicted, we usually drop each other off at the airport and take the car home. If it's just a day or two we park at the airport. I guess we're at an advantage though because we get reimbursed mileage (roundtrip) if we drive the other to the airport.

I look at it a little as both. :) My 4 year old loves going to the airport so its fun for him. My hubby could put fees on his travel voucher, but he can also put gas on it so it works out.

My husband travels a LOT and has for the last 25 yrs. He drives his car and parks at the airport terminal covered parking.

We own our company and he submits all receipts to me and I run an expense report. He did the same thing when he worked for someone else.

There have been very few times in the many years that I have actually taken him to the airport and picked him up. Time=$$ and even though it is nice to have that little kiss goodbye, we do it at the door at home. it takes at least 2 hours of my time depending on traffic plus wear and tear on my car to run to and from the airport. That is 2 hrs I could be bringing in a profit for our company.

I am pretty close to a major airport, so I usually drop him off... If it makes him that much happier, I just suck it up! =)

My husband travels all the time and I do NOT drive him. What a waste of time and energy that would be for me. If it were a pleasure trip, fine but business when it is all reimbursed, no way. Even when we lived very close to the airpor (about 12 minutes) I didn't drive him.

If he wants "our" time, he'd really have to be a bit more creative than that. Ok so you get 20 mins of time together but then you have to drive home alone and it's yet another trip to drive someone somewhere. I'm sure you have enough of that with the kids. If it isn't working for you, it absolutely makes sense for him to drive himself. Definitely it would be a huge bother for me.

I do drive my H to/from airport or at least to the train station when the hours are OK with my schedule. I like this time with him. He is usually the sweetest during this time he is either about to miss us or just back from missing us. Sometimes I bring the kids. When he has to travel during inconvenient hours - he drives himself or takes a cab.
I do not know why you are considering giving your H a ride a favor to his colleagues... we just keep what my husband doesn't spend from his business expenses or he ends up buying more gifts (he always brings something for us when he returns).
I do sometimes resent the fact that he gets to fly away and chill in the lounge and then in a business class seat with a glass of wine and I have to drive back to "my life". But, honestly, it is very stressful and demanding to be him and to keep an appearance and to be cool all the time, and to make important decisions. On the other hand, I get to go home and put on my fluffy robe and sleep with my baby boy next to me every night and smell his hair and maybe my teenager will camp in my bedroom while daddy is gone (I do not want to smell him anymore), and I get to paint my nails in the living room while watching TV and no one to tell me it smells bad :) - so there are perks to being me. When I drive back from dropping him off I also remind myself that there will be no cooking for him (and that is 2-3 different meals a day!) and no laundry or dry cleaning while he is gone and he will be returning missing us with smiles and gifts - so it is not so bad after all.
I'd say if your H considers it "together" time - give in 50% of the time. To make him happy, to make him miss you when you are not there and another 50% just find some excuse to keep your sanity. Men need to be refused something once a while to keep them on their toes.
Good luck.

I travel for work, and have for 15 years, and have never asked my husband to drive me to the airport. I think that's a waste of time for him, especially when he has to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility with regard to kids, house, meals, etc while I am gone. Adding one more chore to his list doesn't really seem like a nice thing to do. Plus, most of the time I'm on an early flight... I think he'd divorce me if I asked him to wake up at 4:30 to drive me to the airport! HA!

Have you shared your point of view with him? Sometimes men are kind of clueless about stuff like that. Maybe you should tell him that driving him to the airport is okay once in a while, but you would really rather have "our" time together involve a babysitter, dinner out, maybe a movie...

If parking is paid for then he drives himself. Sometimes when he gets back, his plane comes in late evening and I'm not hauling the kids out at 10pm to pick him up!!!

When my DH travels for work he usually drives himself... but that's mainly because he works literally 2 miles from the airport (as opposed to coming from the house which is 30 miles - 40 minutes- away) He usually leaves in the middle of the day, so he has to be at work for a bit anyway. The kids and I do take him once in awhile and we love it.

And yeah... when he goes out of town I have to do life with the kids on my own, but then he has to do work pretty much ALL day. DH doesn't get to have a break from work... it's work talk all the time, work dinners, work meetings, and during "down times" it's analyzing work data and papers... ok, yeah he's got the plane ride but he's still on a work trip. It's not like he's going on vacation without me.

Besides, I'm used to being by myself with the kids... M, W and F he is gone from 6:30a-9:30p (work and karate), then on T and Th he's gone from 6:30a-5:30p then I leave at 5:45p to do my work... weekends are always a mixture of karate tournaments and my appointments and Girl Scouts... pure family time is few and far between...

I'm the sort of person who generally lives by the outlook that every day might be your last (or your husband's or your child's). I know that, even in the midst of that thinking, there are chores that have to be done and errands that have to be accomplished. And sometimes, admittedly, I run myself a little ragged. Other days, I don't always live it out as well as I should. Still. I'd take your man to the airport, even if it's the middle of the night. I'd cherish the conversation on the way, even if it's just about the domestic little things of your shared life together. And I'd linger a little over that last kiss and hug, and wave until you can't see him anymore. Let him know that home's not the same without him there and that he is missed and loved. And be there when he steps off the plane to kiss and hug him enthusiastically and help him gather his bags. It sounds like it matters to him, like this is a way that he FEELS loved (Check out Five Love Languages... my "from the couch" guess is that he's a quality time kind of guy and you're an acts of service kind of gal). Show him that you do. :) The chores will wait. And there'll be more of them tomorrow, no matter how much you get accomplished today. :)

Read this! It's about parenting but the same could be said of our marriages. :) http://evlogiaonline.com/2010/11/10/maybe-later/

When I read your question my feeling was that your husband wants that cherishing kiss-goodbye moment to take with him when he travels. Which is sweet, if you think about it.

Maybe you can talk to him about how taking him to the airport every time is problematic. Then make sure he gets that moment when the cab arrives at the house. I know when I go away for a few days, there's always this moment when I think 'I may never see you again!', and it feels silly to think that, but it could be true. For the sake of your marriage, I would invest in those little moments of deep eye contact and say you're really going to miss him.

my husband gets off on the passionate embrace and goodbye kiss. like a man going off to war. you know what they say.....what you won't do, another woman will! so, indulge him! get your passionate kiss. enjoy it!

How long is he gone and what time is the flight? If it is under a week, then I am all for letting him go on his own and come back on his own, but my hubby is military so some "business trips" can be over a year long so in that case I drive him...

My husband hasn't travelled much in the last couple of years, but for the first 14 years we were together (2 years dating/12 years married) he travelled a lot. Sometimes it was only once a month, but there were years when he was gone almost every other week. I told him before we got married that I was not dropping off or picking up from the airport. In my opinion, it was a waste of my time. Plus I was working full time in the beginning and then we had kids. His flights leave and arrive at crazy hours sometimes. Then factor in flight delays and cancellations (and there have been many more than I can count over the years) and it was more of a hassle than I am willing to deal with. Depending on how long he'll be gone, he either parks at the airport or gets a car to pick him up and bring him home. And his company pays for it.

In all the years we've been together, I drove him to the airport once. (I should say he drove there and I rode with him so I could drive the car home after he hopped out at the terminal.) And that was because his alarm didn't go off and I woke him up about an hour before his flight took off. And yes, he made his flight, but it was before 9/11.

Troy has a van full of equipment so I don't have to drop him off. The closest I dealt with was driving an hour and a half cause his van broke down in the middle of nowhere.

If he had to go to the airport I would say what is logical would be done. In other words if I had the time I would but I sure wouldn't be killing myself for a few minutes of us time.

now that my kids are older I'll drive and/or pick him up, if he can't get a ride any other way. We both prefer for his truck to be at home, so that a) it's in a safer location than an airport parking lot and b) if I need it for something I have it available.

When my kids were little (and we only had one car) it all depended on the time of day he left/arrived if I'd take him or not. The times I didn't he'd either take public transit or a shuttle bus.

Well, when mine traveled it was driving ... however, I never mind dropping anyone off at the airport. I think it's the time in the car that is nice.

We're in Cape Town and there is NO WAY I'm driving to the airport and back early morning or after dark. My safety and sanity are well worth the price for the cab and my husband completely agrees!!

I prefer to take my husband because I like having his car at home (so people don't know he is gone)...also I like taking the kids with if possible. They like seeing Daddy get on the plane and arrive home...Maybe I am silly, but its just a little more quality time we get.

You have to deal with kids/house/chores either way, so why not steel away a few minutes of peace in between. I think maybe its more envy that he is leaving than actually taking him? Just a thought...