If you’re a working mother, you maintain a full schedule — and then some. If you’re a working mother who travels for business, your life is even more complicated.
There are some tactics that you can employ to make business travel an easier process for you. There are seven tips you can incorporate into your regimen that will make business travel easier and more efficient.
Keep Essentials Packed at All Times
Pulling together the essentials you need for a trip is a surprisingly time consuming process. You can make your business travel more efficient from the very start by keeping essentials packed and ready to go at all time. This includes such items and personal care products.
Bring Disposable Items to Save Space Later
Another tactic you may want to consider employing in order to make business travel more efficient is to include some disposable clothing items along in your luggage when leaving town. For example, you may have some pieces of casual clothing that are on their last legs that are still good enough for relaxing on your own in a hotel room.
What you can do is pack some of these items that are at the end of their useful life. When it comes time to pack things up for your return trip, you can dispose of these select items you packed in the first instance. This allows for some added room for items that you may have accumulated on a business trip. If you’ve attended a conference or convention, the space for such items will be a godsend.
Pack Leisure Clothing
Even on a business trip, you don’t spend all of your time during work-related activities. Even if your down time is lounging in your hotel room, make sure you have comfortable, leisure attire for that purpose.
During your down time, you very well may want to check out at least some of the sites in the community where you’ve landed for work (if your schedule permits). This is yet another reason why its important to have at least some leisure clothing items available to you.
There is No “Best Way” to Pack a Bag or Suitcase
The internet is filled with a myriad of articles, many with graphics, extolling that there is “only one way to pack for a business trip.” The shear volume of different packing concepts suggests otherwise.
In the end, pack in a manner that makes sense for you. It’s fine to garner ideas from the packing schemes created by other people. However, if you really attempt to mimic some of these packing schemes, you’ll spend an inordinate amount of time doing so and end up frustrated.
Avoid Checking Bags
When possible, avoid checking bags. You’ll be able to move through the airport, which saves valuable time.
With that said, restrictions on what a person can bring on board an aircraft are becoming more significant. This includes the size and quantity of items you can carryon.
Thus, despite your best intentions, you may need to check baggage. Take advantage of online baggage check in, a step that does help speed up the process when you arrive at the airport.
Sign Up for Frequent Traveler Programs
If you travel for business with any regularity, take advantage of any frequent traveler programs you can find. This includes airline travel miles you can accumulate for each flight you take (and which you can accumulate by using certain credit cards). The same holds true for hotel points earned for each stay with a particular brand.
Ship Items to Save Space
If part of your business travel includes making a presentation or presentations, ship your materials ahead of you. There are a multitude of different shipping services that can accomplish this with ease.
You nearly always will be able to ship your necessary materials to the location of where you will be presenting or to the hosting business or organization. A hotel where you will be staying is also likely to be able to accommodate you in this manner. Make sure you phone ahead and get clearance for this type of shipment. In addition, try to coordinate the arrival of shipped items to the day you will be at the property. If that’s not possible, try to keep it in the range of a day or two before you do arrive.
By using these tactics, you will make your travel significantly more efficient. You will also lessen the stress associated with business trips.
Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who writes for Documents International LLC, a leading apostille service for individuals and businesses.