If you travel for work a lot - give me your best tips

[mixandmatch]

I have a big job that currently involves a little bit of travel but from January this is going to increase a lot - I’ll probably be away for at least a few days every month. Mainly UK and Ireland.

If you’re a frequent work traveller, give me all your best tips and hacks… I already have a separate duplicate toiletries bag always packed and ready to go. What else? Whether in terms of packing, hotels, anything else… thanks!

Have a couple of ‘go bag’ pouches with essential toiletries, makeup and personal bits (chargers power banks, tissues etc) to reduce mental load. I’ve seen the Space NK ones online but am sure you can get cheaper multipacks on Amazon etc. Clear bags are a lifesaver

Buy multiples of stuff like phone chargers - keep one in car, one in handbag, one in work bag etc

If you take meds, wear contacts or have any health needs, tell your GP/pharmacist/optician and stock up on extra meds and lenses if you can safely do so

Invest in your luggage - I like Beis, North Face for rucksacks and you can’t beat a Longchamp bag (with inner organiser). TMMaxx have good luggage. If flying a lot get a small hand luggage sized bag that you know will fit on all airlines (though I like a PPs suggestion of insisting on the highest class of travel/best service possible)

Invest in good shoes and jackets - will always be comfortable and smart

When you get home unpack and do washing immediately or invest in sending out your washing, ditto meal prepping for freezer or getting in some healthy quick options when you get home. Automate as much as your life at home as possible during busy periods, if you have a partner at home that’s the time to rope them in or come up with strategies to cope

Think of time vs money - especially if you are booking your own transport eg flying in at 3am may save money but you will be shattered and paying over the odds for a taxi

Get a lightweight reusable water bottle and coffee cup - I like Stojo for portability and take some cutlery with you

Get some hand wash solution and stain remover you can take with you

Try and keep to healthy habits and get out of the ‘holiday’ mindset - but do treat yourself once in a while!

Download lots of audiobooks/podcasts and get some good books/crossword or sudoku books for downtime so you don’t end up scrolling. Esp for public transport. I try not to be on my laptop unless completely necessary - maybe get a bit of work done in the airport lounge but don’t feel the need to optimise/monetise every second of your day. You are human!

Don’t feel too guilty about not seeing friends/relatives in the area if you are too knackered or genuinely can’t fit it in. On the other hand it is a nice way to catch up with people who live further away

Have a dedicated little pouch for receipts or try and get digital receipts where possible. Take photos of receipts when you get them and file all claims as soon as you can

Avoid paying out of pocket wherever possible

Slightly contradictory to my earlier tips but learn to pack lightly and quickly

Settle into your room as soon as you arrive and try and schedule in some downtime for yourself especially if you are client facing most of the time

Have a checklist by your front door of your essential bits but eventually it will become second nature

Enjoy the ride!

I used to use a big bulldog clip to keep all my paper receipts secure and in chronological order.

I also acquired an extra credit card that I used for all business expenditure. I only used cash when there was no other option.

Oh I will be doing this from now on! I’m useless with receipts although I always remember to get them, I always seem to loose one before my card statement comes in!

If you book your own travel and hotels OP then try and use a cashback app. I got nearly £30 cashback from a 2 night stay in London last year. Nice little bonus.

Oh and bring a face mask because it’s a treat :)

Great idea on the cozzie instead of spare pants! You never know when you’ll need swimwear.

I also have a stash of mini toiletries at home, bought from Home Bargains or on offer. I refill shampoo and conditioner from a bulk sized bottle because I’m picky. Primark has some really cute tiny (and I mean tiny!) bottles you can refill, attach to a key ring etc. It’s a bit of a trend at the moment I think

Great idea on the cozzie instead of spare pants! You never know when you’ll need swimwear.
If you're stranded with only one garment and it's your cozzie, at least it's a complete outfit.

Research healthy eating options in advance. They can be in short supply, especially in the US, and room service and eating in hotel restaurants gets monotonous.
A pp mentioned supermarket for salads - on my first trip I started to feel unwell from not eating properly so I started going to the supermarket and instead of eating the food in the canteen. I can't live on carbs and fats.

Have two of everything and always takes extra underwear in case of lost luggage.

I travel a lot and have a list of things that live permanently in my case, so I just need to pack clothes;

Toiletries
Make up
Pyjamas
Hair clips
Swimsuit
Slippers (absolutely essential to me!)
Multi adapter cube with plugs and USB
Multi country adapter
Power bank
Spare straighteners
Multi cable key ring
Earplugs

I also like to take a face mask and hair mask if I have a decent amount of downtime.

Take your own pillow, I put mine in a vacuum bag and put it in my suitcase. I travel for a month a time, hate hotel pillows. Little fan incase the AC is crap, teabags, earplugs.

I travel a lot for work - just to add to these fab tips, I keep a door stop and 10x small mirror in my carry on suitcase as well as travel straighteners and a mini clothes steamer and toiletries bag that I restock after each trip.

Another one. If, like me, you need to reliably blast your hair in the morning, invest in a good travel hairdryer. It's getting a lot better now but you do still find hotels supplying hairdryers that feel approximately like a small child blowing gently on your head.

I travel a lot too and in addition to the tips already, if you are light sensitive, pack some blu tack to cover all the little lights around the room. Extra long charging cables are useful too if the charging ports are not near the bed.

Perhaps he's like me and hates how they make the bed and put back all the extra cushions that I hid in the wardrobe. I don't want getting into bed to be that much hard work.

I agree about a packing list and actually using it. I've had to buy hair brushes so many times because I've forgotten mine.

A PP says 'you don't have to use all your subsistence allowance' presumably meaning 'don't have pudding every night or buy a load of junk to eat in the hotel room because it's 'free''. But I try to make the most of mine by buying the sorts of things that I'd normally not have because they seem like stupid money, like prepared fruit or nice ready made sushi/sashimi.

Also to make good use of the time you spend in hotels, whether it's to properly chill out and binge watch something you don't normally have time for, exercise, whether in the room, the hotel gym/spa, or go out for walks or catch up on your life admin.

Try to avoid spending the time working unless you benefit from it by catching/keeping up with workload so you can take the time back later. Your employer is stealing your downtime by having you work away after all.

I have a shaving mirror in my bag. It stays in there. Some places have the mirror too high, where the lighting is poor, or too far from a socket.
Invaluable for inserting contact lenses, applying make-up, styling hair etc

I used to travel A Lot (my record was 250 nights away in the year). In my laptop rucksac I always had a pouch with 2 spare knickers, a pair of tights, some of those invisible socks made of tights material, individually pack of face wipe, hygeine wipe, deodorant wipe, folding toothbrush, folding hairbrush, hair tie. Then a plastic ziploc with travel size deodorant, mini shampoo/conditioner, tiny toothpaste, sample size moisturiser, sample of tinted moisturise, tinted lip balm and a mascara. Just the other week I went to a conference in Stockholm for the weekend, and in spite of a direct flight my checked bag spent a week at Heathrow, so even though I still had to go for an emergency shop, I looked respectable and clean the first day.
A bag with a few of all remedies like diarrhoea, migraine, antihistamines, indigestion, plasters, safety pins (there is nothing worse than having to get your client to help you find a pharmacy super urgently) - mine are in a snack size plastic bag so tiny.
In my folding hang up wash bag (so much easier to find everything and lots of hotel rooms don't have much space on the side I always had a tiny sewing kit (collected from nicer hotels), some more plasters/ medication etc.
Silicone ear plugs (I like the Macks ones best) are invaluable for noisy hotels or sleeping on planes.
Dual sided suitcases let you isolate dirty from clean clothes coming back.
Put airtags in all your bags then you can track them. You can also share a tag with someone else so if your bag is snatched you don't need your phone to look for it.
Take photos of your passport, a passport style photo of yourself and email them through gmail or some other email you could access on a public pc if your passport is lost/stolen and you need to apply for an emergency one. Also details of your phone and the numbers to ring to brick it. I've needed a replacement passport overseas and having all the details made it so much easier
Put your travel agents (if you use a corporate one) and their emergency helpline as favourites in your phone contacts.
If you are driving for work, have an emergency bag in the car - big bottle of water, couple of sachets of electrolyte (makes drinking warm water better), long life snacks, blanket, walkable shoes/socks, raincoat/poncho, book, powerbank in the summer. In the winter the same but more warm clothes, sleeping bag, sachets of hot chocolate and a mug, fill up a flask with boiling water before you leave if its a long journey or weather is bad. It seems like a lot, but when you break down at the top of a hill in the rain in the middle of winter in your suit and have to stand outside for 2 hours waiting for the AA, or theres surprise snow and lorries block the road for 4 hours you won't regret it

1. pick a hotel brand with a good loyalty scheme to save the points - I use IHG (holiday inns, crowne plaza etc). It means I get a free holiday every few years and I’ve earned loyalty status which means I get free breakfast, early check in, late check out and upgrades. Lots of them have gyms and pools too.

2. same for flights if you do that and build up to get status with lounges. In the meantime look for DragonPass which comes with some bank accounts and gives you free lounge access round the world

3. packing cubes to keep your clothes organised and easy to find

4. know your apps - today tix for theatre tickets, city mapper - for best local directions especially if you need to use local public transport, all your hotel, train and flight apps,

5. good quality suitcase that’s very light with good wheels

6. good quality rucksack for out and about on the days you are in a place

7. travel toiletries fully stocked included travel toothbrush

8. plugs and chargers including a power bank

9. audible

10. I also like having an iPad with films and box sets downloaded to watch

11. straighteners for travel

i travel a few days twice a month

Genuine question, what is a “big” job? I only ever hear it on Mumsnet.

Never been to Scotland?

I don’t understand!!

Another tip for those of us who have worked in less populous parts of the UK: take some sort of entertainment that doesn't rely on decent wi-fi.
I've stayed somewhere with no mobile reception, no wifi and no decent tv reception. Dark winter evenings can be very long.

A small travel steamer for wrinkled clothes. I take mine everywhere now

Get duplicates of everything you need and keep them in your work travel suitcase packed bar clothes so no fiddly packing the night before. So you have in there seperate ‘travel’ toiletries and make up bag.Dont ever bother with shower gel, shampoo and conditioner as hotels have those. Laptop charger, power bank and charger cables, sleepwear, gym wear (if that’s your thing), water bottle, headphones, hair tools etc . . Night before you are just packing clothes.

Plan a weeks worth of work outfits using a capsule method. Eg 1 trouser, 1 skirt, 3 tops rotated 2 shoes and accessories.
Take comfy warm clothes for lounging in the hotel room.Air con can be cold
Duct tape or Blu Tack. Every device has a piercing blinding red blue or white light so a couple bits of tape and you are done.

Take an Amazon Firestick with you so your not stuck watching rubbish tv.
Take a large bottle of water to your room in case you are really thirsty during the night.
If you have room, I always take my own mug for the morning cuppa - I’m one of ‘those’ who has a special mug for the morning one 😁

The horror when you see that white unit on the wall of the bathroom. Feeble.

Some of these will already have been shared but for me

• as compact and easy to carry bag as I need. I do a lot of one night trips, so I have a smaller underseat size trolley case
• bag of travel sized toiletries and spare plugs/cables
• always have books/films on my ipad
• spare laptop charger that lives in my work bag so I don’t forget to take it
• if flying, book fast passes for security and pay to sit on the aisle near the front of the plane so easy on/off
• spare wattle bottle that lives with my travel stuff
• take a comfy outfit for lounging about hotel room in