Doug's Work Travel Tips

for both the frequent and infrequent work traveler

One of my clients was talking about their stress around work travel, and it got me thinking about the travel techniques I’ve adopted over the years to make work travel easier and more enjoyable.

I’ve been traveling for work for 30 years and have covered many hundreds of thousands of flight miles. Traveling was a lot of fun early on in my career, but even the most fun trips can also be tiring and stressful. And of course, after 9/11, air travel started to suck, and it hasn’t really returned to its former glory.

But work trips to meet with colleagues are crucial for team cohesion and camaraderie. So here are my tips and tricks.

Travel Prep

1. Maintain a regular travel packing list. Keep it in your favorite notes app and update it when you travel. This sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how much a good list reduces the cognitive load of traveling, especially the feeling that you’re forgetting something. Check the weather forecast at your destination so you pack the right clothes. This is the variable part of your packing list.

2. Buy good travel gear — a decent suitcase, a decent carry-on bag, dedicated travel chargers and cables, dedicated toiletries, etc. Seasoned travelers pull the same gear out of the closet each time they go somewhere and then just add their destination-specific clothes.

3. Put your entire itinerary in your calendar, including your work schedule during the travel week. This is especially helpful if you’re going to a conference with a lot of sessions. You can navigate the conference from your phone’s calendar rather than a laptop or tablet.

4. Cancel all of your work meetings and set an OOO message. This seems obvious, but I’m amazed at the number of people I’ve traveled with over the years who try to hold meetings with folks back home. You’re not that important! Focus on the trip!

5. Plan to fly in the day before meetings start if possible. Fly in two days before if you’re traveling internationally. Getting some sleep and waking up fresh on the first workday is a huge advantage.

6. Fly in the morning to avoid weather delays, especially when traveling in the Summer months. Thunderstorms often stack up during the day and cause delays throughout the entire air traffic system.

7. Sign up for TSA Pre. The lines are faster. You can leave your shoes on and your laptop in your bag. And there’s no body scan. (Sorry, TSA, but you have to buy me dinner before you get to scan me.)

8. Get the app for each airline you’re flying. Check in, check flight status, and get your boarding pass in the app. The apps do a much better job of keeping you up to date when there are gate changes and delays.

9. Pay for your own extra legroom seat upgrades if your company won’t. The extra few bucks for more legroom make a huge difference in comfort, especially on a long flight. Obviously getting frequent flyer status on a carrier can make this a free upgrade.

10. Be picky about your seating. If you prefer a window or aisle seat, book early enough to get what you like. Doing this will give you a feeling of control rather than feeling like cattle being herded onto a bus.

11. Invest in noise-cancelling headphones. I prefer over-the-ear headphones because they’re more comfortable on long flights, but Air Pod Pros work fine on shorter flights.

12. Set up the Uber and Lyft apps, including getting your credit card info entered, even if your company doesn’t have a corporate account. Put the addresses of hotels in your calendar for easy navigation when you arrive. Again, this reduces cognitive load.

13. Create space in your schedule for time for yourself. Being “on” for 12 hours every day is tiring, even for extroverts. So, schedule downtime. If you’re going somewhere cool, give yourself time for an adventure at your destination.

14. Most importantly, mentally prepare for the unexpected. Rather than hope for a perfect travel experience, mentally prepare for the usual things: maintenance delays, weather delays, canceled flights, broken down trains, turbulence, crying children, lost bags, etc. Tell yourself this is just a normal part of travel. Then you’ll be pleasantly surprised when most or all of this stuff doesn’t happen. The overwhelming majority of trips I’ve taken have had minor or no issues. The worst trips have been canceled flights or missed connections.

Travel Days

1. Check your bag. I know this is controversial, but bringing a roll-aboard means you have to fight for overhead space. Unless you’re in an early boarding group, you’ll have to check it anyway. Worried about your bag getting lost? Just throw an AirTag in the bag, and then you’ll know exactly where it went. (Don’t stress if the AirTag doesn’t show your bag when you’re sitting on the plane. Sometimes they don’t sync up quickly enough.) Meds and rechargeable batteries should be in your carry-on!

2. Dress for comfort and warmth on the plane. Bring only a small carry-on bag. Mine is a small satchel that contains my laptop, charging cables, headphones, meds, keys, a small refillable water bottle, and sometimes a few snacks. That’s it. My cell phone and wallet are in my pocket. And I’ve got books on the Kindle app. Don’t be that person who has a massive carry-on bag!

3. Watch the alcohol consumption. Some people have a drink to take the edge off of traveling, which is fine if that works for you. However, flying dehydrates you, and too many drinks will make you feel much worse after the flight. Best to drink water. This is especially true on international flights when they try to serve you lots of drinks for free.

Work Days

1. Exercise in the morning. What’s that? You don’t exercise in the morning at home? Sorry, but if you want to have decent energy during the day, exercise in the morning, even if it’s just a long walk.

2. Did you schedule that downtime like I said above? Please take it. Get a coffee or tea. Go for a walk. Have a conversation with a work friend. Go exploring! The most serendipitous moments on work trips happen in between officially scheduled work!

3. Eat and drink less. Work trips involve a lot of food and drink. My experience is that it’s double the amount of food I would normally eat each day at home. I usually eat a good breakfast and skip lunch, other than a piece of fruit.

4. Have fun! In a world where Hybrid and Remote Work are the norm, in-person trips (offsites, retreats, conferences) are about connecting with your fellow humans. Yes, you need to get some work done, but it should be work that is most conducive to being together in the same room. And you should have plenty of socialization time, both big and small group activities.

(Bonus) International Tavel

1. Passport! Now is a good time to take a look at your passport and see when it expires.

2. As noted above, give yourself extra time around work days for the timezone change. In my experience, the most difficult part of international travel is adapting to the timezone. Frequent travelers strongly suggest eating meals on the plane based on the destination timezone. Also, when you get to your destination, try to sleep only at the appropriate time in the new timezone. The first day is rough, but the rest of the days are better if you stick to this plan.

3. If you fly internationally regularly, sign up for quick entry programs like Global Entry and NEXUS. These are more complicated and more expensive, but they’re very convenient. Global Entry also gets you TSA Pre.

4. Sign up for international cell data. For AT&T, it’s $10 a day for unlimited data/calls for your phone. Additional devices are cheaper. You’re only charged when you use your device that day, too. You can just turn this on in your account and forget that it’s there since it only triggers when you travel internationally. If this isn’t supported by your provider, get an international SIM or eSIM.

5. Get a couple of country-specific plug adapters. Most, if not all, cell phone and laptop chargers work at 110/220 V and 50/60 Hz. Check the tiny text on your adapter if you’re not sure. Therefore, you only need a country-specific plug adapter. Bring one for each charger so you can charge multiple things at once, or get a charger with multiple USB ports. (Anker is my absolute favorite brand for chargers and cables.) Europe has a universal plug adapter that works everywhere I’ve been. The UK has a different one.

6. Bring an eye mask and headphones. Finally, flying across either ocean is challenging because it can be difficult to sleep on the plane unless you’re blessed with business or first-class seats. You really need these accessories.

Ok, I think that’s the major stuff. What did I miss? What are your favorite work travel tips?