If your new desk job isn’t too tedious and you happen to travel for work, catch many flights to new destinations, then brace up because travel in reality is a lot more than just simply rolling into the airport and jetting off celeb-style. No, in practice, there’s a lot of juggling between different priorities, like running between airport gates or battling a jet lag headache.
Responding to a similar issue of how frequent work flights can be hectic, a Redditor who travelled over 100 days a year for work, posted on the subreddit casual conversation about his go-to work trip tips that prevent any hassle because his precautionary measures anticipate them beforehand.
11 tips for work flights
Flying has its own hurdles (don’t get distracted by the measly lounge discount), which makes it essential to have a checklist on hand to avoid the stress of last-minute inconvenience.
The redditor revealed that they gained ‘experience’ by the ‘repetition’ of taking flights for work. They posted 11 tips, which cover everything from airport essentials to hotel hacks.
The first one specifically ‘may sound like your parents,’ as the Redditor noted, because it may sound like advice from your parents, but certain hacks, even if they are old-school, are still worth paying attention to because they are still relevant for solving real problems.
The list they shared also included tips concerning hotel bookings and hygiene aspects:
1. Leave early:
I know this sounds like your parents, but I would rather have an extra 90 minutes to kill at the airport than have a traffic jam or a detour make me miss a flight. I can still work in a booth/chair at the airport if I need it. Yes, I’ve heard the argument of the “hours gained/lost” by waiting, but if it’s a difference of working for an hour at home or at the airport with no ‘stress’, then choose the latter.
2. Spray hand sanitiser:
Spray hand sanitiser, not aerosol, from a pump. Good for your hands, a public toilet seat in an emergency or the random sticky surface in the rental car.
3. Sanitising wipes:
Never turn down the sanitising wipes on the flight. See number 2. I personally use them for my noise-cancelling headphones or backups for the above.
4. Noise-cancelling headphones:
Noise-cancelling headphones with an audio jack. Don’t just rely on the Bluetooth working on the flight.
5. Get a battery pack:
Buy a battery pack. When you absolutely need a plug in the airport, you’ll never find it. Even better if you rely on your laptop for work, buy one that can output 65-100 W from a single line (not combined output). Yes, they are heavier, but take out the guesswork.
6. Use clothes hangers with clips:
Use the clothes hangers with the clips in the hotel to hold the blackout curtains together.
7. Hack for light sleepers:
If you’re a light sleeper, get the highest floor in the hotel. No kids running the hall on the floor above.
8. Get habituated to background noise while sleeping:
Learn to sleep with background noise. I use an app on my phone at home and on the road. Same app, same white noise sound.
9. Travel with advil:
I travel with Advil/tylenol and 4 mucinex. If I hit a wall, then I can make it through a couple of days until I can get home or to a pharmacy without having to panic.
10. Utensils for food on the run:
Grab a couple of the wrapped utensils from a fast food place, a few napkins and a couple of straws. Nothing more frustrating than getting food on the run and then trying to eat your pasta without silverware or a to-go cup and no straw.
11. Add large carabiner:
Add a large carabiner to your backpack (6” ‘stroller hook-sized). You can use it to hang your bookbag from stall walls or in a variety of places if there’s no hook. Also comes in handy for water bottles or ball caps, or even a grocery bag when you’re running out of hands.
What other things do you need to keep in mind?
The other responses also confirmed that arriving at the airport on time does help reduce the stress of rushing and worrying about missing a flight.
They also shared plenty of other useful tips, like travelling with an eye mask and earplugs if you need to sleep on the plane or get a noisy co-passenger.
One user also mentioned downloading the apps for all the airlines and hotel chains they use, and even saving any contacts one may need after landing. This precaution is because sometimes the airport navigation stress can get to your head and make you panic, hence this keeps your things sorted as you land.
But not all the tips are foolproof. One response recounted how booking a room on a higher floor backfired, and they ‘regretted’ when it was right above a noisy bar or nightclub. So while some tips are objectively helpful, some others need to be modified as per your specific situation.
