Traveling Abroad on Business? Top Tips for Stress-Free Travel

If you are a frequent flyer who does business abroad, traveling is obviously important, and arriving feeling refreshed and ready for anything is the obvious goal. The last thing you need is to arrive for an important presentation feeling stressed and flustered, and with that in mind, here are a few business travel tips for seasoned businesspeople.

• Hire a car to meet you at the destination airport – Some hotels have a limo service for arriving guests, which is ideal when you are in a foreign land. You can book a limo online and the driver would hold up your name at the main meeting point.
• Smart casual wear – While you will have a business suit for your meetings, wear your designer mens jeans and polo shirt while traveling. Keep your business attire on a coat hanger if at all possible, which will keep it spotless.
• Inform credit card companies about your trip – This will eliminate the risk of having your card rejected when abroad; some providers put a stop on a card if foreign transactions are processed, which is designed as added security. If you let them know in advance of your arrival, you won’t have this problem.
• Use a VPN – A Virtual Private Network offers many advantages for foreign travelers; some websites cannot be accessed from certain countries and using a VPN allows you to access, as you can choose a server in an allowed country. A VPN can also protect you when using Wi-Fi at a coffee shop, as it prevents hacking. Always use a VPN when making financial transactions, especially when abroad.
• Avoiding roaming charges – We all know how the telecom corporations like to hit you with roaming call charges when you are abroad; there are several ways to avoid these charges, you should use VoIP platforms like Zoom and Skype, which is a form of Internet telephony. When you arrive at your destination, buy an unlimited data SIM from a local provider and use that to get online and make VoIP phone calls.
• Manage your time effectively – Always make sure that you have more than enough time before important business meetings; which will ensure you don’t arrive late. If you arrive early, you can find a nearby coffee shop and use the time to run through your PowerPoint presentation and check that all the files you need are on your laptop. If not, you can access your cloud network and download what you need.
• Fly business class – Business class is spacious and very comfortable; if you are on a long-haul flight to the other side of the world, you don’t want to arrive feeling tired and stressed and the extra cost is nothing if you manage to land that big contract.

We hope this article helps you to plan your business trips and that you always arrive feeling refreshed and ready to wow your client.