So I accepted a job that requires a lot of travel. I’m very excited about it, because I haven’t done much traveling until now. I’ve been to Florida, DC, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Newport, and areas in Massachusetts and Virginia when I was little. It will be primarily by plane, and some of it will be international. I have an iPod nano, and I knit, so that will occupy some of my time in between flights and such. For those of you that travel a lot, what are some tips?
you’ll be sick of traveling after a year or so
i’d go with sleep, followed by computer games on the laptop if u have one
Knitting was a joke right?
Ask Locutus… he was world traveler until he changed jobs…
It is good for ranking up hotel and air points but if you want to settle down at home - it sucks. 
edit- books, dvd players w/ movies, headphones are a must.
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Knitting was a joke right?
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no, it wasn’t. it’s a good time waster, and I like to wear scarves. is that ok with you?
I travel for work. Almost exclusively by plane. Have been for 4 years.
Advice:
-Buy a very nice luggage setup. A big suitcase for longer duration trips and a carryon for short trips. If you buy cheap, you will be buying every year. TRUST ME.
-If you are booking your own flights, try to stick with one carrier so you can build up preferred status and get free upgrades, etc.
-Same thing for hotels. Try to stick with the same chain. I have somewhere around 450,000 Hilton points that will translate into a free vacation stay, if not two.
-Same thing for car rentals. Free upgrades are great. Being dropped off at your car and out of the lot in 2 minutes is KEY. Standing in rental car lines after flying is the worst.
If you are using a corporate card, keep all business related expenses on there and do expense reports every 2 weeks to keep up. Waiting too long will result in your card being shut off, which sucks.
How much traveling will you be doing? Days per month?
Where will you primarily be traveling too?
I have also been traveling for more than 3 years now. I strongly recommend www.priorityclub.com, along with the credit card if you don’t have to use a corporate card along with it. Holiday Inns are typically pretty decent, and the HIExpress hotels are newer than most.
It’s hard to get airline points being located in buffalo, because we really aren’t a hub for any airline. It’s not often I fly the same airline twice in the same month, unless of course I’m going to the same place. If you’re booking your own flights, I recommend searching on something like yahoo travel, and booking directly through the airline. It’s easier if you hit any snags.
Jagermeister speaks truth.
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no, it wasn’t. it’s a good time waster, and I like to wear scarves. is that ok with you?
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Are you a chick?
will you knit me a cock sock??
make it out of alpaca yarn, that shit is soft. I dont want it to irritate my balls.
Word. I worked on the road for nearly 3 years and just switched. Working on the road gets old FAST
I guess this is a very relevant question! :zong:
hit it on the head.
sign up for rewards with hotel/flight/car rental now. then stick to those carriers or alliances – ie hilton owns a lot of hotel brands, just book with those.
look into getting a hilton amex if you want double crazy points when you pay with it… even if you get a corporate card, most likely you can just get reimbursed from your personal card too
perks of traveling is getting platinum/elite or whatever… then you get pimp status and treatment when you go there every time… i have enough points at Hilton/Continental to last me for a while.
bose noise canceling headphones. all the travel snobs have them. get them now.
get a few books. if you are traveling far learn to sleep on the plane… you will love to fly so much more. i used to sit down, take off my shoes, click my buckle and i was out…
get seats on your plane AHEAD of the wing. much quieter. asiel/window seat - your personal preference – if you want to freedom to get up and wonder asiel, if you don’t want to be bothered, window. of course if you get bumped to first class every flight it doesn’t matter :pimp:
also, select a air carrier that you are a hub with – example - contential - EWR United - O’Hare – -if you do this more cheap and frequent flights.
hrmmmm what else…
get a good travel shaving kit and pack it with everything you will need. go to walmart and get 2oz clear bottles (0.99cents) and fill up your stuff in them… hotel toiletries suck and you will want your good stuff from home. don’t forget pain meds cus when you travel for work you sometimes party a little harder then normal… mornings hungover with jet lag sometimes suck. bad.
are you taking a consulting job, if so with who?
Good luck. Travel will start to suck after a while. If you go somewhere shitty (international) make sure your health insurance is good there and supplement it with that emergency one that will airlift you back to the US from anywhere. I forget what it’s called. Also print out and take with you US Consular Information sheets. Among other things, they have the address and phone number of the US embassy in that country.
Otherwise do everything mentioned. Don’t wear suits on long flights or you’ll wind up looking like the n00b in the wrinkled suit who wore it on a long flight. Stock a med kit with some basic cold medicines, bandaids, etc. Travel, especially flying, beats the shit out of your immune system so don’t be surprised if you get sick more often. The only thing worse than being sick on the road is being sick and having to search for cold meds on the road.
You mentioned international travel. Got a GSM cell phone?
i hate traveling for work and i only do it like 5x year
Less than a week doesn’t bother me. Past 7 days and I just want to go home. At the 2 week point I get pretty miserable and just want to go home and play with my wife. :sario:
Fuck jeah. I knit people hate scarves.
I have knitted a handful of people scarves. I don’t like them. I pick out an atrocious color and knit them a scarf. I give them the scarf without any explanation.
i bought a DS lite so i could watch videos and play stuff… other than that i try to sleep on the plane, bring some earplugs, benadryl and get some cocktails… traveling for work sucks, most annoying thing is waiting in lines (airport, hotel, etc), oh get one of those travel size steamers, so your clothes arent wrinkled if you have meetings…
I agree with all of this except for sticking to one carrier. Some airlines have much better flight options depending on where you are going, in terms of total trip time, the airports that you will be making the connections in, etc. The conveneice factor to me is much more important than earning flight points which seem to take forever to accumulate to something usable, and sometimes even expire if you dont use them in time.
If you are taking short trips, it is so much nicer not having to check your luggage so buying a good carry-on bag is a good idea.
Last thing, if your destination is within a 5-6 hour drive, you may want to consider driving, but only if your company pays you the going rate or better per mile. Sure driving long distances may suck, but it can often time beat getting stuck in airports, or delayed flights. Just think, every time you fly, you have to try to get to the airport an hour or more early both ways, so you already have 2-3 hours on the trip before flight time, delays, and layovers.
I am a chick, no I will not, and if I did, I’d knit it out of really itchy wool.