Work Travel

As most of you know, I have been traveling for work very often for several months now. I am off on another trip on Monday, but even with constantly jet setting it took me a while to learn the in’s and out’s of work travel. From packing, to sight seeing, to forcing yourself to take down time. I have some suggestions from what I have learned, but I would love to know what you think as well!

The most important for me is what to pack, I have a pretty generic conference “uniform” since I work for a technology company, but others need to be dressed up the whole time, so this will vary. Think about the following when you are packing for a conference:

• What will you wear during the conference? For me this is a pair of jeans and a work t-shirt for each day of the active conference
• Will there be set-up of anything? For set-up days i bring workout clothes. This normally involves moving around a bunch, bending down, etc so its nice to feel comfortable while doing all of this
• Will there be any nice dinners? I almost always pack a blazer and several more dressy shirts, even if there isn’t a nice dinner, I would rather be over prepared than under prepared (unless I have time to go shopping!)
• Will you have time to workout (I think you should make time- see below)? Bring some workout clothes just incase, don’t forget socks and tennis shoes

The second most important thing for me is to stay active. Long conference days are energy drainers, and most of the time all I want to do afterwards is crash into my nice comfy bed, but I don’t   try not to do that. Most hotels have an exercise room, or at least a treadmill, so get up and go! If you don’t have the option of working out in an exercise room, I have a workout that I do in my hotel room. Included in staying active is drinking a lot of water. Sometimes you will be dealing with a climate change and the best way to stay on top of this is to stay hydrated, always carry a water bottle with you.

Now for the fun stuff! Make sure you are enjoying yourself, even if you are away for a work conference. If you have time before, during or after the conference go sightseeing and try new places! This is the biggest thing for me,  95% of the time I make it a point to go for a walk or bike ride wherever I am and try a new restaurant. When I was in Chicago two months ago I arrived early for a meeting that was cancelled so I had an entire morning to bike around, this was a nice way for me to see a lot in a short amount of time. It also helped me to know where UPS was when something went array with a shipment, and I found an awesome Thai place for lunch.

Make sure you know your companies policies while you are traveling on their dime, each company has a different policy but as long as you are aware, everything should go smoothly!

Do you travel for work? Do you enjoy it? You can also follow along with my travels via Instagram- #MacyOnTheGo