Stress Free Business Travel
Relax and enjoy your business trip with these tips
When traveling for business, it’s all go and it’s no wonder that busy executives sometimes get stressed out. But there’s a lot you can do to reduce the hassle of business travel, and it starts right from the planning stages.
Planning And Booking Your Business Trip
Gone are the days when planning a business trip meant schlepping to travel agencies or spending hours on the phone. You can search for the best route online, and make travel arrangements that are both cost effective and comfortable. And it’s not just the actual flight you can book - you can also pre-book accommodation, offsite airport parking, rental cars and sightseeing trips.
Fly direct if you can, but if you can’t, then leave some flexibility in the schedule. This is good both for missed connections and for your own health. Making your connection a couple hours later than your inward flight will free you from a possible five mile jog across an airport with your luggage. Believe me, I’ve done it and it’s no fun at all.
Travel Tips
Choose a reliable airline. Many sites offer data on which airlines experience fewest delays. This could make your journey much more pleasant. if you are a frequent flyer, then pick an airline that serves most of your regular destinations and join the frequent flyer program. That will give you lots of travel perks, and it works for airlines, car hire and parking too.
If you’re on a short trip, travel light with just a laptop and a carry-on. This will cut down on security checks and make it quicker to leave the airport at your destination. If you are on a longer trip, keep important documents with you (you can print them out ahead of time) so you won’t have to worry about messing up an important presentation if your luggage goes missing or gets damaged. You can also use travel time to study any important notes or documents before your meeting.
Keeping Tabs On Your Business
Technology is your friend. With a good cell phone, pager, laptop or any combination of the three, you don’t need to leave the rest of your work behind when you’re on a business trip. You can keep tabs on the latest information and handle urgent situations while heading to your next destination.
Allow for some down time. If you’re lucky, your company is flexible about the fact that you’re traveling on your own time. Leave some time to relax and have fun. It will help you be a more effective business person and will protect your health too.
Finally, if you are a regular traveler, make a checklist for everything you need to accomplish before you travel and print it out before your next trip. This will streamline your travel arrangements and remove even more of the stress from your business trip.
Photo: Clara Natoli
Tags: business travel, business travel tips, business trip, travel, Travel Tips
