If when someone asks you “business or pleasure?” you sigh and respond “business”, then you certainly have plenty of room for improving your travel experiences as a business person. The changing scenery, haphazard sleeping patterns, and a hectic pace of your days may not be as easy to handle, but your career and your wellbeing can both flourish with the right approach.
In case you’re searching for just that, there are a few simple, but effective ways to streamline your schedule, become better at time management, and make the most of even the shortest trips you take for business purposes. The goal is to someday respond to the abovementioned question with a smiling, unequivocal: “Both!”
Use your travel benefits
One of the greatest perks of regular business travel is that you can apply for rewards-based travel programs such as frequent flyer miles. Although there are different systems in place for each credit card in question, you can earn points based on the amount of money you spend (and where you spend it), and redeem those points in the form of free flights or other goods. It’s best to consider a range of options when you’re looking into the best air miles credit card for you, so as to find the solution that fits your own flying and buying habits.
Depending on how much you make annually, how often you travel, if you always use the same airline, if you travel locally or internationally, and the kinds of services you pay for with your credit card, you’d be surprised how affordable flying becomes when you have the right card in your hand. So, you can spice up your travels with discounted shopping, fine dining at a lower price, or free-of-charge airplane tickets simply because you’ve accumulated enough miles under your wings!
Have a go-to travel bag ready
Heading to a conference or to an educational seminar as a part of your office program? Or maybe you’re visiting the headquarters for a slew of important meetings with the management, or to train a team of new employees? The reasons for traveling on business can be very diverse, but your travel essentials found in your bag will rarely be that different. If anything, you always use the same travel-friendly outfit paired with one or two combinations that suit the climate and the weather forecast. Beyond that, everything is just details.
To completely eliminate the hustle and stress of packing for a business trip, have a carryon suitcase ready and packed for every season. That means a freshly pressed suit or a more casual variety of one neatly folded and ready to go, a pair of your go-to business shoes, and a bag of travel-friendly toiletries that you know will always pass the security. That way you’ll shave off hours of preparation that you can use for other, more relevant tasks such as preparing for the seminars or devising a plan for your free time.
Get the right insurance policy
You may be a fitness geek and a very active, healthy person, but when you’re on the go, a whole slew of things could go wrong in a heartbeat. Slips and falls during the winter are just an example of a simple, but possibly very dangerous moment that could have you in a hospital bed. Catching the flu while abroad is another problem often faced by frequent business travellers. To make sure you’re covered, you should look into travel-friendly insurance policies together with your employer.
Sometimes, your company already has an insurance partner in place precisely for employees such as yourself. Then again, if you have a specific health condition, such as chronic eczema or allergies, getting additional coverage for your trips is a wise choice to ensure the peace of mind you need to enjoy your travels. Also, make sure that your policy includes specific methods of transportation in case you need emergency evacuation, which could happen due to a car accident. Go over some of those specifics with your employer and look into something that makes financial sense, but that also gives you what you need.
Plan your time with balance in mind
One of the key reasons so many frequent travellers get stressed when they travel is the sheer fact that they plan for nothing more than those mandatory get-togethers, lectures, client calls, and the like. Although they do take up the majority of your time and it makes sense for them to be the focus of your planning, you still need to remember: you don’t work around the clock even when you’re at the office. Going home to rest and recuperate is a normal part of the day, and you shouldn’t forget that when you’re travelling.
Keeping up with a fitness routine of sorts will help you maintain some sort of balance in life. Whether you have resistance bands you can pack and carry with you, swim in the hotel pool, or hit the gym, setting aside an hour for your fitness is a must. The same goes for any extracurriculars such as visiting a museum you’ve always wanted to see or having brunch on your own as you soak in the views of a new city unravelling before you. Balance is the key to stress-free business travel.
Take your time when devising your own travel-friendly strategy. Use these tips to simplify your most common travel pitfalls and make sure that you’re all set in terms of your wellbeing and travel perks, and the rest will come as a result of refining and trial and error. All in all, you can certainly make all of your business trips far more pleasurable with a few changes in how you treat your trip.
