Travel tips
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
I have travelled for business for more than ten years now, and I am still learning to cope with life on the road. In that time I have learned several tricks to keep a person sane while jetting more than two thousand miles away or when driving for half a day. I would like to share my experiences and learn from other travelers what they have discovered to keep from being overwhelmed by airlines, hotels, and travel agencies.
The first and most important thing to travel is to have a sense of humor about yourself and to have a good attitude no matter what circumstances you encounter. Travel is always full of headaches.
On a business trip to Puerto Rico I had a gauranteed room reservation and the hotel knew that my flight was not going to arrive before midnight. Imagine my aggravation when I showed up to the front desk to find another traveler with confirmed reservations giving the hotel desk clerk grief over not having any rooms available. It was Labor Day Weekend, the Puerto Ricans last hurrah before the tourist season began, and there wasn't a room to be had on the island. I know because the clerks tried to find us a room anywhere.
During the time the clerks searched on the phone for rooms the other guest made snide comments about Puerto Ricans, the island, and how this would never have happened in Spain. I knew there was nothing I could do and therefore dropped my bag off and ran next door to the convenience store for a beer, but of course not before I asked the desk clerks and the irate traveler if they wanted me to bring back anything. They clerks smiled and said, no. The other guest never responded.
On my return the clerks continued dialing the phone trying bed and breakfastes and anyone else who might have a bed. The other guest kept giving the clerks grief. I drank my beer and worked at distracting the other guest from his bad attitude. I asked about his country, his family, his hobbies, etc. I joked with the clerks. I pointed out the beautiful senioritas to the other hotel guest.
There was nothing I could do to find a bed and I wasn't about to let it eat at me like it was for the other guest.
Finally, at 4 a.m. someone checked out. The hotel staff cleaned the room and gave it to the two of us to share. Gladly we went to the room together looking for at least a little sleep.
The next day the hotel was able to give us our own rooms. They upgraded me to a suite for free and didn't charge me for my first night there. Later I bumped into the irate guest on the beach to discover that his accomodations were not as nice as mine at the hotel.
At the end of the week, when I checked out one of the clerks stopped me and gave me her gold frog pin, a symbol of Puerto Rico, a smile and thanked me for my understanding.
The other guest, I had the feeling, probably got only a bill.
TRAVEL TIP 2 OR HOW TO SUFFER WITH A PILLOW FROM HELL.
One of the most infuriating things for me to deal with on a business trip is being stuck with an uncomfortable pillow.
Not all hotels or motels have those exequisite goose down pillows and traveling with a pillow of your own is at best cumbersome and at worse expensive when you leave them behind at the hotel.
What I've learned to do when the hotel's pillow doesn't give me proper neck support for sleeping is to use their towels instead. After folding the towel along its widest side twice I then roll the towel (think of rolling an area rug). Each hotel or motel is different. You'll need to experiment with their towels to see what works best. Some towels are so thin that two are needed to give any kind of support. Other times the towels are thick enough they can be rolled loosely or even rolled halfway for proper neck support.
I hope this trick is as useful to you as it has been for me through the years.
TRAVEL TIP 3 OR WHEN YOU'RE UNSURE OF YOUR BUSINESS SCHEDULE IN REGARDS TO PURCHASING AN AIRLINE TICKET.
All business travelers have the headache of not knowing when their meetings will be over with and what kind of traffic conditions will be encountered on the way to the airport. Over time I've discovered that it's always best to book the last flight out for the day. If things are finished early airlines have no problem letting you fly standby out of the airport without any additional charges. They know that some poor schmuck will be needing that last seat on that last flight out of town. And they know he'll pay whatever they ask. It's better him than you.
TRAVEL TIP 4 OR COPING WITH FREE HOTEL BREAKFASTS.
In the USA more and more hotels are offering free 'Continental' breakfasts as an incentive for you to choose their hotel. These meals can be nice when they're more than the American donut and coffee. The only problem the hotels have is that for 170 rooms full of guests they only have 5 breakfast tables in the lobby. To top that off some guests don't clean up after themselves and leave an unusable table in their wake.
To cope with the table shortage I usually take my food back to the room and to do this I use the tray most people never notice under the ice bucket. It's large enough for the food and drinks; and a special plus is it impresses your lover to stroll through the door, tray in hand and prepare her breakfast in bed.
When there's no tray to be found, in a pinch the guest book that sits on the desk can used if it is large and sturdy enough. Be careful though, that slick plastic without a catch lip can cause your breakfast to be embarrasingly dropped down your front. (I know.)
