White Collar Travel: Five ways to make Mondays better

by Tom Johansmeyer on

For business travelers, Mondays are pretty miserable. Take everything you hate about Mondays and add to it a 4 AM wakeup, an hour at the airport and around five hours of transit time, and you’ll get a sense of how much Monday blows for the average white collar traveler. Fortunately, there are ways you can make the first day of the week more tolerable, even you have to get up before the break of dawn and can’t sleep on the flight. I came up with a few techniques when I was on the road and found that they are rather effective.

Here are five ways you can conquer Mondays:

1. Sleep less
Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but it actually works. Get up a little earlier, and make some coffee. Give yourself a few minutes to adjust to being up at that ungodly hour. You won’t be groggy in the car on the way to the airport (a feeling I never could handle), and you’ll be alert enough to pound out e-mails on your BlackBerry or fire up your laptop and make those transit minutes billable (or at least productive).

2. Dress for comfort
Let’s assume you’re catching a 7 AM flight. You need to get to the airport an hour before that – and need to drive or be driven to the airport – so you’re leaving the house at 5 AM. And, you won’t reach the office at your destination until around noon. That means you’ll have seven hours in the clothes you’re wearing before your day even begins, and you’ll be cramped and wrinkled by the time you step off the plane. Don’t wear your work clothes on the flight. Instead, throw on a pair of jeans, shorts, etc. Step into a bathroom to change at the airport if you won’t have time to check into your hotel room before going to the office.

3. Reclaim plane time for yourself
It’s easier to take some time for yourself on the way home than it is on the way out, but it’s more valuable on the front end. You have a full day of work ahead of you: pace yourself. Give yourself a half hour or hour on the plane to read the newspaper (or Kindle, as the case may be), listen to music, watch a TV show on your iPhone or just relax. This will help you get through a long day that undoubtedly will conclude with an endless team dinner.

4. Try to get to the hotel first
This isn’t always an option, but if it’s available, take it! Drop off your bags, so you won’t have to carry them around, and jump into the shower for a few minutes just to wash the grime of the flight off you. You’ll feel refreshed. This is a viable option if you can book a hotel within walking distance of the office. If you’re not traveling solo, you’ll need to make sure your coworkers on board with this. If there’s a “Type A” on your project team, you’re screwed.

5. Sneak out for a bit
Smokers have a natural advantage here – addiction is a built-in excuse for stepping outside and getting some “fresh air.” Even if you don’t puff, concoct a reason to go outside for a while and feel the sun on your skin. Walk around; get the blood flowing. Try to do this a few hours before the end of the day (or team dinner reservations), as it will help you make it to the finish line.

White Collar Travel: Five embarrassing confessions of a business traveler

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Business travelers love to look poised, in control and too important for mere words, but there’s a dark side to the lifestyle that can be downright comical. Sure, some of it will come across as sad, depressing or simply stupid. When you step back from it, though, it’s hard not to let out a chuckle. The trivial becomes incredibly serious, and almost every situation seems like an opportunity to pull off some grand scam that truly isn’t worth the effort.

I’ll confess: I was guilty of much (well, all) of what you’re about to read. I can take some comfort in the fact that I wasn’t alone, but that also means I spent a lot of years associated with some pretty strange people.

1. Hoarding soap
Might as well start off with the lowest of the low: I’d always swipe the soap. It’ not because I was broke – if I were, stealing soap wouldn’t have done much for me. How much does the average guy spend on soap? Ten bucks a month? I’ve never broken down the expense, but it can’t be more than a rounding error in the average household’s budget. In pocketing the soap, felt like I was somehow winning an undefined competition. One day I realized I had more soap under the sink than I’d ever use and called it quits. Well, it wasn’t a lifetime’s worth – I’d only scrounged enough for around two years.

2. Dashboard Chinese
Expense management was always a priority – and not just for the company. I quickly realized that you could scrounge a few extra bucks if you got creative with your meals. Generally speaking, you could count on at least one team dinner a week, which meant no cash but you got to eat better than a normal human being.

The other meals on the road? Skip breakfast in favor of in-room coffee (or nab something free if complimentary continental breakfast). Lunch was best in a subsidized employee cafeteria, or absent that you go on the cheap with pizza or a burger. So far, the day cost around $5, against $5 for breakfast and $10 for lunch (back then, at least). Dinner’s the tough one, and you only get $20. On one project, I found I could get a quart (yes, that’s how it was measured) of chicken and broccoli at a frightening-looking Chinese restaurant on some back road in Whippany, New Jersey … for $5.

Per diem: $35
Total cost: $10
Difference: $25
X5 days on the road: $125

It may seem demented at first, but that strategy turned into an extra $500 a month.

3. Road warrior
Why fly when you can drive? While the prevailing view of business travelers is that we’re addicted to points, the reality is that we all cave in the face of something far more attractive: cash. Mileage is better than miles, especially since it accumulates more quickly and offers faster gratification. Driving distances that should be flown was a great way to stuff your bank account, especially if you were about to leave the road to look for a new job.

4. Overpaying for points
Well, it’s not always true that we’ll take cash over points. Perhaps the greatest flaw in economics is that human beings are rational – especially human beings who spend 15 hours a week on planes and in airports. There are circumstances in which points trump cash, even though this is irrational behavior. Now, I’m not talking about actually buying points (at least not directly). But, when you have a choice between airlines, it’s often tempting to take the more expensive ticket on the airline on which you’ve been accumulating miles, even if you have to pay the difference personally. It’s rationalized as the present cost of a future upgrade.

5. Accepting a layover
Like overpaying for miles, this isn’t entirely rational (okay, it’s not even close). When the time you spend at home every week is measured in hours rather than days, you’d think nothing matters more than taking the shortest route possible from Point A to Point B. When you’re living on a precarious balance of caffeine, nicotine, liquor, adrenaline and greed, however, there’s little room for that sort of thinking. To keep your miles on one airline, you accept a layover rather than switch airlines to spend less time in the sky. Trust me: it makes sense at the time … even though you’ll never use them.

White Collar Travel: Four ways a Kindle can improve your productivity

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I’ve known several white collar folks who have spent their last hours in the office before a business trip printing off material to read on the plane. Laptop battery lives are never long enough, and nobody wants to waste it on reading. So, killing a few trees can buy a bit more in-flight productivity. This means filling a bag until it’s almost to the point of bursting, though, as well as having to lug around a few extra pounds. Once on the plane, paper is strewn across the tray table and become sdifficult to manage. It’s a colossal pain in the ass, but absent a better alternative, trafficking in paper is the best available alternative.

It doesn’t have to be this way any more – not with the Kindle.

For travelers, an e-reader like the Kindle (or similar products from Sony or Barnes & Noble) already eases the travel load by taking the books out of your bag and sparing you some space and weight. These devices can also alleviate the paper problem. The Kindle can handle PDF files, so you can catch up on the reports, white papers and other industry information you usually put off reading until the wheels go up. You recapture time lost to printing (for you or for your assistant), and you obviate the need to carry and sift through all that paper.

There are several other advantages as well:1. Getting through security
Nobody associates paper with inefficiency at an airport security checkpoint. It doesn’t set off any alarms and won’t get you a pat-down. But, when you’re extracting your laptop out of your bag, you could wind up pulling a stack of paper out with it, which you’ll have to shove back in there while people are waiting in line behind you … impatiently.

2. Waiting at the gate
The dynamic here is similar to the one on the plane, though not as drastic because you can spread out a bit. Even with more space, you’ll still have to find the paper you want and get it back into your bag, which isn’t life-changing, but it’s a headache you don’t need when you’re traveling.

3. You get more done during the flight
You lose time sifting and sorting paper when you’re on the plane – shuffling, stuffing, trying to make it all fit again. The e-reader is a single device that’s slim and easy to fold and slide. And, you won’t have to reorganize your documents when you get to the office or your hotel room.

4. Packing to go home
Doubtless, you’ll be able to jettison much of the stuff you printed for your first flight before you return home. But, you’ll probably print out a new stack for the new flight. The last hours of a business trip tend to be packed already, so you may not have time to do all the printing you want. Even if you do, it’s still another item on the checklist that you’d probably prefer to skip. With the e-reader, your to do list gets a little bit shorter.

Read more White Collar Travel here.

White Collar Travel: Five reasons to book your hotel stays in blocks

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Cost-conscious businesses are always looking for ways to reduce travel expenses. So, if you can find a way to cut yours a bit, you’ll get some credit for budgetary discipline, which is always a plus when times are tough. Take the right approach, and you may be able to improve your travel experience, too. If you plan to stay at the same hotel for several months, it may make more sense to make a long-term reservation than to book a week at a time. In addition to saving some money, you’ll be able to cut the amount of stuff you tote with you on the plane and have the same room every week, which means fewer trips to the wrong door when you’ve been at the hotel for sixteen weeks in a row (or longer).

If your project is both long-term and unlikely to change, contact the hotel and ask what they can do for you. Explain the situation – it won’t take long; most of them are incredibly familiar with the business travel dynamic – and ask if they can work something out with you. You’ll have to commit to paying for weekend days as well, but if the overall cost works out in your favor, it’s still a savings, and that makes it inherently valuable.

This won’t work all the time. But, even if the long-term rate works out to a breakeven proposition, it still may be worth accepting. Here are five reasons why:1. No more check-in lines
Checking in is a pain in the ass. Even if you have super-duper-elite status, the short line still takes time. You have to step up to the desk, leave your credit card and get the rundown on the hotel. Some of the introductory remarks may be curtailed when the front desk staff recognizes you, but it still takes time that you don’t want to spend – especially when you’ve just gotten off a plane or left the office. Book for the long run, and you’ll be able to go straight to your room.

2. Lighter load
Since you’ll have the same room every week, you can leave a lot of your stuff there. Run the numbers and see if it’s cheaper to use the hotel’s cleaning service because of the money you’re saving. You can have your clothes picked up the night before you leave and find them waiting for you when you arrive. If you’re working in a major city, you can always drop your clothes off at a wash-dry-fold service and pick them up when you’re back in town. You’ll only have to carry your laptop and books Kindle.

3. Predictability
Peak periods can sneak up on you, especially if you’re staying in the same location for months at a time. Rates can spike with little warning, putting you in a position to have to explain the increased cost to your boss or client. You can avoid this with a long-term reservation, which makes budgeting and forecasting much easier for those who have to do it.

4. No more wrong door
It happens to the best of us. You get to your hotel room, swipe your key and push – nothing happens. You try it again … with the same result. The third, fourth and fifth times, you get angry and finally march down to the front desk ready to raise hell. The polite, professional employee then reminds you of your room number, which isn’t the same as the one you just tried to enter. Embarrassed, you go to your room – the right room – to find that there’s nothing wrong with your key. If you have the same room every week, you won’t have a sheepish look on your face the next time you walk by the front desk.

5. Informal perks
The hotel staff will be told that you’re going to be around for a while. Everyone will know who you are and how valuable your business is to the property. Occasionally, you’ll get your bar tab comp’ed or find a bottle of wine in your room. From time to time, the general manager will keep an eye out for you and ask how your stay is (which the staff will notice). You can’t always quantify this, but you’ll definitely feel the difference.

Read more White Collar Travel here.

White Collar Travel Extra: Abercrombie CEO grounded!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

When you think about it, $71.8 million in total compensation just isn’t what it used to be. That’s what Abercrombie & Fitch Chairman and CEO Mike Jeffries raked in for 2008. Meanwhile, the company he was skippering showed a profit of $254,000. Basically, A&F as a company – with all the resources available to it – earned the decent salary of a lower-level executive. So, it’s no surprise that Jeffries had his wings clipped.

According to the Corporate Library, a watchdog group, Jeffries was one of the top five Highest Paid Worst Performers of 2008. Translation: never has one received so much for accomplishing so little. I don’t know if you can call it punishment – hell, it doesn’t even feel like a reality check- but A&F is putting the brakes on its contributions to the CEO’s personal travel cost. After $200,000, he has to pick up his own tab. Compare that to the 2008 personal travel bill he turned over to shareholders: $1.3 million.

Yeah, times have changed.

Now, I’m sure someone, somewhere, is about to shed a tear for Jeffries. After all, he’s losing a nice perk. Fortunately, he has found a way to compensate (well, be compensated) for the change in travel policy: A&F is kicking in a $4 million lump-sum payment.

I know it’s fashionable to hate greedy CEOs. Frankly, I’m fine with their making obscene amounts of money, as long as they’re creating kick-ass amounts of shareholder value – that’s really all that matters. Well, Jeffries hasn’t been delivering the goods, which means just about anything is “generous” at this point.

If it had to happen, at least, the cap on personal travel expenses came at the right time. Flights are still pretty cheap, and hotel rates aren’t likely to start recovering until next year.