Spousetivities: What it means to me
Travel With Me
This was just my second time that I have been fortunate enough to attend VMworld in San Francisco. Last year I traveled to the conference solo as I would normally attend any IT conferences that I am interested in. I’ve always loved the thought of my wife traveling with me to an event in hopes of having a nice dinner or night out away from home. Unfortunately she, travels approximately 75% of the year working in a support role as well. So adding more travel to her schedule is usually almost out of the question.
I know for a fact she’s heard plenty of my virtualization geek talk and has probably thought “Why would I want to hang out in some random hotel in San Francisco while you geek talk all day long while I am sitting here bored out of my mind?”. Well she’s absolutely right, why leave her behind a locked door of a hotel room or expect her to “find her way around the city” while I am enjoying myself with promises of new technology for the future?
Spousetivities
During VMworld 2014 is when I had first heard about Spousetivities, or Spouse Activities. I still wasn’t 100% clear on what this program was all about until taking the time to read up on it after returning home. Spousetivities is an amazing program that was created by Crystal Lowe, spouse of the VMware unicorn, Scott Lowe. You see, Crystal once had those same thoughts as my wife Heather did. Why would she want to go to an IT conference and not enjoy herself during the day and then be able to link back up with her husband for dinner or after parties? And with that Spousetivities was born. (Have a look at this years events & sponsors)
It didn’t take much persuasion to talk my wife into signing up for Spousetivities. With so many great options for day trip events and at such affordable prices, it was almost a no-brainer. Luckily for me and my family, Heather is stepping down from her road warrior position October 1st so her travel schedule had changed quite a bit since 2014 making this years trip to VMworld much easier to coordinate and setup fun activities!
Spousetivities @ VMworld 2015
Spousetivities was an instant hit. For Heather and myself. I know for my wife it was an overall great experience and she couldn’t wait to tell me the details of her day time travels in & around San Francisco (I wont tell too much, as she will be posting about her experiences also). For me, it was a wonderful feeling to know my wife was not stuck in a room with a TV and was out and about enjoying life with new friends.
More Spousetivities Needed!
My wife & I are travelers/explorers at heart, so knowing that she was able to see parts of the city, taste new foods, meet new people, and tour the wine country was absolutely awesome to me. I just wish more conferences would have Crystal & Spousetivities on the docket to help other families experience the local city & cultures like my wife was able to do in San Fran.
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/spousetivities
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/crystal_lowe
- Web: http://spousetivities.com/