Survival Guide: Lessons learned while traveling on business

I hate traveling. I'll just come right out and say it. Not sure when this happened, because I can remember a time when I loved staying in hotels, exploring new places, and getting away from my usual daily grind. No more. I love my home comforts, my work, my town, and my little slice of life in Small Town, USA. I'm pretty sure many of my friends have a different perspective than this. I know plenty of people who love heading out of town, including the journey in the car and the flight across the ocean. I'm not in that club.

So it was with a fair amount of trepidation that I ventured a mere 100 miles away from my nest for the annual music teachers conference in my state. Have you ever read Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach? I've been reading it semi-regularly for about ten years. If you have it in your personal library, check out the entry for September 30, and you'll find Breathnach's tips and tricks for making business travel (or travel in general) more bearable.

I recommend buying this book for yourself if you don't already have it. People who aren't into New Age Spirituality may find her references to receiving help from the "Universe" or talking to "Spirit" off-putting, but I simply make a mental substitution of "God" for "Spirit" whenever necessary. (If you wonder why this would even be an issue, all I can say is that doing this makes the messages speak more personally to me.) Anyway, back to September 30. Breathnach opens the entry with a quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh:

Is there anything as horrible as starting on a trip? Once you're off that's all right, but the last moments are earthquake and convulsion, and the feeling that you are a snail being pulled off your rock.

That snail analogy is all about me. But what can be done? Actually, plenty. Breathnach gives a brilliant bundle of suggestions ranging from what to pack to making sure you carve out free time for yourself between meetings and workshops. In a nutshell, you must plan for your comfort in advance. Take hotels, for example. Do you like staying in hotels? Luxury and resort hotels are fine, perhaps, but how about business class hotels? Eh...not so much. The things that drive me absolutely loony in typical hotels are:

• Fluorescent lighting (please deliver us from fluorescent lightbulbs!)
• Fear of bedbugs
• The smell
• The in-room coffee service
• The water
• The bedspreads (which I hear they seldom launder)
• The alarm clocks
• The TV channels
• The noise from neighboring doors slamming shut
• Living out of a suitcase

That ought to do for now. Inspired by Breathnach's words of comfort and wisdom, I packed for this trip with a totally different mindset than in years past. (Yes, I've had the book for ten years, but for some reason I never latched on to the genius in September 30 until this fall.) Here are the things I packed that gave me the most pleasure:

• Starbucks coffee (decaf and regular in separate baggies)
• Raw sugar and cinnamon (I like these in my coffee)
• A real spoon
• A real coffee mug
• Half and half (you could always pick this up after you reach your destination)
• Coffee filters. 
• Bottled water (enough for drinking plain and for brewing coffee)
• A cinnamon-apple scented candle
• Lovely room fragrance spray
• Disinfectant (spray and wipes...for the bathtub mainly)
• Luxurious bubble bath
• Flip-flops (for keeping my feet from touching the carpet)
• Biscotti
• Protein bars
• Pistachios
• My travel-sized steamer (for quick touch-ups on wrinkled clothes)
• My Kindle (loaded with an assortment of new reading material)
• A Shiatsu massage pillow (for relaxing stiff shoulder and neck muscles after a day of meetings)
• My notebook computer
• Earplugs
• Vitamins, pain killers, cold meds (just in case)
• A trench coat with removable lining

Simple comforts like a scented candle and your favorite snacks make hotel stays more comfortable.

Of course, your list would certainly include different items that mean comfort to you. Fellow teachers I know came armed with wine, bourbon, and Planter's Punch. But surviving and enjoying a business trip is not just about what you pack. It's also about how you spend your time. I am a firm believer in not attending every workshop and every meeting. If you go to all that is offered at a typical business conference, you may have to wake up earlier than you like, rush to get out the door, sit in uncomfortable chairs for hours on end, carry excessive loads of "stuff" (you know, free samples that are distributed, books that you buy from vendors, handouts from each workshop, etc) around a conference center or, as in my case, a college campus, until you finally get 30 minutes of free time to rush back to your hotel and freshen up for dinner...after which, there may be another lecture or presentation of some kind. By the time you finally get back to your hotel room to stay for the night, you are too exhausted to hit the hotel workout facility or to enjoy a good book. That is sooooo...not for me.

Consequently, I made a decision to be a half-day conference person. If there were meetings in the morning that I absolutely had to attend, then I skipped the things later in the day, and vice versa. This move was brilliant if I must say so myself. I felt refreshed and ready for each event I selected, and I had a few hours each day to spend reading, exercising, or soaking in a hot bath. In addition, my role as Secretary of the conference organization made it important for me to save time for going over agendas prior to meetings, and for finalizing the minutes after meetings. I have learned from unpleasant experience that it is much better to complete your paperwork while you are still at the conference site than to bring it home to finish later. My life is far too busy for that, and yours probably is as well. When I have brought home my notes from meetings with the expectation of typing up the minutes soon thereafter, I have ALWAYS run into some kind of obstacle that prevented me from getting it done promptly. This year, I decided to skip the final masterclass (which would have been great, mind you) in order to camp out for a few hours at a nearby Panera Bread tidying up lose ends and completing my paperwork.

To sum up, here are the things I'd like to remember to do again the next time I travel on business followed by the things I would like to do differently.

THINGS THAT WORKED:

• It was fabulous having not only decent, but excellent coffee brewing in my room each morning. I am so glad I brought a real coffee mug and a real spoon as well.
• I was not grossed out at the thought of taking a bath in the hotel room since I brought disinfectant wipes and a disinfectant spray along with me.
• Listening to my favorite tunes for free on Pandora made me feel more at home.
• Getting an extended check-out time was very helpful. I was able to sleep until a decent hour, get ready for the day at a relaxed pace, pack up my things, and still have time to review the agenda for the final meeting while relaxing with a cup of coffee and biscotti.
• Picking and choosing meetings based on necessity as well as interest gave me plenty of time to myself, which I must have if I am to remain sane.
• Unpacking my suitcase, hanging up my clothes, and arranging bath items neatly on the bathroom counter was a good idea. It only took a few minutes, and I didn't have the feeling that I was living out of a suitcase.

THINGS I WILL DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME

• On Day One, arrive at the conference site before dark. When you are in an unfamiliar city, it's a bit unnerving to navigate your way around after the sun goes down.
• Pack lighter: Yes, you do need a few choices of outfits for each day of the conference, but you don't need four choices for each day. A heavy suitcase is not a fun accessory, so pack smart separates that will work for a variety of looks.

The drive home was great. When I left Panera after that final paperwork session, I had a fresh cup of java in hand, and, more importantly, I had the light feeling that comes from knowing that a dreaded task has been completed.

One more thing...
When I arrived at home, I immediately put all of my clothes and toiletries away, then returned my luggage to its stored location. This is something I learned it was wise to do a few years ago. You're back home now, so you don't want to let that hotel feeling linger, right?

A P.S. about bedbugs...
An adult student of mine shared a tip for detecting bedbugs in hotel rooms. I don't know if it really works, but I did try it. You take the "Do Not Disturb" sign from your room and run it between the mattress and box springs, then between the headboard and mattress. If you see blood on the sign, then your room has bedbugs. A fellow teacher used a flashlight to look for bedbugs. Several people I know recommend keeping your suitcases off the floor, as bedbugs tend to multiply there. If you think you may have picked up some bedbugs on your journey, you should probably let your suitcase stay outside in your car when you return home. The heat that builds up inside the car during the day is supposed to kill the nasty critters.