I’m a regional IT Project Manager, so I am one of those highly technical guru’s that people seek out when they can’t remember how to format a table in Excel, or when they don’t understand why they can’t find the file they just saved. Have these people not seen the word “HELP” on the menu bar? But, I digress from the reason why I wrote this article in the first place. I’m here to talk about travel.
When I travel, I have a tendency at times, to become wired-up or anxious (It’s a high-strung, type-A, technology thing), so I do a lot to keep myself relaxed. I usually start relaxing a few days ahead of time by reducing my workload and getting extra work out of the way so I won’t be hit with 70 people asking me to fix their computers and a server that’s gone down when I return.
How do I relax? I start packing 2 days ahead of time, so I’m not rushed on the day of my trip. I refill my prescription to keep my cholesterol down while I’m away. I shop for extra cat, dog, fish and bird food to keep my best friends happy. The neighbors get my spare keys if anything goes wrong. It’s much easier to give the neighbors the keys when you have them over for drinks two or three nights before your trip! …and a quiet chat with the neighbors over drinks is another nice way to relax.
I also make all of my plane, car, and hotel reservations online. I print the electronic receipts and keep ‘em in the zip-pocket of my luggage; ready on demand if ever requested. Most of the time, I never need ‘em. I plan a business trip so I arrive the day before I have to do any work and leave the day after I complete any work. This is one place where an unrestricted plane ticket has it’s advantages. If you finish early, there’s no penalty for changing to an earlier flight. You won’t have to be stuck in some god-forsaken ghost town somewhere instead of sleeping in the comfort of your own bed.
OK, so you’re saying, he’s still rushing around. True, I am, but I do it a few days ahead of the trip, so for the next couple of days before the trip, I won’t have much to do except relax and take it easy. In those couple of days, my tension decreases tremendously! I love to sit in the back yard and soak up a few rays. I might garden a little. I sit and become a couch potato, watching something on TV that doesn’t make me have to think. Putting on an old John Wayne re-run of Donovan’s Reef fits the bill very well. I sit in the Jacuzzi and pour in some Lavender oil. It makes you feel relaxed and sleepy, or so the aromatherapy folks say. What the heck, it seems to work for me. Then I sleep to the sound of a thunderstorm or ocean waves on CD. Delta Airlines’ channel 6 plays the same kind of relaxing music.
I take a morning flight whenever possible. Airports, like the rest of us, are only starting to wake up in the mornings and you won’t feel as rushed. Remember the great sleep you had the night before the trip? It’s great to have all your faculties together watching the rest of the folks traipsing through the airport on auto-pilot!
With today’s post-9/11 baggage searches at the metal detectors, it helps to be organized. It’s always predictable…before you even get close to the line, do this. I’m hardly an assertive person, but yes, I said DO THIS!
Put your plane ticket in your shirt pocket with your drivers license. You’ll be asked for it immediately before you enter the line for the metal detectors. Throw everything else from your pockets into that zippered pocket in your luggage too…wallet, coins, keys, four leaf clovers, bits of string, etc. If you wear a pager and cell phone like I do, take them off, turn them off, and put them into your carry on luggage. You can always get them out of the luggage on the other side, “IF” you really need them, and I don’t. I tell people I can’t receive calls while I’m on a flight. That flight starts as soon as I hit the metal detectors and ends when I get my rental car.
Then, if you’re carrying a notebook computer, get the darned thing out of it’s case as soon as you get to the table in front of the metal detector, or better yet, get one of those notebook cases that is considered “checkpoint friendly” and you won’t need to get it out of it’s case. Now it’s your turn to go through the metal detector.
Did I mention, in the morning when I get dressed, I think about what to wear. No, I’m not color-coordinating, guys! I’m serious here. It’s to avoid a long wait. I live in Texas which naturally means, I wear a big, I mean BIG, belt buckle on my wranglers and heavy duty cowboy boots. Yeah, the whole get-up…even the black hat…only between Labor Day and Easter of course, otherwise it’s a straw hat. There’s rules to these Texas things ya’ know! But, I’m not dumb enough to wear all that junk through a metal detector. I’d be there for hours with people cussing their brains out behind me while I strip for the TSA folks. Ooooh, this would be uuuuugly! d:)
Instead, I wear comfortable sneakers (no metal reinforcement in the soles), comfortable jeans, a lightweight shirt, a simple belt with the smallest buckle I can find, and a baseball cap. After traveling awhile, I now know what I own that will set off the detectors, and, it’s easy…When I find out that it sets off the detectors, I don’t wear it anymore! I carry no loose change at all, and my keys (What am I going to need to unlock on my trip?) go inside my carry-on bag for the whole trip. This isn’t rocket science, people!
Woohoo! I win round one of this trip!
Like many other corporate travelers, my company won’t allow me to fly business or first class at company expense. I’ve amassed over 175,000 miles as a Delta Frequent Flyer and I double-dip with Delta’s partners, Hertz, Hilton, Marriott, and American Express on every trip. I’m holding onto these miles so I can one day fly to French Polynesia and do an ecotourism video! Not to mention, relax on the beach sipping Mai Tai’s. Ummm, and I don’t mean, alone here! d:)
So, I’m digressing, here’s what I do to get around the first-class thingy. I go to the gate and request to be put on the first-class stand-by upgrade list. If a first-class seat is available, and it usually is 90% of the time, it costs me $75 one-way to upgrade for an 800-mile trip. The alternative is to request business class at the time of my booking, which can otherwise change a $500 round-trip to $1,900 in a heartbeat! that isn't going to happen! I win round two and I get to fly in comfort!
When I land, I’ve won the battle of the rental cars as well. I’m a Hertz #1 gold club member and I don’t even wait in line for my rental car. I go straight to my rental car and before I leave the parking lot, I just need to show my drivers license for ID. They already have my contract printed and bagged for me with the local area maps. I’m outta’ the airport in a flash. Round three!
The hotel is just as easy. Before I left, I made my reservations with either Hilton or Marriott online. I walk in the door, sign the registration card, get my key and I’m off to the room with the rest of the day to relax until I have to go to work tomorrow morning. Woohoo! I win round four!
Finally, here’s how I win round five. When I’m at work in my home town, my business hours are usually 8AM to 5PM, or later. I’m an IT Project Manager, that usually means 7X24 anyway! d:) When I’m on a business trip, my business hours shift by 1 hour…9AM to 6PM. I often don’t get the time to answer e-mail during the day, so I leave myself some time at the end of the day to answer them all. I usually end up doing 2 hours of e-mail and documentation daily, sometimes more.
Going home, I do it all over again, in reverse order. When I get back home, I take the rest of the day off to regenerate after the travel and I’m back at work the next day, ready to tackle another project.
