Thank you to everyone who commented and shared my previous post about recommended items for staying productive on the road. For my next piece of Hyatt Place Seamless Travel Series advice, let’s talk about some tactics to add to your holiday travel toolkit. I’ve crowdsourced some suggestions that readers have shared over the past few weeks, and added a few strategies of my own:
My Holiday Travel Productivity Tips:
1. An Ounce of Preparation is Worth a Pound of Ease
Every minute you spend preparing for a trip will save you an infinite amount of time and stress once you’re on the road. So take care of as many details as you can in advance, for example: pre-book all restaurant reservations (OpenTable.com makes this a cinch), look up weather reports so you’ll know what outerwear to pack and what weather will be like during your drive or flight, and print or download all plane tickets before heading to the airport. Several readers raved about the TSA Pre Check expedited airport screening and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re eligible and travel frequently, it’s worth every penny of the $85 cost.
2. Pad Your Calendar
One of the few guarantees in life is that the vast majority of business meetings will not start or end on time. And yet most people schedule them back-to-back-to-back. While it’s important to fit in as many events as you can on the road, you have to be realistic. One way to keep your sanity is to book travel time into your calendar or itinerary. You can estimate travel time with an app such as Google Maps or MapQuest, and then you won’t have to worry about making it to your next event in heavy holiday traffic.
3. Manage Your Email, Don’t Let It Manage You
There are many strategies for handling the endless amount of email messages we all face; my favorite is chunking, which involves limiting yourself to checking your inbox at just a few designated times throughout the day. I often fail miserably at this productivity practice when I’m at my desk, but I’m better at sticking to it on the road, and it’s a lifesaver. If it makes you nervous to be unavailable by email for hours-long stretches of time while you’re traveling, consider setting an out-of-office message explaining you’ll only be checking email sporadically.
4. Beg, Borrow and Share.
One of the biggest travel stresses is packing correctly—or, more accurately, worrying that you’ve packed incorrectly. Who hasn’t sat in a cab to the airport wondering, “What did I forget this time?” And, when you do forget something, you can waste hours of your trip trying to procure that item in a foreign city. Fortunately, if you are staying at a Hyatt Place hotel, you have access to the Odds and Ends program, which is a collection of often-forgotten items such as hair straighteners, phone chargers, outlet adapters, clothes steamers, and more.
5. Eat Healthy and Drink Lots of Water
Another popular topic from my readers – how to stay productive on the road and stay healthy. Nothing saps your energy more than a steady diet of airport junk food and business happy hours. While you can’t expect to be perfect while traveling, my best advice is to eat at least one healthy meal a day – the free a.m. Kitchen Skillet breakfast at Hyatt Place makes this easy with satisfying and healthy breakfast options, such as eggs, oatmeal, fresh fruit and yogurt. Carry a bottle of water with you at all times and drink at least a glass of water with every meal.
What other productivity tips do you recommend? Please share!
This post was sponsored by Hyatt Place as part of its Seamless Travel Series. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
