Life of (f)Utility: Hacking the Human Race

6 Tips on how to travel well for business.

Abstract

This post covers 6 tips that I found useful when traveling for business.

Here’s some things I did this business trip that have worked well:

1. Packed light. I’ve got a 4 day conference and I brought 1 pair of pants and three button up shirts. I did bring a sports-jacket and a couple sweaters. All items were useful. I *might* have been able to get away with just one sweater, but my zip-up J-crew is kind of my security blanket :)

2. Brought along my coffee mug. Though I did pack light, I did make sure to bring my coffee mug. This allowed me to avoid using disposable coffee cups at (*cough*) Starbucks [1]. It also served as a reminder to me to (just as I do at home), avoid generating too much trash, if possible.

3. Stuck to my regular diet. When someone else is footing the bill, I get tempted to be a little extravagant. I was well behaved this time, for the most part. (Michael Pollan’s matra: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”)

4. Worked out an enjoyed the hot tub. Personally, I love hot-tubs. It’s a little bit of a pain to prepare and I don’t really enjoy swimming. I think a lot of people forget about how good it feels. Maybe it’s the thought of getting into the tub and being close to other people. I made a point to workout and then treat myself to the hot tub. It was empty. It was grand. On the elevator back to my room, I recommended it to a colleague and he thanked me for the advice.

5. Avoided a rental car. Since I stayed in downtown and the airport wasn’t far, there was no reason for me to get a rental car. I just cabbed it to the hotel from the airport and walked around. Walking around is the best way to see a new city anyway. I do think a rental car is worth the hassle in a number of cases, but not this time, so I opted out.

6. Took advantage of the quiet time. Since I so rarely get extended periods of quiet time, I really wallowed in it this trip. I spent quite a bit of time on this blog, doing some touch ups. No I didn’t get to see the “sights”, but it’s just San Jose and even if it were in a more scenic city, I’d likely pass since I really don’t enjoy doing stuff like that alone. I maximized my time by avoiding traveling far to go to different restaurants. The hotel restaurant turned out to be really good and I just ate there for all my meals, practically.

This has been my best business travel so far (though my trip to Vermont was pretty good, too). These are the things I tried to keep in mind and they did serve me well. Your mileage may vary (pun intended).

[1] I’m not sure if I’ve said it on this blog yet, but I have professed a hatred for Starbucks. I’ve been warming up lately. I will say, however, it’s not because of their coffee.

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Postscript: I also avoided vegging out in front of cable TV (a *very* strong temptation). I did, however, channel surf a bit and found this really good song on by Michael Tolcher that was written, apparently, as a Hilton ad. It’s called ‘Voila’. [click play icon to hear].

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