Do you go on the road for the company?

J

J. MacDonald

Joined
Jun 8, 2000
Messages
3,140
I know Ren does, how about the rest of you guys?

I'm a regional sales rep covering the Southwest US. I drive my territory most of the time (So. Cal, So. Nevada and all of Arizona) but have to fly to trade shows and vendor training a few times a year. I travel a lot but am not an international road warrior with Executive Platinum status.

My questionis: how do you travel?

For me if I'm flying, it's usually one check bag for clothes and supplies (and where I can keep a pocket knife for use at the other end of the airplane ride) and a laptop case to keep with me containing all the stuff I really need to do my job and for personal entertainment and comfort(computer, accessories, digicam, traveling pharmacy, etc).

Presently I'm in Phoenix for the week although I spent today driving to Tucson and back for a couple meetings. I drove this trip. I usually like to stay in a Springhill Suitestype room because they're affordable, clean and I get Mattiott points (the price keeps the company happy). I only wish they had broadband.

When I travel I generally take my laptop and all accesories needed to conduct sales training presentations, review sales numbers, do email and watch the occasional movie (netflix rules for the traveler). I also take an extra change of clothes beyond what I know will be needed for both casual and business and a small collapsable cooler. The cooler is usefull on days like today when I spend many hours driving to and fro and want a cool sip of water handy.

Then I add in a compact Digicam (Nikon for now), a compact pir of compact binocs (Bausch & Lomb 8x20), a Surefire E2e (in pocket), an E2e with the KL1 LED head in the laptop case with spare batteries for back-up . I also have a small Gatco ceramic crock stick sharpener fo maintain my Leatherman WAVE, Micra and whatever EDC I've got (today Benchmade 941D2CF, or a Kershaw Vapor when flying).

I use a big Tumi nylon laptop bag, a Travelpro Platinum 3 26" suitcase for long trips and a Costco Kirkland Signature 22" Roll on sized bag for shorter trips (although I never do roll on a bag anymore as I have to check a bag to transport my pocket knife). I also use a small Travelpro kit for my personal care items. I like the fact that it takes up little space in the suitecase, then unfolds an hangs to display al my stuff. Usually I also pack a light weight waterproog jacket along with my business clothes because it comes in hand sometimes.

I've been "on the road" for about seven years and have pretty well figured out what works for me, but I recently added another twist. I've started a collection of menus for decent restaraunts near my hotels I regurlarly visit that offer take out (local places, no chain store stuff), so I can call in an order when I'm on my way back to the hotel and pick it up on the way "home" to my room. I get tired of eating in restaraunts and dealing with wait staffs, especially after a long day and when I'm in one place for a whole week, I kinda like to just get some food to take back to the room and try to have a normal evening, even away from home. Of course I don't have my dogs or my wife, but it lets me eat in a more relaxed environment and watch TV or surf the net, like I'd do at home.

I can see this collection of menus ending up as a small Palm database in my PDA, but that's another thread.

How do you guys travel?

jmx
 
I also am a field rep, in my case covering NY, CT, and previously NJ. Mostly a driving territory, but I fly to Buffalo and or Rochester pretty regularly. It's two different types of travel.

For me, the search for perfect travel bags goes on. I've had pretty good luck with a Sharper Image rolling garment bag auctioned on eBay(I wouldn't have bought it at full price, quite frankly), some wheeled bags I got at a huge deep discount at Penney's (I think they were made for Penney's by Atlantic but much cheaper)and a flea market laptop shoulder bag made by Avenue.I've never seen them anywhere else. It's signficantly bigger than the Targus ones, and enough for my usual cell phone, pens, etc.

Speaking of Targus I got a fair amount of use out of an item they sold called a "Sherpa"--a 20" rolling case with space in it for a laptop carrying sleeve. Not enough for a long trip, but for my overnights/two nights plus literature and samples and a laptop it was pretty good. Well made, ergonomic to a degree, and pretty durable.

Since I don't have to carry a ton of heavy samples my goal this year is to travel as lightly as possible, especially when flying. If at all possible I'll try and get away with a carryon, but that's not always possible, and negates bringing any other gear like a flashlight or anything with an edge on it actually on to the plane. So that leaves checked luggage and at least a twenty minute delay on each end getting the bags.

My latest finds have been those compressor bags, especially the ones you can just squeeze the air out of by hand. It seems kind of gimmicky, but if you're carrying multiple days worth of stuff they really can help squeeze the soft clothes into a more compact bundle.

The other thing I have to do is carry a laptop, especially in and around New York City, where a lot of walking and subway riding is de rigeur. Even with a great new lighter laptop, it's real dead weight, and in hot weather a reeeeeel joy. I'm hoping we can soon find some sort of iPaq that would do for the usual stuff like presentations and email.

I used to carry a little Spydie Ladybug on the old key chain; there are actually places now even in the city now where you won't get past the desk with them, much less an airport or a government building. I had always carried a tyvek envelope with $5 worth of postage on it in case I had to mail something back, but after two encounters and using that method I've given up; no more blades when there's even a slight chance of seizure. Oddly enough, after my last hassle I saw an older woman whip out the knitting needles, metal ones from the look of them. I know they've lightened up a wee bit, but a fully serrated Spydie isn't going to fly anytime soon:)

As far as hotels, I'm a Marriott guy when ever possible, and I'm lucky my company feels that way. If nothing else I've found them to have the most consistent quality of rooms, regardless of the brand name, unlike Sheraton, Best Western, Days Inn, or even Hiltons here--I keep club memberships for all of them.

And if I pick and choose my spots carefully-- and I think most of us tend to stay in the same places when we revisit towns--there's usually a decently priced Marriott property. If not, you tend to find and remember the right places, although I've had many unpleasant experiences with Sheratons especially changing management and going right off the cliff, quality wise.

Your dinner menu idea is a great one. I keep a list of radio stations by area, but I never thought of this one. Dinner choices, as you mentioned, can be a hassle when traveling for business and eating alone. Again, I'm usually a creature of habit. After traveling like this for 15 years or so I am valuing my own time and after-work energy more than I used to, so shortcuts are appreciated. I love to try new places and things, but when you're on the go it's sometimes best to not experiment *too* much--you never know when it's going to backfire on ya:)
 
What industry are you in? We're in the Home Theater and HiFi business. Sometimes the samples get real big (200lb speakers!) so I either drive them around or they get shipped ahead.

I'm a Marriott guy primarily, but will fall back to the Hilton family if forced to. Usially Springhill or Courtyards if the rates are decent. Our company is only 4 people and the boss is pretty good about bonus time if th ecompany has been profitable so I don't push my expense report.

The search for the perfect travel bags is like the search for the perfect knife. There isn't a single solution for all applications that's for sure. After it's first outing for a week I must say I like my new TravelPro Plat 3 26" bag. I can see that it will easily swallow a week long trade show's worth of stuff and keep it organized. I was amazed at how well the built in suiter worked. I actually didn't have to iron a single shirt this week and I wear well starched cotton button oxfords.

I took the red-eye home tonight to stretch the weekend. Do you do that? What I mean is that you're scheduled to drive or fly home Friday after seeing distant accounts and being gone all week. The trip is long enough that you're going to be traveling most of the day and wouldn't be expected to visit any accounts or show up at the office. The company is paying your salary to travel on Friday anyway, so instead of wasting all day Friday traveling, you travel on your own time late Thursday and then end up with a three day weekend. I occasionally feel guilty doing this as I probably could go in to the office on Friday, but after getting home at 2:30 after driving for 6.5 hours I really don't think I'd be very productive anyway.

You're right about getting too adventerous with food when you're out for a while. Just for back up, I keep Pepcid, Tums and Immoduim in one of the inner pocket of my laptop case as well as throat losenges, Excedrin and a couple days supply of vitamin packs, just in case my check bag and I get seperated for an extended time. Fortunately, like you, I usually drive so I also figure out where the local supermarket and mall is closest to my hotel for anything I forgot or suddenly need.

I've got an Apple Titanium Powerbook G4 500 that only weight 5.7 lbs, but by the time I add in all my accessories and materials, well I like to refer to my laptop case as a a cinder block wrapped in Balllistic Nylon. I really love my Tumi's organizational design, overall functionality and it's darn near bullet proof, but as I age, a wheeled laptop bag is starting to look pretty good to me.

Travel safe.

jmx
 
I hate laptops on business travel. I don't have the luxury of getting a dedicated laptop for business travel so, I get mine from the engineering loan pool. They aren't bad laptops but, after flying to Europe, traversing Heathrow to Amsterdam and, the train ride to Enschede, I was beginning to secretly hope it would get stolen so I wouldn't have to drag that rock around any longer.

I don't know what is about laptops but, a 40 pound backpack seems lighter then an 8 pound laptop in a laptop shoulder bag (Targus).

On a brighter note, I really like the Travel Pro Platinum 3 bags. For reasons unknown, I found better luggage in the Netherlands and it was cheaper then what I found in the USA. In particular, the hard bags were much better and a whole lot cheaper.

Business travel itself can be really nice or really terrible in my experience. Business class to Europe on an American Airlines 777 is as good as I have ever experienced. The cattlecars (DC Super-80's) American flys to DFW remind me of a city bus during the peak crush of rush hour. Those little Fokker 100's to Atlanta weren't too bad but, then I was in Atlanta :( I should mention I did a 9 month term (as in prison sentance) in Atlanta and, no the money wasn't worth it, not the good food, the nice hotels, etc. The weekends were generally mine though and I took advantage of every oppurtunity to see Tennessee, Kentucky, the coast (fresh seafood :eek: ).... Personally, I like to drive now much more then fly. Part of it is my total aversion to Hartsfield in Atlanta and, part of it is to the paranoia about flying these days. Oh my, he's got a plastic spork, call the air national guard for a fighter escort......:(
 
Sid, I always had great luck out of Atlanta, that was my home airport for most of my heavy traveling days. Of course that was mostly pre-9/11.

Up until a couple of years ago I was a road warrior for the bulk of my career, racking up well over 100,000 flight miles per year. Mostly database systems consulting work. Flying was relatively easy then, although now I avoid it if possible.

After a couple of years of travel and 3 or 4 different softshell suitcases and garment bags that were mangled by the gorillas in baggage handling, I ended up getting a Samsonite hardshell for longer trips along with a ballistic nylon carry-on suitcase for smaller trips. Laptop/briefcase was a Tumi (expensive but over 1/2 million flight miles on the current bag and it still looks like new...). If I had to travel more regularly now I would want a hardshell suitcase that I could throw a couple of heavy duty padlocks on...

After 9/11, with heightened security to the point of invading my civil liberties, and airline service at an all-time low, I've convinced my employer of the finer qualities of telecommuting (I'm currrently working in NY from CA) :D
 
Nice topic JMX.

Thankfully my need to travel has waned slightly in the last two years. I tend to spend 2-3 months on the road and the rest of the time alternating between 2-3 weeks in my bush hideaway and whatever friends who will put me up in the city for a few days.

Laptop bags: Lowe Pro is the latest and best of several that have been tried. I travel to oil rigs/barges (the barges are called FPSO's) and mine sites and the deck crew often don't have the time to handle your luggage gently. The LowePro bag seems to protect my laptop (IBM Thinkpad) and camera (Lieca D1) well. I haven't yet found the need for a sealed, watertight hard case, for the laptop, although I've noticed that there are some pretty cool ones on the market now.

Gadgets are leatherman wave, one of my folders and CU/7 or CS Bushranger in the survival kit. The big knife gets left behind when offshore and is probably a tad overkill otherwise but I like having it along.

Otherwise the rest of my gear goes in a duffel. Jeans and polo shirt tends to be my uniform so ironing is not crucial. I carry a pretty extensive survival/medical kit because of the amount of flying/driving through remote country. I tend to be driven when I visit remote mine sites. They are nervous about letting you drive yourself and I'm glad for this because I wouldn't have the skill to get the off road vehicle through some of the terrain that these guys make look easy. I have a whole new definition of what a 4WD is capable of after a couple of these trips (and I've left a few fingernails in the front dash)

I hear you about the importance of being organised with your food jmx. A month or two with no care and effort given to finding good food can leave me bloated with the fat, sodium and sugar of restaurant food. My trick was to call myself a vegetarian, which imediately made a difference in terms of what food I was served on planes and in restaurants. I've got so used to this that now I am, indeed, a vegetarian and have been for 2 years. I claim the title of vegetarian with the least ethical reasons for not eating meat.
 
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