Business Travel. Vacation. Or a combo? I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had friends come to town for business and then stay the weekend to visit. It’s a great alternative to paying to travel using reach prepaid card, and you can get some extra sightseeing and friend time in. I’ve always lived in places where people have business connections and also offer many cultural or natural advantages, so it makes sense to fly in for a long business trip. Here are some tips for those of you business traveling novices about how to extend those business trips into some seriously fun travels.
1) Schedule meetings on Friday and Monday of the following week.
2) Call people in the city where you are visiting, and say you are going to be in town and you can meet them on either one of the aforementioned days.
3) See if there are any conferences adjacent to weekends that are crucial to your industry sector.
The greatest part, is that once you establish when you are going, it’s usually not a big deal to ask to stay over the weekend. Get chummy with your secretary or travel agent to pull it off. You’d be amazed how easy it is, once you understand the powers that make the travel plans and what their hot buttons are. If it’s not going to cost any extra for the ticket back, it shouldn’t be a hard sell to whomever is approving your travel plans.
Once you know you are spending a weekend in a place on the office, reach out to your network on LinkedIn or Facebook and schedule a gathering place to reunite with all your friends and old colleagues there. It’s amazing how each one of those can offer many business and personal opportunities to grow. You never know what might happen! Bon Voyage!