I like to be helpful. This month I want to talk about business travel. I know everything there is to know about business travel and I’m going to share my top tips. But first, a little background info from my current situation.
I type this from my seat back to London from Korea. It’s an economy seat, which is a painful subject for me. My planned trip to Asia went pear shaped with a typhoon in Japan and given that, in the past four weeks, I’ve been to: Hong Kong; Las Vegas; San Francisco; Paris; Montreal and Seoul, I decided that, rather than wait out the storm, I’d head home. I’ve been here 24 hours for what was going to be the first part of an Asian tour.
In Japan I had a meeting planned with a 100-store luxury chain as well as a three-day event in a department store where I was to bespoke fit the local glitterati. Following this, it was off to Malaysia to give a bit of face time to my agent there. Then off to Hong Kong to see if I could rescue the roll out of my Precious collection which has been put on hold due to the civil unrest.
When the next leg of my trip was cancelled, and that was four hours ago as I write this, I looked at my options. I miss my family. I’m fed up. Do I really want to hang around in Korea until the weather clears up? No. I went online to see what it would take to get me home.
So here I am on a single ticket flight home in economy, which costs more than a business class return, with the biggest smile on my face ever. If you’ve ever seen Planes, Trains and Automobiles, you will know there is a ‘going home’ scene at the end, with an 80s soundtrack. That’s been playing in my head for an hour now. I’m so pleased to be going home.
A short delay was just announced by the captain, so I thought I’d whip out my laptop and write this piece for you. What follows are my top travelling tips:
- The days of the old school upgrade using your charm and silky skills are over. It’s an algorithm in modern travel, so register with the airlines program. They will usually offer you discounted upgrades a day or so before you fly, which is significantly cheaper than paying upfront. Operational upgrades, as they are now called, are done by who has spent the most on their ticket, rather than your status or your airport charm.
- If you are going economy long haul, take your own pillow from home and book a window seat. The whoopie cushion sized pillow you get are good for nothing. Snuggle up in the corner and lean against the side with your large pillow from home. It’s a more natural sleeping position than 40 degrees back and straight.
- Unless you are claustrophobic, don’t think that the aisle seat is better because you don’t have to climb over anyone. Be the climber, not the person being woken up and climbed over.
- Whatever class, if there is an upper deck, book on it and with a window seat. You always get bins to your side which give you fantastic storage at your seat and extra width.
- Melatonin is your friend.
- Night flights are always better for jet lag going east. Day flights for going west.
- If flying to an optical show, always book business and watch your competitors walk past you. Nothing worse than seeing another optician sitting up front.
- If you have travelled too much, fly home to your family rather than waiting out a typhoon. It’s the best feeling in the world.