Tag Archives: Business Travel

Cosmopolite

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Passport, bank cards, e-tickets, phone, iPad…..

I used to run this list through my mind at least six times before I left for a business trip, still do! I thought that as long as I had at least my passport and bank cards I would be able to deliver that presentation in Lisboa, even if I had to buy clothes at the airport, or  in-country.  At least I would not have breached my luggage allowance!

Overtime packing for a business trip becomes routine, but that is just when you realise that you have left your Heathrow Express ticket on your bedside table. Should have bought the Smythson travel wallet!

My approach to packing is simple -keep it capsule!  I visualise the next few days ahead in terms of travel outfit, key meetings, evening events and try to achieve a good balance. The weather is a critical factor that influences what I wear as well as the occasion itself. The creasing of clothing can be another concern especially when you could be spending a lot of time being seated on a train, plane or in the office.  As you already know, the ability to combine a few key pieces which move you  from day to night or from formal to smart casual is vital.  But packing a suitcase for a business trip is not an exact science and sometimes you do need to pack 3 coats and 10 pairs of shoes, and that is ok, as long as it works for you.

If we get to our destination prepared and focused, what we remembered to pack in our Rimowa becomes incidental.

Paloma

Will you need an overnight stay?

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We have all been there, it is 8pm and we are in the dining room of our hotel trying to eat inconspicuously whilst reading a book, a magazine, or the menu.  Frankly, we are trying to do anything which does not scream I am dining alone. Whilst we may offer a mutually empathetic look to another female diner,  random guy at the bar, it’s a Tuesday night and we’re just not interested!

As the evening goes on we have managed to make it through our main course on our phones,  anything to break the monotony of our ‘table for one’ situation.  This is then followed by a decision as to whether we want dessert, or just a coffee before we go up to our room.  After all we have an early start the next day, and we really do need to  have that last read through our presentation notes.

Whilst this may seem familiar to those of us who have travelled extensively on business, it never seems to surprise me how liberating a night in a hotel on our own can actually be.  So what if we’re on our own , there are advantages, such as room service, a turned down bed and the luxury of using our Decleor body scrub in a bath tub we do not have to clean.  When we look at the overnight stay in this way , it is seen as a benefit, a luxury, the ever elusive ‘alone time’ with our laptops.  So instead of dreading ‘dinner for one’ embrace this time as dinner cooked for ‘one’.

There are some moments where it is all about you….

Paloma