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Business travel tips - readers' picks
From what to wear to how to talk to the taxi driver in a native tongue
By silicon.com
Published: Friday 23 June 2006
silicon.com staff and contributors have weighed in with their 30 suggestions on how to make business travel bearable. Now it's time to hear from our readers - here are their top tips.
Keep a spare credit card somewhere secure, away from your wallet, in case the wallet gets stolen. Replacements take time to arrive, no matter what the card company adverts suggest and you will need to continue paying your way in the meantime. -- Liam Myron, assistant IT Manager, Steer Davies Gleave
If you're visiting an office in a country where you don't speak the language, consider asking somebody to provide directions to the office in the native language before you go. You can simply hand these to the taxi driver so even your mispronunciation of the destination address can't prejudice your arrival. -- Tracey Rawling Church, head of marketing, Kyocera Mita UK
Make paper or digital back-ups of your diary, address book, passport details, credit card details etc, and leave the backups with a trusted colleague or family member at home. -- David Bowler, archaeologist
Using flying time to catch up on reading rather than laptop work - takes a lot of stress out of the experience... It means carrying less weight around the airport - even if you carry your laptop (still a good idea) you can dispense with power leads and peripherals. It's a better way to use the limited available space. And it's a great opportunity to read all those documents, journals and industry pieces that you never have time for in the office and maybe develop some new ideas. -- Robert Machin, product director, Axiom Systems
When flying long-haul, buy cheap jogging pants and T-shirt at the airport. Change into them on the plane and leave them behind when you change back into your 'work clothes' before landing. Do the same coming back (unless you are lucky enough to be flying Virgin Atlantic upper class where you get your own sleep suit!) -- Ian White, journalist
Carry a small (four-port) Ethernet hub and at least two Ethernet cables. You can waste a lot of time at your destination office grubbing around under desks trying to find a LAN socket, then begging the local IT guys to make it live. With the hub, you simply find a friendly local, unplug the Ethernet cable from their PC, plug in your hub and off you go. You, your host and maybe two other visitors can all share one LAN connection. -- Nick Cole, ICT Project Manager, WorleyParsons Europe
Use BA and other online confirmation. It means you get a good choice of seating and next to no queuing at the airport - even if you have baggage to check in. Also, on an early flight I often stay at a nearby hotel. They offer good deals for a one-night stay with one to two weeks inclusive car parking. -- Nigel Walker
