Fabia Shahzadi
When you’re exhausted, your sleep pattern is all over the place from traveling through different time zones, and you’re faced with living out of a suitcase, making international business feel like an uphill struggle which you are never ready to face. Yet for many of us, business travel is a necessary evil, so it pays to take a few simple measures to make the process as painless as possible. Here are a few ways you can treat yourself better while traveling:
1. Be militant with your packing
Pack as little as possible. Rather than suitcases opt for carry-on luggage and keep a small transparent toiletries bag packed and ready to go to avoid the hassle of pulling it together each time you travel. This will allow you to breeze through on arrival and avoid the pain of baggage collection. Likewise, invest in decent luggage. It doesn’t have to be a designer bag, it has to be strong, easy to use and practical to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.
2. Keep jet lag at bay
It may sound really trivial, but an under-slept and fatigued traveler is much less equipped to deal with the demands of international business than one who is alert and rested. Therefore, I advise arriving at your destination a couple of days in advance to give your body time to adjust to the environment and surroundings. If this is not an option, reset your watch to the new time zone before you leave and try to align your sleeping pattern to that of your destination. Once you have arrived, do not sleep unless it is dark outside – no matter how tired you are.
3. Eat and drink smart
Overeating while in transit will leave you feeling tired and bloated. As a bench mark, try to eat no more than half of what you are offered and go for proteins over carbs. Likewise, dehydration can be more punishing because of the cabin’s low humidity levels. To combat symptoms such as headaches and dry eyes, drink plenty of water and avoid tea, coffee and alcohol.
4. Stay connected
A broadband USB stick will give you signal anywhere for a single monthly fee, enabling business as usual while you are still on the move. This avoids all the hassle of trying to remember different logins and passwords when connecting to airport Wi-Fi. Although slightly expensive but the trade-off is convenience.
5. Research your destination
Sensitivity to cultural differences is vital for ensuring a foreign business trip goes smoothly. To avoid any embarrassment and humiliation, invest time into learning about a region’s core religions, customs, norms and political structure in order to make the trip better.
And a few last, brief tips…
Avoid wearing shoes with laces if you don’t want to be stopped at security, do squats and stretches on the plane to avoid cramps and always sanitize the tray table as they are rarely ever cleaned. Higher alert to hygiene will save you from diseases which otherwise could ruin your entire purpose of the trip.