Traveling for work can be an absolute drag. Travel is exhausting and stressful, and nobody wants to sit on long flights or haul themselves through airports if there isn’t going to be a beach and a cocktail on the other end of it, but unfortunately, this is a reality many of us have to face.
However, work trips don’t have to be all meetings and lonely nights in your hotel room. Making an active effort to enjoy your trip can result in a journey that is both productive and relaxing at the same time. Here are some tips to try out.
Lux Out Your Accommodation
Staying in a rickety old hotel with a creaky mattress is a sure-fire way to feel uncomfortable and disenchanted with your trip. Especially when your trip is longer than just a week or two, you’re going to want to be staying somewhere that you can relax and make yourself at home.
Discuss with your employer about short-term rentals in these cases – this will be more comfortable for you and more budget-friendly for your company as well since we all know that hotel bookings don’t come cheap. If you’re in the area, you can check out some great Corporate Housing, Toronto, or look for something similar wherever you’re traveling to.
Schedule in Fun Time
Nobody can be in meetings 24 hours a day – it’s just not reasonable or healthy. At the very least, you should have lunch breaks and evenings to yourself, which means that this time can be used for some fun.
Make lunch and dinner bookings at restaurants you’d like to try, check out some tourist attractions, or simply spend an hour here or there walking through interesting parks or markets you find in the area.
Extend Your Trip
If your schedule is seriously tight on your trip, consider extending the visit by a few extra days. In this way, you can take a few days after your work trip to have a real holiday and do some fun activities that you might want to try.
Take note during your work hours of restaurants, pubs, clubs, or tourist sights you’d like to check out, and build yourself an itinerary that you can tackle once everyone else gets on the plane to head home. If you have the time, have a friend or loved one fly up to meet you and spend a few fun days together in a new city.
Treat Yourself
Make your trip memorable (and replace the memory of the 8 hours you spent in a board room) by treating yourself to a few luxuries you wouldn’t normally buy at home. This could be anything from a new outfit to wear out to dinner, a meal at a fine dining restaurant, a new book for the plane, or a spa treatment after a particularly long day.
You deserve a little luxury for your hard work, and these treats (as big or small as you’d like) can make the experience a whole lot more bearable.
