Tuesday, September 6, 2011 ? Leave a Comment?
I recently got back from a 18 day trip halfway around the world. I was more than a little worried about taking care of business ? both keeping up with the current projects at home and buying/documenting new items I wanted to source while away ? but a little planning ahead of time made it quite smooth, leaving me more time to play and less time worrying about emails, new projects, or my website. Here are some things to do to prepare for business travel to other countries.
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Set up your email autoresponder to say that you are on vacation. Do this on all of your email accounts ? you never know! And then ? forget about it and have some fun. There is almost no emergency that needs addressing *that instant* and if you?ve warned important clients ahead of time that you will be gone, you will have taken care of 95% of your email. If you have a business phone, don?t forget to change your voicemail, too.
Make sure regular events still happen. For me, this meant finding guest bloggers for my website. It might mean making sure a newsletter goes out on time, or that certain monthly bills get paid. Keep up your regular schedule if possible so new business prospects are not left in the dark.
Save on foreign transaction fees and pay in local currency. Credit cards are so convenient these days but try to take out a good chunk of money from an ATM and pay in cash instead. Your credit card is all too happy to charge a foreign transaction fee, and the local vendor?s bank may as well. If you are worried about having a lot of cash around, definitely use the hotel safe, and keep smaller amounts of your cash in different pockets/locations when you go out.?Also, don?t forget to ask for receipts, many places won?t have them for cash transactions unless you ask.
Deal with your receipts nightly. Expenses can be a nightmare so even though it may be the last thing you want to do, assemble the day?s receipts before bed and enter them into a journal or a spreadsheet. You may think you will remember which receipt was for each purchase, but you probably won?t. Get this done immediately and it won?t feel like such a chore when you return home.
There are many kinds of software to take care of this too. Camera phones are great for taking visual notes (product details, brand names, titles of books, storefront displays) but also snapping shots of your receipts ? even if your phone itself isn?t working. Which brings us to?
Wi-fi enable your smartphone even if you can?t use your mobile network. We didn?t want to spring for SIM cards for three different countries in Asia, so I turned off the network but left the wi-fi on. There was free signal at many hotspots as well as at cafes, some hotels, etc. which will give you internet access (and possibly email access, depending on your phone/plan). Make sure you know all relevant passwords or set up a master 1Password or LastPass password.
Bonus tips for all travelers: rolling your clothing instead of folding it really does prevent wrinkles. Bring at least one more pair of shoes than you think you need, as well as moleskin and blister block, as you?ll be doing more walking than normal. Don?t forget a travel adapter for your electronics ? and have fun!
Source: http://renatom.net/2011/09/06/travel-tips/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=travel-tips
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