Saving Money: The Art of Business Travel
“Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” — Elizabeth Drew
I travel quite often for my job so I’m always on the prowl for ways to save money en route. Even though it’s funded by my corporate expense account, I pride myself on ways to cut costs. I’ve always treated the company money like my money.
For me personally, the hard part about business travel is eating healthy and exercise. It’s ironic to me that healthy living and finances really require a similar skill set yet one is so much more difficult for me. I’ve written about my food issues several times. You can find two postings on the topic: here and here.
Back to finances for one minute… If you’re looking for ways to save money on business travel, then Business 2.0 has a list of 15 Tips for a Better Business Trip.
But if you’re like me, you might be more concerned with how to eat right and fit in a work out after passing through three time zones. The OC Metro had an article full of strategies for staying healthy on the road entitled, The Perils of Business Travel by Linda Melone. Read it in full here.
The important thing to remember is that if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. Melone gives three rules:
1. Exercise at least every third day.
2. Maintain at least two-thirds of your normal aerobic exercise time but keep the same intensity; for example, if you normally jog for 45 minutes, you can cut back to 30 minutes, but don’t slack off on the intensity.
3. Do your strength-training program at least once a week, using your usual resistance.
And since it’s springtime, Snigdha Sen writes, “So now’s the time to stop hibernating in musty hotel gyms and get outside. Whether your next business trip takes you to Gotham or SoCal, we’ve found the top places to work up a sweat while also taking in a healthy dose of local color. See the list here.
Have a safe trip. Stay fit. And watch your pocketbook.
I find it so hard to eat healthily on the road. Mostly what is easily accessible are chain restaurants and I find that to mostly be large portions of poor quality processed food. It’s the thing I hate the most about traveling for work. If I end up on a project that lasts longer than 2 weeks there is time to research local places that serve fresh good food and I constantly seek out that sort of thing.
When we travel in the car, we take a little cooler full of water, fruit drinks and sandwiches. It helps cut down on spending and junk food diets.
But we eat out a lot at nice resteraunts, once we get to where we are going, so I guess it all balances out…. to spending money.