Traveling for Work

By Matt - Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Part of the reason that I didn’t want to set too many ambitious goals this month was the fact that it would be incredibly busy from a work standpoint. I didn’t want to set goals in place that had a small chance of success. Part of that is tied in directly to the fact that I had to and still have to do a bit of traveling for work.

I’ve wanted to write about business travel for a while since there are different aspects to this that a personal finance blog can cover. The first thing that comes to mind is all of the potential cost saving measures that come up. Most companies will get rooms for every person that is traveling; this is often more expensive for the company but they don’t mind spending the extra money to keep everyone happy. A quick cost cutting measure would be to double people up in rooms! Personally I like my space so I’d never push this aspect very far. Continuing along the cost savings thinking is the food aspect; restaurants are expensive especially if you eat at them a couple times a day. Hotels often provide breakfast and in some cases these are full breakfast menus, keep this in mind when you book a room. Also because you’re traveling doesn’t mean that you need to eat an expensive meal. Treat the company’s money as if it were your own.

While traveling I inevitably spend more money that I do on a regular day, small things you forget or don’t think you’ll need all add up. Magazines, books, and snacks while you’re waiting to board the plane also add up. The waiting times are probably the biggest challenge for me from a no spending point of view. Planning and preparing for this will help reduce unexpected expenses.

Because I’ve had to travel a bit for work this year (thankfully it is still only a bit) I’ve learnt a lot about prepping to travel and the travel itself. If you plan a trip correctly it’ll save you time and money depending on how you actually travel. An hour-long flight to remove the need for a 5-hour drive for me is a good option; I can sit and work or read at the airport while when I drive I have to pay attention to the road and where I’m going. Planning ahead can also save you money because airlines often limit the number of low costs seats on a plane; buying last minute means paying a premium to be on that plane. A bit of effort early on will save you hassles and aggravation down the road.

I used to have this mental image of an executive flying all over the globe in a private jet or first class and it was an appealing image. But now that I’ve had to travel a few times in close succession that image has been tarnished slightly. Yes its still a lot of fun but doing it too often isn’t fun, you miss your loved ones and wears you out. I hope that I get to continue to travel a bit for work but the moment it starts wearing me out or impacting my family life I’ll have to tone it down and reduce the frequency.

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