Guide to Business Travel

Planning your business trip wisely will free you from lots of trouble. Inadequate airline seats, long lines, heavy traffic, and unavailable hotel rooms are just some of the problems a business traveler might encounter. Despite the emergence of e-commerce, businessmen still travel more often for sales and business shows. Here are some tips to make your business travel a successful one:

1. Plan your business trip long before you leave the office.

2. Always prepare a travel bag with complete necessities to be used on any emergency trips.

3. Bring some ready to eat foods, it will save you a substantial amount of money, considering the high cost of foods in hotels.

4. Be sure to have a buffer time between your flight and your scheduled meeting.

5. Choose aircraft that has better seats with ample leg room.

6. Put all your valuable materials in a small carry-on bag.

7. When calling your main office, use the 800 numbers as much as possible because it's much cheaper.

8. If you're a businesswoman, it is important to dress well. Additionally, you must bring casual clothes for your free time.

Not all hotels have inexpensive telecommunication systems from their rooms, so always choose your hotel's business floor, for these rooms are made especially for business traveler. These rooms should have dual telephone/modem lines, fax machine, and free communications between rooms. In order to save money on calls, use your calling card and place calls through your country's long-distance carrier or find a pay phone in the hotel's lobby. If available, use a nearby business center for your fax needs since fax service within your room will probably cost more.

These days, a business traveler has to bring a lot of electronic equipment such as; cell phones, electronic organizers, laptop computers, etc. Here are some suggestions on how to keep your expensive business items safe:

1. Put your laptop inside a bag that will not indicate that there's a laptop inside. The same works well for other equipment such as camera, electronic organizer, etc.

2. Don't expose your laptop to x-ray scanners at the airport security check, rather have it checked manually. X-rays could damage your electronic equipment.

3. Don't place your laptop on the aircraft's overhead bins; instead place it near your seat or under the seat in front of you.

4. Always bring extra batteries for your equipment.

Today's business travelers are enjoying much comfort compared to their counterparts a few decades ago. Low airfare, plenty of airlines to choose from, communication equipment (especially cell phones and laptops) make modern day business travelers more efficient. Even on a business trip, parents can always be with their family members and co-workers can still get in touch with their office work, at least virtually.