5 Tips to Make Your Next Business Trip Less Stressful  

Staying healthy when you have a busy travel schedule is never easy. Being in a different time zone can throw off your body’s clock, and it can feel daunting to squeeze exercise in between meetings, working lunches, and team dinners. But it’s not impossible! Here’s a list of our favorite tips for staying well-rested, fit, and chipper during travel. 

Pick the Right Flight for You

Oftentimes, the most stressful part of travel is the flight itself. Seats can be tight, and planes can be packed full of people who are just as tired of traveling as you are. Do yourself a favor and get particular about how you choose to fly. When it comes to finding a comfortable seat, the airlines use two categories to measure comfort – legroom (also known as seat pitch) and seat width. There’s no clear winner within the major carriers, because their fleets are so large and varied. Consider choosing your seat through sites like Seat Guru, Seat Expert, or Seat Maestro. In this case, a bit of extra planning can make that five-hour jaunt a little less uncomfortable.

Get Online in the Air (Hopefully!)

Speaking of cross-country travel, a common pet peeve is unreliable Wi-Fi on long flights. The quiet times on plane rides can be enormously productive, but nothing crumbles ambitions more quickly than not having access to reliable Wi-Fi. Worse, the longer the flight, the more people will spring for the cost, which makes it slower for everyone. Of course, you could plan ahead and print out your documents, load them onto your tablet for easy reading, or attack your offline tasks. But if you really need Wi-Fi, you should evaluate your flight options wisely. Refinery 29 and Conde Nast Travel have published reports ranking various carriers on availability and service. Technology is changing rapidly, and all carriers are working to improve it, so keep an eye out for updates about your carrier of choice.

If you do end up with spotty connections, remember IM apps work much better than traditional email. They send small packets of information and need only a few seconds of connectivity to get your message through.

Make the Airport Experience Less Stressful

There are many factors that can make air travel irritating, but there also are ways to make it much less so. If you haven’t already, sign up for TSA pre-check to skip the long wait at security. The $85 is a worthwhile investment, with huge returns in the amount of time you save and the stress you avoid. And no more taking off your shoes or removing your laptop!

Speaking of your computer, replace the large handbag or over-the-shoulder laptop bag with a stylish backpack to take the weight off your shoulders and neck. A two-strapped backpack allows you to carry more weight with less effort, helping you avoid fatigue.

Once You Get There, Take Advantage of Your Surroundings

We often think of a hotel as somewhere to simply lay your head, but some chains offer services that can help you stick to your workout plan. More and more hotels are starting to offer services like local running maps or even a run concierge to help you find the best route in a new city. Often available for free, these resources can be a great introduction to a new place. Also, keep an eye out for room upgrades that include a treadmill or exercise bike – though not too common, they’re worth the splurge if you find yourself on the road frequently.

If running is your thing, you might already have a go-to fitness app in your arsenal. For the nubes, these apps let users track their routes and share them with the community, which helps you see the most popular routes close to your location. Sure, you could just strike out on your own and see where your feet take you, but relying on the wisdom of the locals may just deliver a breathtaking view or help you avoid trekking into a sketchy neighborhood.

If you’re more motivated to sweat with a group, some sports, running, and yoga stores offer free running groups or classes. Alternatively, especially if you’re a frequent traveler, you might consider signing up for a membership to national fitness chains like Soul Cycle, Flywheel, or Orange Theory. They have studios in most major cities, so you can jump in on a power workout almost anywhere.

Lather, Rinse, and Repeat

The great thing about travel is that once you get your process in place, it’s an easy system to repeat. Keep in mind that there’s always a high possibility that something will go wrong, because we’re dependent on uncontrollable factors, like weather. So treat every uneventful trip as a gift. Consider how amazing it is that we can fly through the sky and skip across continents in a day. Relax and enjoy your trip!

Written by: Kaleeta McDade, Deloitte Digital Creative Director & Holly Perkins, Deloitte Digital Associate Creative Director