Surviving Business Travel

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Make business travel something to look forward to by planning ahead.

If you travel for work, you know it's often not quite the adventure that some may think.

The surprises, inconveniences, and delays can be "interesting" when you're on vacation. But with business travel, you need to focus on being productive – so typical travel discomforts can often seem worse, because you're also dealing with business pressures.

How often do you travel for business? Do you make occasional trips to conferences, regularly visit clients in other cities, or fly two or three times a week (or more)? If you travel frequently, you may have a high tolerance for the stresses of constantly moving around. But for many of us, the demands of traveling for business cause anxiety, frustration, exhaustion, and often low level physical illness. If your flight is delayed, if you have a flat tire while driving, if you're so tired that you can't think – then your hopes of working successfully can disappear.

The good news is that there are several ways to ensure that your travel will go as smoothly as possible, allowing you to concentrate on your business goals.

Planning the Trip

Preparing for your trip involves more than making flight and hotel reservations. Here are some ways to avoid the stress of travel:...