Attention – young business people! Are you new to business travel? If yes, then be warned that it can be stressful—to say the least. Often requiring a dash to the airport or the check-in counter, business travel can be a tiring activity
if you carry too much luggage with you. Too ensure this doesn’t happen to you, ensure that you carry only the essentials. So, what are the essentials and how can you ensure a stress-free business travel? Let’s find out!
Whether you’re a novice or an experienced traveler, business travel can tire and stress you out. In fact, it can stress-out the best of us. You are at the beach enjoying the start of the weekend with your family when you get a call from your boss and find that you have to travel on the same day to another city for a business conference. Not only do you have to cancel the weekend plans with your family, you also need to get things packed within a short time for the travel ahead.
What do you do? Since you are in a hurry, you pack everything that you can find in your suitcase and then make the run to the airport. You reach the airport just a few minutes before the close of the check-in counter. Huffing and puffing, you drag your luggage to the check in counter and in the same state, make your way to the plane. You reach your destination, get off the plane, gather your luggage and head to the designated accommodation.
Since you packed everything you virtually come across, you have ‘too much’ luggage to take care of. You spend the entire travel-period worrying about the safety of your luggage and when you are about to leave, you start thinking about whether you’ve lost something or are leaving it behind. This not only ruins your travel and hampers your work efficiency, it also causes you a lot of unnecessary stress. The good news is that there are some packing tips for business travel that can make business travel easy and less stressful for you and we’re going to get straight to them.
Determine and Pack the Right Attire
One of the most important things to determine before a business travel is the attire you will need for the trip. To do this, answer the following questions:
- What is assigned dress code?
- Will the attire be the same for all functions, or you need to pack a variety of clothing in your suitcase?
- How long is the trip?
- What is the weather of the place you’re headed going to be like?
Once you have answered the aforementioned-questions, pack only what you will need during the travel. If you take more clothes and/or accessories than required, the only thing that you would be doing is making the travel more hectic and stressful for yourself.
Pack All the Business Essentials
Once you’ve determined and packed the clothing and accessory you will need during the travel, start thinking about all the business essentials you will need to ensure a successful business excursion. Your business essentials will depend on the nature of your work. However, there are a few things that almost every person needs when going on a business trip. These include:
- Laptop and mouse
- Mobile and laptop charger
- A notebook
- Pens
- Business cards
- Printed handouts
Often, the above is enough to ensure a successful business trip and packing more things is a luxury rather than a necessity.
Try to Pack Light
Ask seasoned travelers and they will tell you that the best to travel is to travel light. Travelling light simply means packing as little as possibly can. Packing light is one of the best thing anyone can do for a business travel. As business trips are generally short, packing too much stuff for a business trip is unadvised. If your business trip is a day or two long, then there’s no reason for you to take a bulky suitcase with you to wherever you’re headed. Packing light and taking a small suitcase with you to the trip will save you both time and effort.
Check in Your Heavy Luggage
If your business trip is a week or longer or if the trip requires you take a lot of stuff with you, then you’d do well to check in your heavy luggage. One of the biggest reasons people who go on business travels a lot despise checking in their luggage is the possibility of wasting ‘too much’ time at the check-in counter after the plane has landed. However, if you have a bulky suitcase with you then check it in rather than carrying it with you to the plane. This will make the travel more convenient and less tiring for you.
Reduce Paper
Considerable weight and space is consumed by paper such as business documents, newspapers, books and magazines. The good news is that technology can help you limit the paper you take on your business travels. Whether you want access to a magazine article, a book, or business documents, you can store the paper(s) you will need during the business trip in your smart phone or laptop and then view them using the same whenever necessary.
Another way to limit the paper you take on your travels is buying Kindle or another eReader and then using it to access the paper/documents you want to read. Also, you can have the business documents shipped to the hotel/ accommodation where you will be staying during your business trip.
There you have it—five packing tips for your business travel. By using the aforementioned-tips, you can ensure a stress-free and successful business travel.
by Bobby J Davidson
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