I find myself travelling to Europe for business several times a year and try to take at least one foreigh holiday, with my family, every year. Our favoured destination for family holidays is the United States and I recently decided to take a leaf out of my business travelling book and use the same facilities and resources to make my holiday travel less stressful.
Our flights to the U.S. from Gatwick often leave really early in the morning. When travelling on business, if I have an early morning flight I always have a hotel room booked for the night before. We took two adjoining rooms, for us and the children, in an excellent Gatwick hotel and started our holiday even before we’d embarked on our flight. The children really loved the facilities provided by the hotel and it felt like we’d started our holiday early.
Another service I always use is airport parking. I often need to hop on a flight to Europe, sometimes at very short notice. Also, I can often find myself returning late at night. Parking at the airport is enormously convenient enabling me to jump straight into my car and be on my way home without having to worry about trains and taxis. When time is likely to be really tight I always get my P.A. to book meet and greet parking as this is a great way to save loads of time, avoiding the need to transfer by bus to and from the airport car parks. And when I return from Frankfurt, Rome or Madrid my car is cleaned and ready for my drive home as soon as I have cleared customs.
The last time I went on holiday I was able to combine our Gatwick parking requirements with our hotel. Comparing services and then pre-booking online gave me some fantastic savings of over 50% on the normal prices.
The internet is not only good for finding the best deal, its also a great tool to save time and aggravation. When travelling on business I always use the online check in facility from my office, saving me loads of time at the airport. I just turn up with my boarding pass already printed.
One service that i regularly use when travelling on business is from a baggage handling company who take responsibility for transporting my bags. This means I don’t need to hump heavy luggage around the airport and can travel with just my hand luggage. And no need to stand and wait by the baggage carousel wondering if my bag has made it. The baggage handling firm takes reponsibility for ensuring that your bags are waiting at your final destination.
Another service that I routinely use when travelling on business is I will have my personal assistant book space in a Gatwick airport lounge. Airport lounges are a great place to meet colleagues before taking to the plane and maybe have a little pre-trip planning meet-up or simply relax with a nice coffee and newspaper, in comfort. I didn’t use this particular service on my last family holiday but I think I definitely will for the next one.
I am certain that if you follow just one or two of these suggestions you will experience far less stress and a far more enjoyable trip.