06/10/2025
I travel 100+ days a year for work. Here’s my tips.
With repetition comes experience. Here’s some stuff I’ve found that help me travel with less stress.
Leave early. I know this sounds like your parents but I would rather have an extra 90 minutes to kill at the airport than having a traffic jamb or a detour make me miss a flight. I can still work in a booth/chair at the airport if I need it. Yes I’ve heard the argument of the “hours gained/lost” by waiting but if it’s a difference of working for an hour at home or at the airport with no ‘stress’ then choose the latter.
Spray hand sanitizer, not aerosol a pump. Good for your hands, a public toilet seat in an emergency or the random sticky surface in the rental car.
Never turn down the sanitizing wipes on the flight. See #2. I personally use them for my noise-canceling headphones or backups for the above.
Noise canceling headphones with an audio jack. Don’t just rely on the bluetooth working on the flight.
Buy a battery pack. When you absolutely need a plug in the airport, you’ll never find it. Even better if you rely on your laptop for work, buy one that can output 65-100w from a single line (not combined output). Yes they are heavier but takes out the guess work.
Use the clothes hangers with the clips in the hotel to hold the blackout curtains together.
If you’re a light sleeper, get the highest floor in the hotel. No kids running the hall on the floor above.
Learn to sleep with background noise. I use an app on my phone at home and on the road. Same app, same white noise sound.
I travel with Advil/tylenol and 4 mucinex. If I hit a wall then I can make it through a couple days until I can get home or to a pharmacy without having to panic.
Grab a couple of the wrapped utensils from a fast food place, a few napkins and a couple straws. Nothing more frustrating than getting food on the run and then trying to eat your pasta without silverware or a to-go cup and no straw.
I forgot this one so it’s a late addition: add a large carabiner to your back pack (6” ‘stroller hook’ sized). You can use it to hang your bookbag from stall walls or in a variety of places if there’s no hook. Also comes in handy for water bottles or ball caps or even a grocery bag when you’re running out of hands.
There’s plenty more but this is getting long already. Love to hear your thoughts.