Travel Tips

By Cyndi Seidler

Reprint of article published in Business Life Magazine, June 1995

In planning to leave town, business people often leave out some important parts of their preparation. Although it may be unnecessary to point out the importance of careful travel planning, not everyone is fully aware of the preparation process, leaving vital actions neglected.

Here are some things that may be helpful when planning to travel out of town:

Delegate. List all time-critical projects and actions that need to be taken care of while you're away and decide who can handle these for you. Include everything that would need to be taken care of, such as follow-up calls, banking, advertisement renewals, customer service actions.
Organize important documents to take. Prepare the papers that you will need on your trip in organized file folders. Compile a list of all the information necessary to have on hand while you are away. It is also important that you do not have the only copy of a document on hand, but that there is another copy in a safe place.
Use a telephone calling card or phone card. A calling card can save you money when you are away. Use it to avoid being the victim of costly hotel and cellular phone rates, not to mention having to fumble for quarters.
Allow for time differences. When you are traveling to another time zone that has more than a few hours difference, plan to make those important calls at the right time for the recipient.
Take extra batteries or an A/C adapter. This is a must for people using lap-top computers or tape recorders, cellular phones or pagers--anything that needs a power or a battery.
Use Traveler Checks. Taking traveler's checks is safer than carrying cash. Also, consider using your credit cards, which will track your business expenses on the statement.
Save receipts. Get receipts for everything you purchase, especially cash purchases. Put these in your wallet and give them to your bookkeeper or accountant when you return to your office.
Leave information on where you will be. Leave employees your hotel address and phone number, including a fax number where you can receive faxes. If you know your business trip schedule, provide that as well. Another point to consider is providing (temporary) access to your account with someone you trust in case of an unexpected emergency.
Know how you will get to your destination. Aside from airfare and car rental arrangements, you may also need directions to the location of your appointments. If someone is picking you up, ensure both of you have all the information necessary for a smooth operation.
Take useful business tools. Apart from your business cards, decide what you should have with you that will assist you on your trip. If you have a lap-top computer or palm-top organizer, use these excellent tools to relocate items from your head into another "brain" that keeps appointment dates, phone numbers, and things to do, all neatly organized and at your fingertips.
Job write-up. Many times you are the only person who knows how to do your job, so now is the time to write up all the things you ordinarily deal with, how you deal with the, where you keep things, how to find the files you work with, who your associates and contacts are and how they can be reached, and anything else that would be necessary for someone to "step into your shoes," if needed.

These tips will help avoid the stress and overload that is caused by lack of proper planing. The attitude, "I'll handle it when I'm there" does not work very well and creates the possibility of things falling thought the cracks. Take the above steps and save yourself some anxiety!

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