When it comes to travelling for business, especially air travel, it can be an exhausting and sometimes a stressful experience. Dealing with other travellers, organising transfers, getting through security, booking accommodation – it can all add up to a lot of time wasted for the busy business person. Luckily, there are ways to take the stress out of travel and by being prepared and sticking to what you know can go a long way to turning a potentially difficult trip into an easy one.
Planning Ahead
When the requirement to travel regularly for business is expected, travellers can save a lot of time by planning ahead and pre-booking anything that can be booked in advance. Nowadays, companies like Jettly are making private air travel really easy. They provide everything through their app including airport transfers, accommodation, meals, transfers between accommodation and meetings, etc.
For organising transport, whether this is airport-hotel transport or transport during your business stay, contact your hotel for a trusted taxi company and pre-agreed distance costs. Avoid using city or council-supplied taxis, as they tend to cost more and have been known to take unfamiliar travellers on longer routes to drive up the fare.
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While there are many travellers that prefer to shop around for accommodation, sometimes the best option is to find the highest-rated property in the best-connected location, at the top end of your budget and stick to it. While the per-night cost will be higher than shopping around, you’ll find you are better compensated in service, offering left luggage facilities, providing higher-quality facilities and meals. Staff will soon recognise regular guests and go above and beyond to provide a good quality, memorable service for your trip.
Regular travellers recommend keeping two lots of most every-day items, such as toiletries including toothbrush and razor, USB chargers for electronics or computer charger cables. This can prevent getting to your destination only to realise you’ve forgotten a necessity at home. Make sure to pack smart with one part of smart trousers and a jacket that can be changed up with different shirts. Additionally, keep a spare credit card and a list of emergency contacts should you lose your phone or wallet.
During Travel
Departing on your journey can be one of the most stressful points of business travel but by having some situational awareness you can make the trip less painful. It might not be so bad if you know that you won’t arrive at the departure airport and discover that the flight is delayed. Depending on the airline you are flying with you may be able use a tracker system. For example flight tracker delta provides real-time updates, to track any changes or delays to every flight registered with them.
A good example is going through airport security – picking the right line may not always be the shortest, instead keep an eye out for those that could cost you time. Families travelling with small children, travellers with extra or unconventional luggage or travellers who look unfamiliar with the security process, choose instead to follow fellow business travellers who are ready and accustomed to the procedure. This can save travellers anything from a half hour to several hours depending on the popularity of the airport.
One of the greatest complaints of air-travellers is individuals getting on the aircraft and spending x amount of minutes rooting through their bag for their onboard necessities. Packing in such a way that you have everything you need from headphones, snacks/refreshments and entertainment to hand can save both you and your other travellers a lot of strife. Heading out on a redeye flight? Eat healthily in advance and carry out your full pre-bedtime routine before getting on the aircraft; such as getting into comfortable clothing and your pre-bed washroom routine. This way, the moment you get into your seat you can work on getting comfortable and falling asleep – try to book a window seat to avoid being disturbed mid-flight.
On Arrival
Where applicable, book as much of your schedule in advance, from dinners and travel to entertainment and even personal break time. If you know exactly what you need to achieve, and everything is laid out for you there is less left to chance and less that can go wrong. If you are unfamiliar with the area, speak to your hotel receptionist or concierge who will have plenty of local knowledge to assist in your trip.
Let Someone Else Do It for You
Without a doubt, the easiest way to carry out any type of business travel is to have someone else organise everything for you. Whether you have a knowledgeable personal assistance or through use of a luxury concierge service, such as Goldbrooke. Using a luxury concierge service not only removes a lot of the stress of travel or business travel in general. You’ll find a top-quality concierge service has many connections and contacts for exclusive and prestigious events in the area which can be fantastic when trying to entertain or impress an important client.
The next time you need to organise business travel; plan ahead and be prepared or alternatively put it in the hands of a well-experienced company who can take your trip from stressful to enjoyable.