News Summary

• A trip in November 2025 brought home just how complex my family life has become.
• For a moment, my husband and I were in the air at the same time, crossing the Indian Ocean in opposite directions.
• Our children, aged five and eight, were being looked after by a combination of grandparents and close friends.
• I am an environmental chemist and my husband lectures in psychology.
• Both of us find ourselves in an academic system that assumes a much simpler reality.
• Trying to balance it all often leads to some truly absurd scheduling on my part: early flights, late returns and tight turnarounds.
• My personal record is four connecting flights in a single trip simply because that complicated route got me home two hours earlier than a more direct one, just in time for my children’s bedtime.