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How to Have a Smooth, Stress-Free Business Trip

Do you have an upcoming business trip? Whether you are traveling across the country to showcase your product to a potential supplier or meeting with manufacturers in a different continent, it is paramount to do a bit of pre-planning for your trip. This will help ensure that your travel experience is well-organized, streamlined and, most importantly, enjoyable. The last thing you want to do is take a business trip that causes you nothing but stress and aggravation.

Here are some of my own tried-and-true tips for a smooth and stress-free business trip:

Less Time, More Structure

To make the most of your valuable time, plan a short but highly efficient business trip. To make this work, organize your days strategically, such as by scheduling meetings for each meal (for example, a breakfast or coffee meeting, a lunch meeting and a dinner networking session). This makes business trips extremely productive, and you should still have some time in between to rest, exercise or catch up on other work.

Book Comfortable Accommodations

As a business owner, you are likely always thinking about your enterprise’s bottom line and may therefore be tempted to just book a cheap hotel. After all, you won’t be spending much time there. However, staying in uncomfortable accommodations can make your trip a lot less enjoyable and prevent you from getting the deep, rejuvenating sleep you need to be on top of your game for the next day’s business activities.

Because of this, spend a bit extra to ensure you’ll have a truly restful place to recuperate, whether it’s a hotel or Airbnb. This way it’s also a treat to head back to your accommodations to recharge in between meetings. Obviously, location is essential too, to save time and energy shuffling back and forth.

Book Pleasant Flights

What’s the point in exhausting yourself with various connections and stopovers if you’ll not only lose time but also be less fresh for your business trip? Even though it’s pricier, always go for nonstop flights when possible. Maximizing your own time and energy (and minimizing travel time) is a worthwhile investment.

Organize a Thorough Itinerary

There’s a time and a place for just winging it, and a business trip is not it. You don’t have to make a spreadsheet if that’s not your thing, but at the very least write out your schedule for each day in your phone’s notes app or even on paper. Think about your day in chunks: on certain days, it may make sense to plan down to the minute, while on others you may just schedule fewer, longer meetings.

Walk yourself through each day and think about logistics, too. Will you need a rental car? Make sure to rent one well in advance. If you’re driving from place to place, will traffic be an issue? Check Google Maps at different times of the day, and give yourself some buffer time. If you’re scheduling meetings at restaurants or coffee shops, don’t leave it to chance: make reservations when possible.

Enjoy Yourself

Business trips should also be enjoyable: meeting guides and local experts, checking out hotels and restaurants and exploring cities, etc. Break up meetings with other fun activities to make the most of your trip and keep you relaxed. For example, see friends where possible, splurge on a massage, go kayaking after your trade show, check out a local street fair or do something else to take a break from pure business. You will leave your trip much more fulfilled!

TAKEAWAY

Pre-planning is absolutely essential for a smooth and stress-free business trip. To make the most of your business travels, plan for less time and more structure, book comfortable accommodations and select pleasant flights. Also, put together a thorough itinerary and bring along helpful travel gear. Finally, add in some leisurely activities so that you can enjoy yourself! Following these tips should help you have a relaxing, hassle-free and delightful travel experience.