This is the 2nd installment of a three-part series by guest blogger, Mike Neumann.  He shares tips on how to make business travel more organized and less stressful.  Click here to read Part I.

It’s crunch time.  The plane is leaving in less than 24 hours, probably closer to  less than 12 hours.  It’s time to pack; but first, the essentials.

The Night Before – Checklist

“I really should write this down someday,” ;-) so here goes… 

• Boarding Passes (if domestic) – It’s always good to check-in online as early as possible, usually 24 hours in advance.  This increases your chance of a “day of” upgrade and place in the queue if you want to catch an earlier standby flight.  This only applies for domestic travel.  You still need to check-in in person for international flights.

• Flight itinerary and hotel details ON PAPER – Paper has zero boot-time and is much easier to show to the airline agent, taxi driver, or hotel receptionist.  Save a tree some other way.

• Passport – I carry my passport with me in the same place in my bag every time, except for when I don’t, which causes nothing but panic.

• Liquids – You know the drill by now, I hope.  Pack those little shampoo/conditioner bottles, too.  Hotels outside of the U.S. don’t typically offer much in the way of soap/shampoo.

• Envelope for receipts – When the airlines quit handing us those nice boarding pass sleeves, I lost my favorite place to put misc. travel receipts during the trip.  It goes in a separate folder with my flight itinerary.

Foreign Currency and Transit Card(s)

I keep a Ziploc™ bag containing leftover local currency and/or local transit system cards (Oyster™ card for the London Underground, Translink™ for San Francisco Bay Area, SmarTrip™ card for D.C.) for every country/region to which I’ve traveled.  It’s a good idea to make sure you have at least a cab fare worth (assume $80USD or equivalent) of local currency before you land.  (Note: Salt Lake City counts as a Foreign Country as the ATM at SLC did not accept my 6-digit PIN ATM card. #ProTip)

What to wear on the plane

You can’t always fit it all in to a carry-on and a “personal item.”  For most international trips, I’m checking a bag.  For this reason, I always wear something that I can get by with in a business meeting and carry-on at least enough ‘necessities’ for two days/one night without the checked luggage.  Hat, coat, umbrella, etc. – all are carry-on.

Departure Airport

Don’t forget to turn off your data services, disable Twitter DM to Txt notifications, and/or choose the “Off while Roaming” option on your smart phone.  At $15/Mb abroad, and $0.35/SMS the pain can rack up quickly.  Last chance to say “I love you, Mom” before $0.99/min cell phone roaming.  Skype is nice, but see “WiFi”, below.

Destination Airport

Luggage and customs are the same everywhere in the world, except Australia, where you will wait a LONG time for customs.  They take their quarantine seriously.  ATMs are usually easy to find and will support your U.S.-based ATM cards.  ATMs away from the airports can be less tolerant of U.S.-issued plastic.

Hotels – What to Expect

If you travel mainly within the United States, you’ve likely become accustomed to free or affordable WiFi, an iron and ironing board in each room, and hand towels.  Europe and the UK won’t have the iron/ironing board, but sometimes you can check one out from the front desk.  You might find washcloths in the UK and Australia, but not in Europe or Brazil.  Pack one in its own Ziploc™.  As for WiFi, it’s rough out there.  If it is free in your hotel, it’s likely dicey and slow.  If it’s not free, it’s not going to be cheap.  Most hotels in Europe are prepay and serviced by companies such as Meteor or Swisscom.

Welcome to your destination.  Stay awake that first day.  “Live where you are,” and for goodness sake, take some pictures and put them up for friend and family back home. :-)

About the Author

Mike never planned to launch Agile Set, LLC and consult to smart card clients worldwide.  He planned to be an astronaut.  Now, he is a Certified GlobalPlatform Trainer and editor of ISO/IEC 24727-3, a standard poised to influence future card and system architectures.  After earning his MSME from Virginia Tech, Mike intended to play for a year, and then get serious.   Seventeen years and two kids later, the serious part has yet to kick in.

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