Traveling Adventures

Sometimes when we are traveling on business, it is easy to let costs get out of control.  But if you are working from a per diem or have other constraints on your travel budget, you should learn some cost cutting methods that you can put into effect that won’t make your life miserable on the road.

These cost-cutting ideas are not just to stay out of trouble with the budget people back at the home office.  Often businesses have a set budget for business travel and once it is gone, no further trips can be made during that budget year.  So if you anticipate the need for more business trips in months ahead, it is prudent to keep an eye on costs as you go so you can conserve that limited budget to facilitate important trips yet to come.

Economizing on the road can be difficult because you are put right in the middle of the hospitality industry which, while good at making you feel comfortable and providing for your needs, hotels and restaurants are also good at running up your tab.  But there are some easy ways to sidestep a lot of unnecessary spending so you can stretch your business travel budget.

*    Eat before you go.  Airport restaurants or snack bars are notoriously overpriced.  So even if you are leaving early in the morning, have breakfast and get well satisfied before leaving home so you don’t have to buy food en route.

*    Wise packing.  Think through your life in the hotel and on the road.  You can buy travel sizes of almost everything you will need.  Moreover, you can pack some light and easy to carry snacks such as trail mix, candy bars or nuts that can be used to tide you over during the trip until you can get a good meal.  By being self-dependent during the trip, you save a lot by not using airport services.

*    A hotel is just a bed, a shower and a TV.  When booking your accommodations, think about where you should stay.  If you don’t need a luxury hotel, don’t book one.  If you are just staying the night in one place and then moving on, a clean, well run motel can take care of you just as well as the executive suite at the Hilton.

*    Share that ride.  If you are traveling as a party or you are meeting business partners at the destination, you can share cabs or rental vehicles and save business costs as well as conserve on burring fossil fuels unnecessarily.

*    Markets and delis.  You can even eat economically in a big town like New York or Orlando by using the same sense you have at home.  By taking an early trip to a nearby grocery, you can stock your room with fruits and travel foods and cut down on the amount of meals you have to eat out.

*    Public transportation.  If the town you re traveling to has safe and workable subways or other public transpiration, that can be much more efficient for you than renting a car.  Washington DC for example has outstanding rail transport that you can use rather than rent a car.

By using some of the same good common sense you use at home to keep expenses under control for your home budget, you can not only live inexpensively on the road, you can actually live better.  And by not allowing yourself to be overcharged for some very basic goods and services, you will feel better about your business outing and become known in your company as a smart traveler.

Business travel can be a productive, enjoyable and even exciting experience.  The time you spend doing business in other locations expands your business reach and scope and broadens you as a person as well.  Getting skilled at business travel is a solid business goal because there are skills related to business travel and being productive on the road that are impossible to learn if you don’t get out there and travel.

Many of the skills associated with business travel have to do with how to live productively on the road.  This is especially important if you find yourself on a lengthy business trip.  The life of moving in and out of hotels, traveling by car or airplane and the stresses of the work can wear down even the most robust and experienced business traveler.

Maintaining a healthy diet while traveling for business is a serious challenge and one that really can only be accomplished with some serious planning.  You will inevitably find yourself eating in a lot of restaurants on the road and that kind of food does not lend itself to a diet that is designed for weight loss or for a diet you must maintain for health reasons.

The first but biggest step forward to achieving diet goals while traveling is to communicate your desires to your traveling companions.  In a business setting, there is often a lot of encouragement to eat and drink well.  Everybody is on the expense account so it is easy to overdo it.  But if you let your coworkers and clients know you have compelling reasons to maintain a disciplined diet, most of the time they will respect that and find ways to help you be successful.

Another trick of business travel is not to depend on restaurants for your meals entirely.  If you can get out to a market early in the trip and purchase some fresh fruit and vegetables, you can prepare some healthy food in your room to fill you up and keep you on track. Then if you find that you must eat in a restaurant to discuss business with coworkers or build relationships with the client, your appetite will be low so you can get by on much less.

You can also be a voice for moderation in the selection of eating establishments for your meals.  Obviously, fast food is not going to be a good choice for you.  So if there is discussion about where to stop, you can vote for a place that serves a good variety of meal choices including some healthy choice menu options.  In that way if you must eat in a restaurant, you can find items to order that can be prepared in accord with your diet needs.

You will be surprised how many allies you will find both in your travel associates and with those you are doing business with at your destination who have diet goals but have not been successful because of the temptations of the life on the road.  Your open statement of intent to stick to your diet in spite of the rigors of business travel can be a tremendous inspiration to them.  Moreover, by building partnerships in your intent to live healthy, it is entirely possible to take your business to a healthy restaurant or deli and allow the rest of the party to go to a place of their liking.  As long as this is done without animosity, everybody wins.

Avoiding alcohol and snacks can be a huge challenge on the road as well.  Very often in a seminar setting or during a long day of discussions, the host company or office will provide cookies or other snacks to help the meeting go well by keeping everybody’s blood sugar up.  These snacks are going to be hard to resist.  One way to help yourself in that situation is to be prepared with your own snacks in your brief case to bring out to substitute for the unhealthy food being provided.

By thinking ahead about your diet needs and how you will provide for yourself while traveling, it is possible to sustain a healthy lifestyle even during business trips.  By supplementing theses steps with exercise and rest, you may find that your weather the trip much better than those who abuse their bodies and find yourself more productive as a business person as well because you made the effort to eat well on the road.

As with any area of specialization, there are business travelers who always seem to know what they are doing and those who constantly seem to be in a state of crisis.  The business traveler who has been at it a while figures out some insider information that not many travelers know.  These little travel secrets make the world of difference when traveling.  And you can bet they are not going to share this information with just anyone because this is the kind of information that can change the nature of your business travel forever.

Your laptop is a crucial piece of equipment as you travel.  In an airport emergency situation, your wireless laptop can be used to change reservations so you can avoid those long lines to get on the next flight out.  You can reserve a rental car or snag one of the few remaining hotel rooms in town right from the comfort of a seat at the airport.  Then the savvy business traveler can casually stroll to his or her designation as others around them panic because they knew how to leverage technology and the internet to bail themselves out of a crisis situation.

But one aspect of using your laptop to rescue yourself when the airport is in shut down is the limited power of laptops.  To see your battery go dead just when you needed it the most is like watching your ship sink as the sharks circle the lifeboat.  What not many people know is that there are open electrical outlets in airports that are there for cleaning crews if you know where they are.  Usually these outlets are just under the windows that overlook the landing strips so if you can secure a seat near these outlets, you can charge up your laptop and keep your lifeline to the world alive.

Business travelers also know how to take full advantage of resources that are made available to business travelers exclusively.  Find hotels that cater to the traveling businessperson.  These hotels will not have amenities for families nor are they trying to bring in busses of teenagers on the way to camp.  So you can find a hotel with much fewer young people making noise and being a nuisance when you are trying to focus on business.

In addition to using businesses that cater to the business traveler, take advantage of frequent flyer and priority clubs that many airlines and hotels offer.  If you are going to travel a lot, you can rack up some credits on those clubs, which can result in upgrades to first class, better accommodations or free services when you stay at your selected hotels.  They win because they capture your travel dollar.  You win because you get pampered for a while.

You can gain a lot of convenience and reduce your hassles by using a less popular airport to come into town.  By utilizing an airport in a smaller town near by and renting a car, you get out of the congestion of traffic and can drive to your destination without that exposure to the masses all pushing and shoving to get through the major hubs.

Extra copies of travel documents can speed things up a lot especially if you are leaving the country.  Often when you are going through customs, you must surrender your passport so the customs agent can make a copy.  So you make a copy before you get there and give it to them.  With a quick scan, they can confirm that it is a legitimate copy and have you on your way much quicker.

Don’t overlook how public transportation can bail you out of dealing with a lot of traffic in large city situations.  In Washington or New York, the subways work exceptionally well.  If you can get out of the airport area via mass transit, you can find a rental car location in town and conduct your business with less wait and without the traffic jams you would face at the airport.  Plus airport rental car sites are more expensive than those in town.

These little tips can go a long way toward making your trip less of a hassle, less expensive and more successful.  By knowing how to get around the big crowds and use the resources made available to business travelers, your trip will be more efficient, more relaxed and more successful.