7 Valentine’s Day Survival Tips When You’re Away from Your Loved One

With Valentine’s Day being on a weekday this year, chances are if you travel for business you’ll be away from your sweetie on this day. Me? I’ll be an entire continent away from my husband.

Valentine’s Day is about the worst day of the year to be eating dinner alone in a restaurant, if you can even get into a nice restaurant. Surrounded by lovey-dovey couples, it’s easy to feel like the loneliest person on the planet. You miss your loved one and want to be with him. You don’t want to be watching all the hand-holding and kissing going on everywhere you look. Deep in thought, you might question why you travel at all or have thoughts of finding a new career where you’d never again be away from home on special days like this.

Before you hang up your TSA-bag of liquids for good and swear off travel, here are some survival tips for spending a Valentine’s Day away from your loved one:

1. Plan a dinner with friends or co-workers who are also ‘going solo’ for the evening. A few years ago I had dinner with four co-workers, all women but one. We easily got a large table at a restaurant (who else wanted a table for 5?), one red rose (which we gave to our male friend), and had a great time.
2. Ask your hotel if they offer in-room massage services and enjoy an evening of pampering in the privacy of your room.



3. Hang out at the nearest mall. Nothing like a little shopping to take the glum out of your evening, and pick up a special something for your partner for when you get back home.
4. Pick up a bouquet of flowers, or even just one red rose, for your hotel room to give it a more special feeling. Of course, if your honey sends flowers to your hotel, all the better!
5. Spend the evening on the phone with your spouse or partner. Have a ‘remember why I feel in love with you‘ conversation. Yes, you’ll feel sad when you hang up, but you’ll have happy loving memories to help you fall asleep.
6. Better than a phone call, get on Skype video call with your partner and do your own air-kissing and hugging across the miles.
7. Order a glass of wine from room service (heck, order the whole bottle!) and read a good book while in a bubble bath.

So what will I be doing on the evening of Valentine’s Day when I’m 5,000 miles away from my husband? I think I’ll go with Survival Tips 4, 6 and 7. First the flowers, then the Skype call, followed up with a long relaxing soak in the tub.

How about you?

About The Author

Carol Margolis

Carol Margolis is a travel-loving consultant, speaker, trainer and innovator who works with corporate travel management, HR departments, meeting planners and the travel industry -- and, of course, travelers! She offers tactics and tools to help travelers who want simple, fun strategies for traveling smart. Carol is a frequent TV and radio guest, appearing on Good Morning America, CNN, Fox TV, in USA Today, New York Times, Reuters and much more. Follow her at both SmartWomenTravelers.com and BusinessTravelSuccess.com. .