Corporate Travel Tips part 2
A couple more tips for corporate traveling or traveling in general. This is to supplement my earlier posts, “Willing to Travel” and “Corporate Travel Tips”.
Flight Schedule
Try not take the last flight if you plan to take the public transport system on your destination. This goes for the first flight also, as most airports will be at a good distance away from the City proper, most public transports like taxis only go to the airport if they are bringing someone to depart.
Luggage
I prefer a backpack but for longer stays in the metropolis, a trolley bag will come in very handy.
Food
Most hotels come with free breakfast, some even have it buffet. I would advise not eating too much as travelling for work will mean you will be in meetings and other work related activities, it will be very uncomfortable when you have to go out to the Comfort Room every now and then.
Experience
As you will be meeting a lot of people, don’t forget to bring your Business Card. Always give it out with both hands as well as when receiving it, make sure to glance and give out a comment or two after receiving a card.
If you have time, venture out and see the city and sights, but make sure you hit the sack early as the primary objective of the travel it work, you should have enough energy for it.
Prepare
For whatever work related reason you are traveling for, make sure you are prepared, before traveling make sure you have 1.) finished your presentation 2.) printed hand-out 3.) studied and researched topics and relevant subject matter for the engagement of the travel 4.) researched who you will be meeting with.
Do not forget to bring your laptop power adapter and cellular phone charger, these are the two most important things not to forget.
Airport Wifi
The Centennial 2 domestic airport in Manila now provides tables for laptop users, with ample power outlets, I tried to connect to the free WIFI but I could not seem to surf. The Cebu Airport do not have tables for laptop users and there is no free WIFI, but I did see a couple of surf stations provided by Smart Bro.
Security
On my last flight, we were already able to bring bottled water as well as perfumes and others on our hand carry luggage, but do not bring a lot. Make sure you bring a couple of government issued IDs as this will be asked by security personnel at the airport.
Also have a couple of spare copies of your tickets just in case.
On your luggages, put your business card inside as this will help in-case of lost luggage.
The most important thing is to not make “Bomb or security threat jokes inside the airport and inside the airplane”.
Tips and Tricks
On the new Airbus A320, there are headphone jacks, you have 16 channel options on PAL, this is great as Ipods and other devices are asked to be turned on and off during takeoff and landing.
If you are not feeling well, you can try and ask for some over the counter medicines from the Flight attendants(FA).
If you were not able to bring reading materials, local newspapers are available from the FA.
You can bring along a snack during flight or eat a light meal before the flight.
Be at the airport atleast 1 hour before your flight, sometimes, check-in lines gets really long and will take a lot of time, for international flights, be at the airport 2 hours before your flight.
Check the weather prior to your scheduled flights, for a tropical country like the Philippines, Tropical storms come out from nowhere from time to time and if you are a person who gets easily dizzy from turbulence, flying when the weather is good will be a great help.
I’ll add to this post some more tips when it hits me …..