Interview with a Traveling Dad: Chris Brogan

Disclaimer: I bugged the poo out of this poor man until he broke down and graciously agreed to answer these questions. Before you read this, pretend you are Wayne and Garth and repeat to yourselves, “We’re not worthy”.

Chris Brogan is a Strategist/Advisor of Enterprise Tech and Social Media. In other words, he’s the Shiznit, The Man, or whatever name you want to call him, but I’m pretty sure he prefers Chris. He’s also a Traveling Dad and founder of Dad-o-Matic, a place for dads to share thoughts and ideas about parenting. Chris also educates people about technology and the practices around it with his personal blog, ChrisBrogan.com.

For those of you in the blogosphere that haven’t heard of Chris, consider this your introduction to one of the Gurus of Social Media. He’s been married since 2000 and has two children that he knows of, one 6 years old and the other almost 3. He and his family make their home in Northern Massachusetts. Chris also travels extensively throughout the year, schooling the masses on all things tech and social media and is working on his next book. He also recently brought up the question of how Tourist Bureaus can reach bloggers during a visit to St. Louis, and this topic has generated some big buzz in the travel industry.

Do you travel without your family a lot? Does your wife travel without the family?

Almost never in both cases, at least not in airplanes. Funny timing, as my wife is about to take the kids on a solo trip up to Newfoundland.
 
What does your wife think about this (you traveling)?

She and I have a good relationship around my travel. When I’m home, I’m VERY home. I play with the kids a lot. I take my daughter to school often. I take them places and do all that fun dad stuff (plus the hard parts). It ends up being a balance. And this job I love, so I’m overall much happier. When I was home more often but in a crap job, I was a far less engaged dad.

Do you take family getaways? If so, where is your family’s favorite place to go?

We haven’t done it a lot. I think I’m a scaredy cat of how it’s going to be to wrangle all the kids in some delightful foreign location. We do lots of day trips and the occasional overnighter up in New England. But then, I haven’t had a “real” vacation in forever.  

Do you and your wife ever get a chance for a romantic escape?

We can measure those opportunities in hours, not days.

Any tips for our female readers on how to make a Dad’s life easier when they travel? Any tips for the dads out there?

For both sides of the gender, my thought is this: be very clear. If you’re into peace and quiet on a beach, and your spouse is into gambling at casinos, the time to discover these things isn’t while shuffling for the credit card to book a flight, and even worse when you’re at the destination. Another idea: families on vacation are fairly tightly knit. If there’s a way to give mom and dad solo trips of a few hours, where the other spouse wrangles, that’s a nice way to double-dip on the sense of a vacation.
 
What is your pet travel peeve?

Power. I’m a business traveler. I need power strips everywhere. Yes, I can bring one (and often do), but I’m frustrated that hotels haven’t rigged themselves even more appropriately for today’s gadget-laden traveler.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Newfoundland. I’ve been twice, and it’s like Ireland over on this side of the ocean. It’s a great mix of Canada’s best people, a rustic scenery, cold weather (which I prefer), and a different pace of living.

Thanks so much to Chris Brogan for taking the time to answer these questions for TravelingMamas.com. After reading through his answers, this man is in SERIOUS need of either a romantic getaway or a family vacation at an all-inclusive resort where he and his wife can relax while the kids have fun. If you are interested in social media, then visit his site at ChrisBrogan.com. He is one of the most awesome Social Media Gurus and is active on Twitter.

And for those of you who “get it”, Mariska Hargitay.