July 13th, 2008
Travel Tips 101
Best Time To Take a Vacation
The best time to take a break from it all is ist before or after the busy season of your esired locale. You can save up to 50% on air-ire, the weather will be the same and the estination will be less crowded.
Travel Tips For The Organized Executive
Before you go:
Keep a prepacked overnight kit ready at I times.
- Prepare three packing lists… overnight ips … longer, single-location trips … and multile-location trips.
- Collect papers—notes for meetings, memos, etc.—for your trip in a special trip folder.
- Stock a travel briefcase with pads and pens, calculator, dictation machine and cassettes, prestamped mailers and supplies such as scissors, tape, etc.
- Organize your travel briefcase. One manager packs work for his first flight in the first compartment, for his second flight in the second compartment and so on.
On the road:
- Process mail daily with your secretary by phone.
- Have urgent mail shipped via overnight mail or faxed to you.
- Send tapes of meeting notes back to your secretary.
- Take expense forms with you and write them up as you go.
For smooth reentry:
Return to the office in late afternoon or early morning.
Better Packing
Put your suitcase out several days before a trip—and toss in items you want to take along as you come across them.
Hotel Savvy
Guarantee your room for late arrival—even if you plan to arrive early. Flight delays may cause you to arrive later than expected. Most hotels won’t hold a room after 6 pm—unless the reservation is guaranteed with a credit card.
Hotel Room Rate Trap
The trap: paying the rack rate—the price listed in the hotel brochure—for a night’s lodging. Call the hotel directly and ask for the best possible rate—weekend packages, seasonal specials or senior discounts. These will likely be lower than the rate quoted by travel agents and 800-number reservation operators. Also helpful: Ask for the corporate rate—available even to individual travelers—which is usually 10% to 15% off the rack rate.