Any Road Warriors? Your best kit?

[gryffron]

An 'independent' note of bank-card emergency numbers and those for any insurance policy too.

Yep. Add passport number to that list. Makes it much easier to get a replacement. I have my travel numbers list in an encoded file on a separate dropbox account so it accessible from anywhere.

Gryff

[neversay]

I take my hat off to you true road warriors. As an amateur at this I still find business travel deeply unsettling and not able to sleep well in hotels leaves me jaded. I'm now resolving to just use hotels with gyms (and actually use the gym) and eat/drink less garbage. A packing list, nice compact luggage, and best of breed gizmos help, but perhaps the secret to being a good road warrior is more elusive? Somehow I need to simplify the experience and remove some of the mental and physical hurdles that make it so tiring.

[djbenedict]

A personal annoyance is that it is increasingly difficult to find the small cans of shaving gel + they are never for sale in airport drugstores + solid/oil alternatives really are not that good.

Wouldn't decanting some of the gel-type stuff into a small water-tight tub last for a while when travelling?

I don't use foam too much nowadays, and tend to just use the cheap Wilko gel, which has the consistency of toothpaste when it comes out, and I would have thought would travel quite well in a small tub - https://tinyurl.com/yawzqbse

If you are staying in hotels that provide soap and shampoo (which I would imagine is the case for business travel), they usually also provide "hand lotion" type stuff. This works fine as a shaving foam substitute, for me, anyway. Perhaps best to try it when you have your usual foam/gel/whatever with you first!

[swill453]

I don't take any kind of shaving foam/gel/soap. Anything does the job really, shampoo, hand soap, shower gel, bar soap, lotion.

Scott.

[vrdiver]

perhaps the secret to being a good road warrior is more elusive? Somehow I need to simplify the experience and remove some of the mental and physical hurdles that make it so tiring.

In the style of Baz Luhrmann, my gift to you is "organisation".

Move as much "stuff" as you can into the working week and out of the weekend. Coming home with a bag full of dirty washing? If you know your hotel, and your expense policy allows it, use their laundry. Nothing beats coming home with a suitcase of cleaned and ironed shirts. (Nb. if the hotel is unknown to you, be prepared for a "lost laundry" event. I only used the service at hotels I was a regular of.)

If expenses won't stretch to hotel laundry, you can usually find a laundrette nearby (obviously, it depends where you're staying and your schedule). Worst case, wash clothes at home, but iron in the hotel - don't waste your precious weekend on chores that can be done whilst away.

Expenses cover the bar bill? Don't. Really, just don't. I know too many formerly brilliant guys who "relaxed" a little too much, too often. It really does have a long-term impact.

Partner: my employer didn't care whose name was on the ticket, so instead of traveling home at the weekend, I sometimes used the flight to bring Mrs VRD out to wherever I was. I could usually blag the Friday/Sunday night hotel costs by holding late/early meetings that wouldn't have been possible had I been traveling (but do check!). I was always surprised with the itinerary that Mrs VRD planned - I got to see a lot more of the places I was working when she did the research and dragged me round them!

One trip, she joined me in Toronto before we traveled together into the USA. We bought mountain bikes whilst we were there, which shipped back to Toronto (which is a great city to cycle in). The only pain was my room being on the 23rd floor, which is a lot of steps with a bicycle if you've lost a bet... Other trips she's joined me in Oz, New Zealand, Indonesia, European cities etc. etc. It's a good use of air miles as well.

Research your "rewards". Are you getting cashback on expenses put through a credit card (assuming you're allowed to not use the company Amex...) airmiles or any other perks. Hotel loyalty (Marriott seem to have the best, but others are available). Clocking free hotel nights to use later is always nice. (I know, you've stayed in a hotel and want to go home, so they reward you with.... more hotel nights!) Air miles and hotel loyalty schemes can really add up; just don't get fooled into the rubbish ones where the taxes and surcharges make a flight more expensive with points than just buying the pesky thing! I mention this stuff, as being credited with future R&R has a calming effect on me when I'm stressed with the current travel arrangements.

Airlines do look after their frequent flyers. Make sure you register for and collect all the points. I've had several free hotel nights courtesy of an airline after I've messed up and missed a flight, but a smile and a chat at the desk can work wonders.

I always packed the day before traveling - which was depressing, but less stressful than packing just before leaving the house, especially when I had to set the alarm for 03:30 anyway... If you use the packing list as suggested in previous posts, you should be able to de-stress the event, which will give you back your Sunday evenings etc. I'd pack Sunday morning in preference to the evening, as it was less depressing (for me).

Eating: some people hate eating in restaurants alone. Take a book/kindle/phone with you and relax: you are being paid to eat there - the others are paying. I used to hate it, but necessity and practise made it quite enjoyable; a bit of "quiet time" when I didn't have to worry about my clients. If you do order room service, put the tray out a.s.a.p - you don't want the smell of leftovers lingering in the room.

Activities: some clients I would play squash with, some we would go out to look at the sites, or just meet for a meal. Sometimes I would be a hermit, go to the gym and get an early night. Do what works for you. Avoid making obligations that will disrupt your time back at home (pressure to get a report / results / etc sorted before your return next week that will mess up your weekend - a big no-no. Divorces have been caused by lessor misdemeanors.)

Routine: get one. From packing to travel itinerary to backup plan for lost documents. Knowing you have a playbook for each scenario means you don't have to mentally rehearse the what-ifs. That leaves you free to focus on the purpose of the trip, not the mechanics.

Finally, if you fly regularly for work and don't miss three flights a year, you're getting to the airport too early. Stop wasting (your own) time*.

As Baz said:
be careful whose advice you buy, but
be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia
dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off
painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me...

VRD


*Holiday flights excluded

[Howard]

Dear All

This may sound schmaltzy but can I thank and congratulate all on this thread.

Now retired, I often wonder who is going to take advantage of the brave new world of Global trading. Obviously most of you are (or have been) representing the UK in international trade.

For most of my career I was lucky to have employment based in the UK. Business trips away were fairly infrequent and apart from a number of trips to the USA, involved short trips to Europe. Packing always filled me with dread on a Sunday!

So, thank you for being prepared to spend time in business hotels on your own, far away from home. Just reading about your packing plans reminded me of the gloom of leaving my family and home surroundings for a week or two years ago.

Wishing you all every success in enhancing UK trade!

regards

Howard

[neversay]

What a super post @vrdriver. As you say organisation is key and I need to remove the 'friction' from preparing, travelling and returning. Great tips.

It's a shame many of the rewards perks are diminishing. I get 1% cashback on an Amex card and with hotels.com get a family night away free for every 10 stays on business. My main airmiles are with Virgin Atlantic but given flight prices are mostly taxes the returns are not that special.

@Howard - 100% agreed with your observation and appreciation for those doing it for the UK economy. For many the concept of business travel seems glamorous but when on flights/trains/drives I just feel my life slipping by. It breaks my heart to be away from the family.

[Julian]

I take my hat off to you true road warriors. As an amateur at this I still find business travel deeply unsettling and not able to sleep well in hotels leaves me jaded. I'm now resolving to just use hotels with gyms (and actually use the gym) and eat/drink less garbage. A packing list, nice compact luggage, and best of breed gizmos help, but perhaps the secret to being a good road warrior is more elusive? Somehow I need to simplify the experience and remove some of the mental and physical hurdles that make it so tiring.

There are things that will help, and vrdriver's "organisation" is a good one (and sunscreen if you're going somewhere sunny of course), but from my experience you'll probably not beat the tiredness thing entirely and it's more a matter of learning how to cope with it. Frankly one of the biggests assets is being young and relatively fit, the young bit possibly being the most crucial because that really does help with jetlag and general lack of sleep in my experience.

Forgive me if the rest of this post is a bit dark and negative but if we're talking about this sort of lifestyle I think it should be mentioned at least to those maybe about to enter the extreme zone...

It depends how much travel you really do, "travelling a lot" is all relative, but when it gets to the crazy extremes, which I suspect is often also associated with a very high pressure job, it can be very brutal. I certainly know two colleagues (three if you include me) who had breakdowns due to the stress and tiredness, two actually had them on flights with one being carried off on a stretcher when he collapsed disembarking and the other having a complete emotional meltdown in his seat (I wasn't either of those two). All three ended up in hospital. I suspect there were other similar cases in my professional circle that I was not aware of.

Getting off a flight from New York at 7:00am when you've not been able to get more than 30 minutes sleep on the plane and then going into the office and doing a full day's work well into the evening is never not going to be tiring, especially when you probably then need to be back up at 5:00am the following day to catch an early flight somewhere else. Even more brutal if you're also taking the attitude that you're not going to let your lifestyle deprive you of your social life so you go straight from the office to a night out with friends before going home. Surviving a whole week on maybe an average of 3 or 4 hours a night of sleep can all too easily become something you just end up coping with.

I had my travel routine so organised that it became a habit requiring little conscious thought to do things like traverse airports, handy when you're doing it half asleep at some ungodly hour of the morning. In fact my process to check in and get on a plane was so choreographed and required so little conscious thought that I very frequently had a moment, pretty much always at the exact point when the plane had aligned onto the runway and gone to full thrust, when I would feel the pushback into my seat and suddenly realise "I'm on a plane now and I have absolutely no idea where this plane is going to". I would then struggle furiously to engage my conscious mind to remember where I was actually flying to which sometimes took a good 10 to 20 seconds. I knew that boarding security procedures would have ensured that I had boarded the right flight and my organisational procedures were well-developed enough for me to be 100% confident that I would have packed everything I needed beforehand including the appropriate presentations, notes etc for my trip but it was almost as if someone else had done all that stuff beforehand and I was only now being dropped into my body at the last minute to do the actual performance. If I'm honest the one thing I do miss slightly is that "full thrust" moment of confusion and disembodiment because it was quite a unique and interesting experience, at least to my mind, to be on a plane with no idea where you were going even if it only lasted for a few seconds.

I suppose the message here is that the "road warrior" thing when taken to extreme can have a very definite dark side and is likely to take a toll however many good tips you get here. People need to be very careful if in this situation to monitor as best they can the cumulative effect that it is having on them and make sure that they and/or their employers don't allow things to cross a line that literally takes them beyond their breaking point. My experience when I personally did "break" was that my employer really surprised me with how supportive they were.

- Julian (happily retired and only taking maybe 4 or 5 return flights a year now)

[Clariman]

Most of my travelling was driving in Midlands, North England and Scotland. At one time I did a lot of domestic UK flying with the usual early starts. From time to time I have travelled by plane throughout Europe with the occasional trips to North America, South Africa and the Middle East.

My number one piece of advice is to look after yourself. Stay healthy and don't over-stretch yourself. I always put family first which probably hampered my career, but I still managed to stop working in my mid-50s. The frequent trips away from home when my son was small did come at a cost - not in terms of my relationship with him, but my mental health. I developed a fear of flying which I post-rationalised as being due to the stress of travel away from family. I even contrived to avoid flying completely for 2 years. That was a long time ago (in my early 30s) and I have not had a problem with flying for a long, long time. Nevertheless, I always get a bit unsettled a couple of days before I fly if I have not flown for a few months. It is just an underlying niggle, but it is the last vestige of it all.

The idea of getting your other half to travel to where you are at the weekend is good, if that works for everyone.

In terms of practicalities, I concur with using hotel laundry services if expenses allow.

Although not something that I had when I was working, we find invaluable now is a universal USB charger like this one https://www.syncwire.com/collections/po ... tification

It has 4 USB charging ports and has plug adapters for most countries, all in a neat little device. It goes everywhere with us, even if staying in the UK.

C

[GoSeigen]

My next few weeks/months are exceptionally busy with business trips (UK/International). I'm wondering what special kit other Road Warriors use to ways to stay productive and sane?

On the usual list are smartphone (and apps like audible), ultraportable, tablet, kindle, kit bag (rucksack), carry-on, phone/usb/battery chargers, washbag, etc. What other indispensable gear makes your life easier on the road?

I just spent a year travelling with the family to multiple countries. Honestly I wouldn't bother with all the fangled power adaptors.

We simply bought a Japan/US style power strip like this:

http://www.yunhuanelectric.com/Japan-extension-cord-set-10.html



When we arrived in a new country all we had to do was change the plug on the cord if necessary. The plugs are easy to buy or borrow and cheap as chips. A strip is extremely convenient because it is robust, provides multiple sockets (five for above item) wherever you are, and an extension cord which saves hassle when power sockets are located under a hotel bed or behind a dresser.

I favour the Japanese power strips because, unlike huge clunky UK ones, they are compact and lightweight, and being designed for 110V they are good for the lower currents drawn in 220V countries. It's just a matter of getting compatible fittings for charging your devices -- which are cheap, compact and lightweight, well certainly if you use Apple stuff, don't know about other makers. Example in bottom half of this image:

http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html


[The source page for the image has very interesting analysis of real and fake chargers...]

GS

[DiamondEcho]

Crikey Julian^ that rings true re: perceptions of some of my former colleagues. Initially I used to envy those with 'BA Exec Club' gold-cards on their bags at work; but by the time - then travelling a lot within mostly Europe - I hit Silver, I realised clearly what a hollow, detrimental to well-being, and unenviable token it was to have on one's luggage. To get such a Gold Card, a casual onlooker might imagine pampering and speacial treatment, but to gain it you were effectively required to have almost no 'normal' home life at all.

[djbenedict]

Just thought of another one, bit more complicated as it involves your organisation's finance department, but get them to sign up to something like SAP Concur. It's an expenses system whereby you can file receipts, expenses etc. from an app on your mobile. It is liberating to be able to do this piecemeal while you are on a trip, not when you get back to the office.

[dionaeamuscipula]

Just thought of another one, bit more complicated as it involves your organisation's finance department, but get them to sign up to something like SAP Concur. It's an expenses system whereby you can file receipts, expenses etc. from an app on your mobile. It is liberating to be able to do this piecemeal while you are on a trip, not when you get back to the office.

Great for big companies, expensive and time consuming to set up if you don't have many travellers.

DM (ex-Concur customer)

[vrdiver]

It is liberating to be able to do this [sort out expenses] piecemeal while you are on a trip, not when you get back to the office.

My text in the [] brackets.

A good tip. Getting expenses sorted whilst away is another chore that can be removed from home-time. Depending on the nature of travel and who's paying for flights up-front etc, it's imperative to stay on top of them; I worked on a project where expenses were much more than take-home salaries. If you get behind in reimbursements, best case, you're loaning your own money to the company for free; worst case it costs you due to interest fees, bank charges or even the company failing and you becoming a creditor...

I've seen people doing their expenses at the airport or on the plane. I was never comfortable with that, as my ability to keep small pieces of paper organised in a cramped setting was not very good, but doing them in the hotel was always OK - last week's expenses processed on a Monday night and any paperwork popped in the post when I returned. Copies of physical receipts (used to be photocopied, but phone is much more convenient) and filed for the odd occasion where a query would come up, sometimes months later.

VRD

[Spet0789]

Some awesome stuff here. A few further thoughts...

- If you have somewhere convenient and don’t mind paying £2 ish per shirt, have a dry cleaning place launder and pack your shirts. I always have half a dozen or so ready to go for trips of up to 1 week.

- Do your very best to keep yourself to cabin baggage only. If you absolutely have to take extra stuff on a multi-leg trip and don’t want to pay the extortionate hotel laundry prices, consider a soft nylon hold-all as an extra bag and then post dirty laundry (or anything else you no longer need) home in the bag halfway through the trip.

- Be sure to get a bag with four wheels. They’re far easier to manage. Often in an airport queue I will be reading or emailing and just shuffling the bag along with my legs.

- If you have to take a laptop, you only need mains power for that. Everything else can charge from its USB sockets.

- Don’t wear shoes or boots with a metal shank. They set off the detectors and add 2x30 seconds of hassle getting them off and on. I wear RM Williams boots which are smart, comfortable,
easy to take on and off and have a glass fibre shank.

- Wear knots rather than metal cuff-links for the same reason. If money is no object you can get belts with ceramic and no metal!

- Have a proper plastic transparent container with a zip for your toiletries. I use the free ones from the sleeper train to Cornwall and have one stocked and ready to go the whole time.

[neversay]

What brilliant tips. On the weekend I claimed expenses of £1k (although it's my own business) and came down with a cold on Monday so now feeling somewhat burnt out. Fortunately, I'm not travelling this week, but I'm losing the precious white-space in my schedule where I need to get the real work done. It makes all the wise advice on this thread particularly pertinent.

[djbenedict]

... sign up to something like SAP Concur...

Great for big companies, expensive and time consuming to set up if you don't have many travellers.

DM (ex-Concur customer)

What did you switch to, out of interest? I've only experienced Concur as a user, but I'm interested if there are similarly functional, cheaper alternatives.

[dionaeamuscipula]

... sign up to something like SAP Concur...

Great for big companies, expensive and time consuming to set up if you don't have many travellers.

DM (ex-Concur customer)

What did you switch to, out of interest? I've only experienced Concur as a user, but I'm interested if there are similarly functional, cheaper alternatives.

Spreadsheets and e-mail. Not as convenient, but saved me enough to pay for the extra time. But volume of 10 - 20 expense claims a month.

There are probably open source alternatives but didn't look at them.

DM

[killergorilla]

My advice would be to switch out whatever phone you're using for a Samsung Note 9.
I have literally abandoned my laptop with mine. I can sign documents, edit anything. Then in hotel rooms with an HDMI cable and a small bluetooth keyboard and mouse I can plug into the TV and use as a full on laptop. It'll change the way you work.

Shoe wise, Chelsea boots from any maker are both smart and easy on and off at the airport security lane.
Expenses - If you're allowed to get a credit card with good points/rebates. Business expenses build credits quickly
Concur - Agree with other posters. It works very well. Photograph receipts then throw them away.
Flying - Never eat on the plane. Eat in the airport before you go and when you land. It'll help a lot with jetlag
Airlines - Concentrate miles with one carrier. Status is great. Having lounge usage will transform your trips
Power - lots of power tips here...but I've never stayed at a hotel that couldn't help with an adapter if needed so don't sweat it too much.

If you are literally on the road (i.e. in a car) watch your calorie intake. You're likely burning less than 2000 a day and your food options will be calorie dense. It's easy to sleepwalk into very poor health.

Good luck. Use your down time wisely. I used to write novels on planes and learn languages in the car. It made it feel much more productive and less like a waste of time.
KG

[Slarti]

My advice would be to switch out whatever phone you're using for a Samsung Note 9.
I have literally abandoned my laptop with mine. I can sign documents, edit anything. Then in hotel rooms with an HDMI cable and a small bluetooth keyboard and mouse I can plug into the TV and use as a full on laptop. It'll change the way you work.

Shoe wise, Chelsea boots from any maker are both smart and easy on and off at the airport security lane.
Expenses - If you're allowed to get a credit card with good points/rebates. Business expenses build credits quickly
Concur - Agree with other posters. It works very well. Photograph receipts then throw them away.
Flying - Never eat on the plane. Eat in the airport before you go and when you land. It'll help a lot with jetlag
Airlines - Concentrate miles with one carrier. Status is great. Having lounge usage will transform your trips
Power - lots of power tips here...but I've never stayed at a hotel that couldn't help with an adapter if needed so don't sweat it too much.

If you are literally on the road (i.e. in a car) watch your calorie intake. You're likely burning less than 2000 a day and your food options will be calorie dense. It's easy to sleepwalk into very poor health.

Good luck. Use your down time wisely. I used to write novels on planes and learn languages in the car. It made it feel much more productive and less like a waste of time.
KG

For the phone laptop thing, it does depend on what you do and where you are staying.

Was in a good hotel for leisure a few weeks back and overheard someone complaining to reception that all of the TV cables were hard wired into the TV, so they couldn't connect their phone. The response was "Yes sir, that is deliberate as we now no longer have to remove ransom-ware from the TVs"

Also, I always needed my laptop at the client's to do testing of my/their software before making changes.

Concur is very big company software. I am out of the loop now but was looking at Zoho as a possibility for a smaller customer not so long ago.

I agree about "literally on the road calorie intake", though it can allow you to take better food with you. I had a powered coolie box in the boot that I used to pop salads and juice in to avoid road stop food when I was doing long driving trips.

Slarti