Tips for long-distance travel

I have grown up with long-distance travel. It didn’t start with my work. When I was a couple of weeks old my parents took me from my birth city, Oslo, to Pune in India. By the time I completed high school I had attended eleven schools in seven countries on three continents. With this restless upbringing and innumerable long-distance trips during the holidays (some might even call it irresponsible), it’s perhaps not surprising that the work I have chosen for myself still involves a fair bit of travel.

On average, I travel to 3 to 4 countries a month. There are many people in this globalised world who travel a lot more than I do. I met with the head of a niche international business advisory group a couple of weeks ago near Geneva. He said when he is lucky he spends 3 days a month in his main office. That’s pushing it a little for me. But this isn’t a competition.

Despite all the advances in communications technology (some of which I’ll come to below) if you work internationally, you have no choice but to travel. This sounds trite, but there are many decisions that will never be taken, and insights that will never be gained without a face-to-face encounter. First time encounters and long-term relationships need to be built on a bedrock of trust. Even if the mutual interest is significant, and the reputation of the person or institution is high, there will always be a need for meeting people in person.

What about global warming? I am told by the international pilot’s association that long-haul passenger flights account for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Even if this statistic is correct, we should still be conscientious about the flights we take.

Like many international travellers I dislike flying and I don’t like airports. I do, however, enjoy meeting people and working cross-culturally. What I wanted to share in this post are some of the tips and tricks I have learned over the years that can make long-distance travel more bearable and manageable. Some years ago I travelled with someone who set the highest standard for light-weight travel I have ever come across. In 1998 I went to Mali in West Africa with a senior former banker. The man, remarkably fit although in his late 80s by then, carried two items that hardly qualified as luggage. The first was a document bag for his travel documents and working papers that was barely two inches thick. The second was a thin garment bag that seemed only to contain a couple of shirts and a pair of running shoes. He did not have any additional luggage with him. He told me that for the past 30 years he travelled by an iron clad rule of not checking in any luggage – ever since a suitcase of his had once been lost. What I will describe below does not live up to this man's standards. One day I may travel with that level of asceticism. In the meanwhile here are some of the tips I currently travel by:

Packing Tips

I strongly encourage not to check in luggage unless it’s absolutely necessary. This applies particularly when flying through certain airports (e.g. Roissy-Charles de Gaulle in Paris, one of the worst airports in this respect in Europe), some airlines (e.g. British Airways, which loses twice as many bags per passenger as the European average) and during the holiday seasons or during bad weather.

• To avoid having a wrinkled suit on arrival pack leave it in the dry cleaning plastic bag. That tends to do the job. At IKEA (the furniture retailer) they have a great plastic garment bag that I’ve been using for years.
• Since a few years now I use mini zipable synthetic bags for various items of clothing. It’s extremely useful for packing and unpacking and whatever type of suitcase you use your clothes are never in a mess. Muji (a Japanese retailer with outlets in London) and Rohan (a UK retailer) provide these.
• I also use a special system from Rohan that can contain between 5-9 folded shirts. The shirts are protected in a velcro cover. The system is a bit overpriced but I’ve found it works extremely well.
• Light-weight accessories are invaluable: You can get some items in hotels (shampoos, small tubes of toothpaste) but it’s remarkably difficult to find small packages of shaving cream, lotions, etc. Some shops (like Muji) sell great small plastic bottles. Some airports (Ben Gurion, Schipol) have shops that sell a range of these products. In India and a number of developing countries you can get them at any corner store.
  

Checking In

Always be courteous and pleasant to the airline personnel at the check-in counter. This sounds obvious but you can get a lot of mileage from simply being nice.

• I always go for an aisle seat (unless I’m in business which rarely happens and then it doesn’t matter)
• Always try to get a seat in the front of the plane. You can easily save 15-20 minutes getting off your flight, which you might be happy to have saved if it gets you to the front of the queue in passport control and especially if you don’t have checked in luggage. There is also less turbulence in the front and middle sections of the aircraft.
• The emergency exit rows are not always the best place to be on a long haul flight. Although you have more leg room, the seat can at times be less comfortable and there might be a lot of movement to and from the toilet just next to you (depending on the plane’s configuration, of course).
• If you can, always have your travel agent reserve the seat for you in advance. You can check in early online with BA and many other airlines.
  

Must-Haves on the Long Haul

Long haul flights are the best time to read. I pack up whatever reading materials I need for those stretches. But a few other items really make a difference:

• Noise-cancelling headphones are expensive (particularly those from Bose) but once you’ve started using them you won’t want to do without them. They make you realise how loud the cabin of the plane is.

• I don’t use pillows, particularly inflatable ones, because they invariably give me a neck ache. I travelled with one of those soft pillows you can get at US airports for a while. They are very nice, but they take up a great deal of space.
  
• I strongly recommend bringing your own set of soft earplugs – not the hard ones and not the silicon ones as well as your own pair of eyeshades. This makes a world of difference for sleeping. It also signals to the cabin staff not to wake you for meals.
• Unless you’re sitting in business, most flights don’t have power sockets for your laptop. I recommend having a second battery if you’re serious about getting some work done on the flight.
• Wearing reasonably comfortable clothes on the long haul is often overlooked. Many seasoned travellers change into their business suits just an hour or so before the plane lands if they are being met or going straight into meetings.
• Moving around the plane to stretch your legs every couple of hours; doing some small stretching exercises; and drinking plenty of water are the most obvious basic things to take care.
• Entertainment: on the really long haul flights 8-12+ hours there is now usually a wide selection of films and TV series. It’s easy to become hooked on these and not get anything else done. A professor colleague who regularly flies to and from Australia to Europe and the US has a rule of limiting himself to one film per flight. I can see his point. One a recent flight from Hong Kong I watched a whole season’s TV series in one sitting.
  

Jetlag

My rules for jetlag are fairly simple.

• On any long-haul flight, unless it’s in the morning, get used to falling asleep during take off. There is a lull in the plane during take off and when you are pushed into your seat by the force of the plane taking off, with some practice you can make this a routine. And if you put on your shades and earplugs you won’t be woken up when the airline staff come around to serve drinks or the meal.
• Never drink tea, coffee or alcohol shortly before a flight – and not on the flight either. Avoid heavy meals before a flight.
• Take off your watch during the flight and put change it to your local time at destination right away. Don’t think back on what time it is back home. Try to think in terms of local time as soon as you land.
• If you need to revived, take a shower and good meal (with lots of protein). If you arrive late in the evening, head straight for bed. Try to avoid switching on the TV.
• With these rules you are very likely to make it through the first 24 hours quite easily. Jetlag is more likely to affect you on the second and third day if there are many hours of difference. Exercising and eating regular meals at the local time is a remarkably effective way of regulating the body clock.
  

Family and Friends

Finally yet importantly, those you leave behind are sometimes a neglected part of travel preparations. If you’re married or in a long-term relationship, make sure that your partner knows of your travel plans as long as possible in advance. Involve your partner in the travel preparations and planning where this is suitable or possible. This makes it much easier for your partner to cope with your absence if they understand your obligations, what your work involves and why you are travelling where you are.

Skype and other systems like it now makes it possible to communicate at low cost with home no matter where you are in the world and to avoid expensive phone charges from hotels. In a hotel in Nepal last year I found that access to Skype was blocked. I don’t know if it was the hotel’s server that was doing this. I downloaded a piece of freeware called Vidalia that creates a ‘tunnel’ which enables one to get around such blocks.

In this digital age it’s a real treat to send friends and family the occasional postcard when you’re in distant countries. Yes, the postal system still works.