Traveling can be stressful, but traveling for business adds a whole extra level of expectations. You have to get where you’re going and be ready to work as if you’d never left home. After a few trips, most travelers settle into a comfortable and efficient routine. Here are a few tips for new travelers that can be applied to veterans, as well.
Apps Worth Accolades
TripIt is one of the simplest and most useful travel apps out there. By simply forwarding confirmation emails for flights, lodging and rental cars to TripIt, a mobile travel itinerary is pushed to your phone or tablet. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Upgrading to TripIt Pro or TripIt for Business unlocks even more features like auto-sharing, mobile alerts, and VIP privileges.
One of the most frustrating aspects of business travel is reconciling expense reports and receipts when you get home. An app like Expensify actually integrates with Quickbooks to keep track of expenses and create reports. Alternately, remember that your American Express card and other small business credit cards offer perks like fraud protection and, often, cash back or other rewards. By charging all of your business expenses during your trip, you’re both creating an expense record (check that statement) and earning some sort of value for your company. Plus, you don’t have to deal with reimbursements. If you’re really fastidious you can marry both tactics.
Bluetooth Isn’t Always Better
Resist the temptation to load yourself up with wireless gadgets galore. Granted, a Bluetooth phone headset is great for talking on the go. But when you start adding in things like Bluetooth headphones, keyboards, and so on, remember that those things run on batteries. So at any time, they could run out of battery life and need charging. We’re willing to bet there’s not one universal charger for all of those Bluetooth devices. And for the ones that do run on rechargeable batteries, you’ll either have to carry extra batteries or a battery charger, both of which are heavy and bulky. Don’t load yourself down with tech gadgets just because it’s cool. You should choose items that are easy to pack, easy to use, and won’t easily fail you.
Be TSA Ready
Obviously you’ll need a certain number of gadgets for your trip. Don’t tempt fate by using a bag that requires you to remove each item, put it in a tray and repack it all on the other side of the scanner. It’s too easy to fumble and drop something important or forget to pick something up as you rush to get redressed and get to the gate. A TSA-approved laptop bag will make your life a lot easier.
Stay In Touch
You may have left the office, but the office hasn’t gone anywhere. They’re still churning and burning. Use the magic of cloud computing to stay in touch, review documents and generally keep your finger on the pulse of the business while you’re away. Dropbox is one notable service that lets you share documents, photos, videos and other files across mobile devices and computers with ease. There are plenty of other services available with similar features. Having files available on the cloud, rather than just on a flash drive, can reduce a lot of stress.
Author Bio
Kevin Thomson is everyone’s IT guy, with the latest tech answers at his fingertips. His Twitter is followed by thousands of tech nerds who visit his feed to get updates on the latest gear.