If you are a frequent business traveller, you will know how you can get bogged down with Planning for a business trip.

The following are some Travel Tips to bear in mind prior to departure.

1. Try and avoid more than one connecting flight and choose airlines that work together so that your baggage is checked through to your final destination. Nothing worse than having to collect luggage and then have to check in again at the same airport.

2. When booking, make sure you leave at least 2 hours between connecting flights and give yourself some buffer time in case of delays particularly if you do have to go through check out and check in procedures again.

3. If you are travelling long haul, try and fly overnight.  You should be able to get some sleep and, hopefully, arrive a little fresher.

4. A useful website to see seating configurations for different aircraft is seatguru.com.  Do remember though that airlines do sometimes need to change their aircraft, so keep an eye on your booking just in case the seating format changes.

5. Try to check in on line 24 hrs in advance and print out your boarding pass – it will save you time at check-in.

6. If you have had a recent illness that may have long term implications, make sure you have notified your travel/medical insurance company. It will cost more, but it will be cheaper than having to pay international medical costs.

7. If you are a UK national, check that you have your European Health Insurance Card and that it is up to date. This costs nothing and will get you free or discounted medical care in 27 EU countries.  This can be obtained from ehic.org.uk .

8. Leave a copy of your itinerary at home and in the office – just in case you need to be contacted in case of an emergency.

9. Take photocopies of your passport, driving licence, insurance details and pack them separately. This will make it easier if you have to replace the originals.

10. Carry your important documents on your person or in hand luggage – do not pack them in your checked in baggage! Just in case your luggage doesn’t get on the same plane as you.

11. Make sure important numbers on your phone e.g. home, work have the international dialling code as a prefix so that it will work when you are overseas.

12. Make sure you back up files on your laptop, tablet etc. on a memory stick (stored in another bag or pocket) . You can also save these on a cloud storage service.

13. If you are taking medication, make sure you pack an emergency allowance and keep it somewhere different.

14. Always carry a doctor’s letter with you to support the medication you are taking, in case you are asked at immigration or it goes missing.

15. For a few nights, it is well worth travelling light and using only a cabin case. You will avoid the carousel crush.

16. Check on your airline’s website for cabin luggage dimensions.

17. Try and pack clothes which will match each other – this way you will always have another choice in case you need to make a quick change i.e. a white T-shirt or a white shirt will both look equally good with black jeans – dress up or dress down!

    

Remember to check out our next post on “Travel Tips for Business Trips – Travelling”