Improving your business travel experience
I travel. A lot.
Community work (whether as a community manager or consultant) has kept me moving around the globe pretty frequently. My family asks me regularly how I keep sane when I spend so much time dealing with hotels, airport security, weary travelers, and airline seats. Good. Damn. Question.
I’ve developed some tips and tricks over the years that really help improve my experience and may help you as well. Mileage may vary since everyone travels differently. (I’ve blogged about this topic before, if you’re interested)
The first thing to know about travel improvement is that you have to start to heavily assess yourself as you travel. What makes you irritated? What improves your mood? When do you get hungry? What causes you problems sleeping on the road? What do you miss most about home? For me the idea “romance” of travel was gone long ago. I find myself looking for similarity to home, not a removal of that similarity. I work hard in my travel prep to create an experience as close to home as possible. When things feel “like home”, it’s easier to move between the world of Hilton Hotels and American Airlines and my own car and bed.
Packing
- Find the right bag - I’m on a nearly constant search for the right bag. I’ve run the wheels off several bags and my current TravelPro (the same brand the flight crews tend to use) is just about to fall into a fine dust. Finding the right bag(s) for your travel needs can seriously improve the experience. When you’re not having to futz with weird pockets, or you’re able to reduce two bags into one, things go so much more smoothly. Don’t worry too much about buying the wrong bag and not liking it. Chances are, you’ll find a use for it. I have a tiny rolling bag for my overnights and a medium sized one for my longer trips. It’s worth the cost to have less bag to deal with on overnights.
- Reduce every ounce - I seriously pack to reduce ounces. If I can take half a tub of toothpaste rather than the new, full one, I do. If I can eliminate one of two USB cords, I do. If I can get away with a jacket that’s slightly thinner than the one before, I do. When you’re having to lug things around with you, every ounce reduced is an ounce that’s not putting strain on your back.
- You can’t lose what you don’t bring - In addition to reducing back strain, leaving home every last ounce has another benefit - there’s less to leave on the road. Rip your CDs and DVDs, don’t bring cables if you’re not going to use them, leave the iPod at home if you don’t think you’ll use it.
- Don’t forget the Ziploc bag - In case you don’t know, the TSA now requires all of your carry-on toiletries are put in a zipper top Ziploc bag. (More info) If you can’t reduce it down that far, you’ll have to check it. Keep in mind this is just for liquids and gels. Put that baggie at the top of you bag so you can easily unzip the bag and grab it quickly. Make sure to carry an extra one because these things do break eventually.
- Duplicate your toiletries - I have a Ziploc bag that has every toiletry that I’ll need. This is a duplicate of what I use when I’m at home so I never need to “pack it”, I just grab and go. It’s hard to forget anything when everything is bundled up.
- Bag o’ Bottles - I recently bought a “Bag o’ Bottles” at Linens & Things that has a bunch of under 3oz bottles and filled them up with things I use that don’t come in sizes less than 3 ounces (which is to say most “travel” sizes). These days, 3 oz is the max for liquids and gels.
- Shop smart - When you shop for clothes to wear on trips, spend the extra money on the wrinkle free clothing. Don’t mix outfits that require brown shoes and black shoes, pick one color shoes and shop around that. Buy reversible belts, but look at the metal in the buckle (more on this in a second).
- Create a Bag o’ Cables - I have a single bag of cables that I take with me on every trip. It’s a refined version of everything I might need for a presentation, charging my devices, and using my gadgets. I never have to think “Do I need an extra cable?” I just have them all in that bag. Grab the bag and go. Here’s my bag, and here’s the contents.
Security line
- Pick up your security bins! - One of my biggest annoyances with my fellow travelers is the sheer rudeness displayed by leaving your plastic bins on the conveyer belt after they go through the x-ray. Pick them up and move them to the end of the belt! It’s not only a display of good manners and common courtesy, it keeps the entire process flowing faster by keeping room on the belt open.
- Think about your belt, watch, and rings - Remember I said that in order to get better at traveling, you have to constantly assess yourself throughout the process? One of the things that can make going through the security line faster is to ensure that you know what’s going to set off the metal detector. If you have a watch set it off once, plan on it setting it off every time. Same for belts, etc. Even better, I try to find belts that are reversible but have as little metal concentration as possible.
- Pay attention to the line - Seriously, watch how fast things are moving. Untie your shoes before you get your bins. Get your laptop out of your bag early. Be ready to grab your ziploc baggie quickly.
- Don’t complain - Seriously. The lines normally move pretty fast these days, so try not to get yourself worked up or others around you upset by complaining about the wait time. It’s not a funny joke to talk about the slow wait times either.
General travel
- Don’t put it on your back - One of the biggest tricks I’ve learned over the years is that backpacks and sling bags are killers on your back when you travel. If you can’t find a bag that easily stacks on top of your rolling back, go buy one that does.
- Bring your own smells - For me, one of the biggest reminders that I’m not home is the odd smells that hotel soap and shampoo gives off. I bring along my own of both, using the Bag o’ Bottles collection.
- Spend money on the most comfortable shoes you can afford - Sorta speaks for itself. Travel = walking.
- Don’t EVER use the hotel iron with water in it - I can’t count the times a hotel iron has spewed funky brown water out the steam holes. Empty the iron of ALL water before plugging it in. I have a small, empty spray bottle (from my bag o’ bottles) that I use for water, but if you’re without such a thing, simply fill up a water glass high enough to be able to stick your fingers in to get them good and wet. Then flick water over your garment and iron away.
International travel
- Fighting time induced jet lag - When going from the US to Europe (and I assume other points), you take off at night and land in the early morning, local time. It’s really, really tempting to head to bed as soon as you can once you land, but don’t! As soon as you check into your room, take a cool shower, get dressed in fresh clothes, grab something to eat, then get out and take a walk. Go to bed at a normal time, even if early then wake up the next morning fully time adjusted!
- Drink water. Lots and lots of water - Skip the Coke, skip the tomato juice, skip the cocktails. Drink water. I don’t know how it works, but it helps.
- Bring Brushups - These cool quasi-toothbrushes are really handy. It’s amazing how much a fresh mouth and a some water splashed on your face can do to make you feel like you’ve gotten a decent night’s rest.
- Bring a neck pillow - Whether you choose a buckwheat, foam, or inflatable, get one of the U-shaped neck pillows and use it. Not only does it keep your neck from flopping around and giving you a kink, it helps keep you from snoring… which helps you and your fellow passengers.
- Bring some sort of noise canceling headphones - It’s amazing how much the lack of white noise affects your energy level. Even though the Bose QuiteComfort are pricey, they’re amazing. I love that you can remove the cord if you’re not using them for music/movies and walk around with them on. I personally like the ones that go fully over the ear versus on top of the ear because they are vastly more wearable for 8+ hour trips.
- Plan for the cig smoke - When you travel in the US, you can usually get away with wearing a jacket more than once or a pair of pants two days. But (at least in Europe) there is so much cigarette smoke that everything you have will smell. Bad. Don’t count on rewearability in most places.
- Learn the language, at least the important stuff - Every new country I go to, I learn “please”, “thank you”, and “excuse me” in the local language. In most parts of Europe you can find someone who speaks English, but when you say one of those three words in the local language before you start with your English questions, it vastly improves the desire to help.
And you? What are you travel tips?
Related Entries
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- ASK: 12 tips to help enjoy SXSWi
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