Road Warrior Chronicles: Top 10 Business Travel Tips
With the last of my Conferences behind me for this year, I am looking forward to (and not looking forward to) another conference packed year. This past year was one of my businesses travel years to date with almost one conference a month (excluding the summer vacation). They included:
- Enter Conference- Innsbruck, Austria
- ITB – Berlin, Germany
- Global Travel & Tourism Summit – Dubai
- On-line Revealed – Calgary, AB
- BC Chamber of Commerce AGM – Whistler, BC
- Florida Association of CVBs – Gainesville, FL
- Canadian Chamber of Commerce AGM – Quebec City, QC
- Ensemble Travel Conference – Las Vegas, NV
- PhoCusWright – Hollywood, CA
I found myself, over the course of the year, improving my travel packing habits and streamlining my processes in order to reduce my stress while traveling. I want to share what I have learned with you because I know these tips work:
2. Pack for convenience – Keep your liquids (soap, shampoo, etc.) in a Ziploc bag and in your toiletries bag at the top of your carry-on. When flying domestically, security generally doesn’t ask you to remove your toiletries but in Europe, you have to. Save yourself the hassle and plan for easy access to your liquids. Use a laptop bag that is easy to access, you ALWAYS have to remove your laptop at security, so save some time and get a bag that is easy to access.
3. Dress for Success – By this I mean success in getting through security as quickly as possible. Keep your belt, watch, wallet, change, etc. in your carry-on until after you have passed through security. Wear slip-on shoes or shoes that can be laced quickly. Trust me, this saves you having to take everything off in the line up at security. Oh, and wear pants that will stay up without a belt (that’s for all you low pant wearing home boys out there), I don’t really want to see your underpants in the security line.
4. Charge your mobile before you go – You never know when you’re going to need your phone and pulling out your trusty Blackberry or iPhone to find that the battery is low is just awful. I suppose you can pay $3 to charge it up using one of those airport charging stations but seriously, just make sure you plug it in the night before so you have a full charge, it makes life so much easier. For making long distance calls, use Skype. I used Skype to call home on my EEE PC and Nokia E61 and saved a bundle in hotel long distance fees and International roaming charges.
6. Consolidate your itinerary – Use a site like TripIt to consolidate your itinerary into one easy to read document. I’ve only just started using Tripit, but it is already proving to be a valuable planning resource. I have even been able to give my wife access to my travel schedule so she knows when and where I’ll be.
8. Avoid connections – CONNECTIONS INCREASE STRESS. In my experience, the fewer connections you have the better. Each time you have to connect to another flight, the greater your chances of missing the flight should something happen early on. Not to mention, if you do have to deal with a missed connection, you will have to reschedule all your subsequent connections (especially if you booked it yourself). To avoid this, use a meta-search tools like Yapta.com, Kayak.com, or FareChase.com for prices on direct flights across multiple suppliers or use an experience travel agent to find you the best routing.
9. Get a WIFI Membership or Lounge Pass – If you are a web junkie and can’t stand going for more than one flight without checking your email or writing a blog post and don’t want to spend a huge amount on your mobile data plan, then you will want a wifi connection or a pass to the airport lounge. I just found out that I have been upgraded to Aeroplan Select which gets me into the AirCanada lounges but if you don’t travel business but want the airport perks, you might want to check out Priority Pass. They’re lounge pass is a yearly subscription that gets you into most of the major lounges in the World. A highspeed wifi connection, a cup of coffee, and a comfy chair can definitely reduce your stress during a connection. Barring the Lounge, you can also use a service like Boingo, which has hotspots in thousands of locations. If you want more information on available hotspots, take a look at the airport wireless guide on travelpost.com.
10. Don’t sweat the small stuff – Take a deep breadth, give yourself plenty of time, and don’t sweat the small stuff. The better prepared you are before you go, the smoother your travels will be. Remember, there are things you can control (like the things I’ve mentioned in this list), but there are things you cannot control, like the weather, airport security, or natural disasters. Mitigate your stress by planning ahead and taking small steps to reduce your own burdeon. The rest will happen with or without you, just enjoy the ride.
Great post Stephen. If everyone took those tips to heart (like packing for the security line), it would make everyone’s life easier. There’s nothing worse than being prepared yourself but getting stuck behind a bozo in line!
Good tips, I want to downsize my laptop just for my commute not to mention conference hopping. Along with minimizing connections, I highly recommend skipping Chicago O’hare Airport in the winter. I have been stuck for hours due to blizzards too many times.
@Pat Oh man! I justed booked a flight that transfers through O’hare in January. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
@Nicole Exactly… but since I can’t control other people in line, the very least I can do is NOT contribute to the delays.
Thanks for the great advice!
I recently began planning a trip to Europe and came across a great new site called Peterman’s Eye Travel. Thought I’d share…
http://www.petermanseye.com/travel
Cheers!
Great tips indeed. Very helpful and practical suggestions.
OurExplorer – Tour Guide & Tourist Guide
local guides, local wisdom
I can get all business travel details in this blog and additional info about it.. I have been looking for a blog like this for past many months.. The points mentioned in this article are valid..
Business Travel Web
It can be a bit of a nightmare, business travel, I'm quite glad I don't have to do it. I've got friends who I hardly ever see because they're always off on company business. They get to stay in really swanky serviced apartments though, which would be nice but the whole don't-fall-asleep-during-a-conference thing would wear on me pretty quickly!
I think you have to include travel insurance in this.
I travel a lot and there is nothing worse than being stuck behind someone at security who waits until they get to the front to start taking off their belt and get the change from there pockets. Also I had a ASUS EEE netbook but have just purchased a Samsung which if anyone if in the market for a nice small laptop look at them.
Great tipps, will try them on my next trip.