All work and no play? Your GTG’s guide to finding the work-leisure balance while travelling.
Howdy globetrotters and welcome again to 2015. We all know the world is becoming a smaller place thanks to webcams and cheaper travel costs but so far we have neglected to shine the light on how this impacts on the world of business. For increasingly more people, business travel has become as much a part of life as putting on a shirt and tie in the morning (or something awesomely businessy that women wear). With this in mind it does seem somewhat silly for people to run themselves ragged, travel so far and not see much or enjoy themselves in the process. This is the idea we plan to look at this week.
Ok so you’ve gotten to the (some would say ideal) point in you career where aisle seats and safety demonstrations are so familiar they repeat themselves in your sleep when you can find it. Congratulations on your success and now it’s your GTG’s turn to make sure you still have a bit of time left to enjoy yourself. Based on the other advice out there your GTG has come up with a few pointers to help find this work/leisure balance.
- Eat smart
A proper nutritional balance is no doubt going to leave you feeling fit, fresh, and ready. Working and travelling simultaneously means people eating out a lot more to the point where putting on a few extra kilograms seems to be a regular concern of mobile workaholics. Being a huge Kathy Reichs fan I have read her describe burger joints and take-aways in detail from Mexico city to Montreal as she fights crime consulting in her field of forensic anthropology. Needless to say Kathy seems to share the same concerns as the other regulars.
- Get the low down
For a start there’s wikitravel but each place will have their own local websites or mobile apps to let people know what’s happening in the way of food, live music, galleries, comedy, theatre and festivals. A quick search beforehand may turn up exactly what you would like to do on Friday night after work or something completely new to try. Personally your GTG thinks a local Jazz bar would be the ultimate wind-down after the working week, albeit a slightly pretentious one 🙂
- Make it worth your while
Some people have mentioned frequent-flier points as a bonus for flying with the same airline (provided the flights don’t cost you more than the benefits) but also available could be a whole range of ideas down to a coffee card at your favourite cafes that will save you cash and keep you in the loop so you can hit the ground running.
- Plan your sleep
There are those of us who can fall asleep on planes and trains at first motion, but for some of us it may take a little effort to slow down the mind enough to catch those forty winks. Your GTG recommends a few things like natural sleeping aids, arriving early-enough to have a rest before your first appointment, and try where possible to keep as much as possible of your normal sleep pattern. Dealing with Jetlag or changing time-zones can also be a challenge in itself and will feature in a future GTG entry.
- Make contacts in each place you visit
So you may or may not have business contacts to meet even in a semi-social environment but here your GTG is referring to contacts that may be purely social and allow you both to let your hair down properly. You know what they say about mixing business with pleasure… Apart from being a hoot, this is a great idea to counter the loneliness that may come from so much time away. While this idea may be more relevant to lone business travelers, groups may also benefit from this concept, especially if you are not often matched with your travelling companion(s) voluntarily.
Well there you have it, a few handy hints that may make life a whole lot easier for some. As always your GTG would love to hear your additions to the list which you can send in using the form below. For extra reading and a second opinion, a few links have been added to other articles discussing the same thing. On that note, enjoy getting stuck into January, until next week.
http://ask.metafilter.com/206695/Traveling-for-work-101
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/11/11/the-cynics-guide-to-business-travel/
http://australia.etbtravelnews.com/229001/remain-energetic-travelling-work/
http://au.askmen.com/money/professional_100/123_professional_life.html
