I played hooky from a work conference to spend the day with my daughter. Our adventures were well worth the guilt.

""Should I go to the first day of the conference or see my daughter?" I asked my group of fellow family travel writers during a Zoom meeting ahead of our work conference. The conference would be held in New York City, where my 20-year-old daughter lives and goes to college. My original plan was to attend the two-day conference and just have dinner with her, but then she surprised me with news. She had the whole day free, while I was in town."

"Growing up, I watched " Ferris Bueller's Day Off" so many times I could've stepped in as his understudy. But in high school, I wasn't the one jumping on parade floats or outsmarting the principal. I was more like Jeanie, the rule-following sister who never once considered skipping school. So why did I love the movie? It wasn't just funny. It was the idea of being a maverick."

"Our CityPASS was our "hall pass," giving us admission to the Guggenheim, the Empire State Building, and Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. The Guggenheim was first. As an art major, this was her pick. When I first saw her in the middle of the room surrounded by art, she had a huge smile on her face. I'd like to think it was because she was happy to see me (which I think she was), but it t"

I had a work conference in New York City where my 20-year-old daughter attends college. I chose to skip the conference's first day to spend time with my daughter after she told me she had the day free. We used a CityPASS to visit the Guggenheim, the Empire State Building, and Top of the Rock and played tourists. My daughter, an art major, smiled in the Guggenheim surrounded by artwork. I framed the decision against a lifelong habit of rule-following and an affinity for Ferris Bueller's maverick spirit. The bonding time made the guilt of missing the conference worth it.

Read at Business Insider