Travel with a new puppy at home

Hi all! I am about to adopt a puppy of my very own for the first time in my life and have a question.

I’ve already got my flight scheduled to pick up my Pomeranian puppy from the breeder on February 15th, but have just been booked on short notice for an out of state conference presentation for work on the 21st. It’ll be a quick trip and I’ll be gone for just under 48 hours (leave early Thursday morning and arrive home late on Friday night), but obviously this is a hiccup and I’m trying to figure out the best way to make it easy on the puppy.

I plan to crate train and am hoping to avoid using pee pads to make house training easier (although the breeder has been using pee pads with her so far and says she’s doing great with them). I have a neighbor who would be able to feed her and take her out once or twice a day but I can’t reasonably ask them to take her outside every two hours.

The breeder says it would be okay to set up a playpen containing a crate and a potty pad (pad outside but nearby the crate of course) and keep her in the pen while I’m gone. I feel awful having to leave her alone like that so soon after adopting her but there’s no way to reschedule the conference or picking her up from the breeder. Does this sound like the best way to manage this, or is there a better solution?

I’m worried about this early speed bump causing problems with crate training, house training, and separation anxiety later on. Are there any strategies I can use to mitigate any issues?

Thank you so much for your insight and advice, yall! 🫶🫶