In-Town Business Travel Tips

Many of the latest OA "business travel" articles have focused on the type of travel that takes us out of our native city. In fact, plenty of professionals are required to conduct in-town business travel on a daily basis. Being someone who spends, on average, two days a week devoted to traveling locally, I know what it's like to feel as if there is a permanent imprint of your body in the driver's side of your car.

I thought it might be helpful to offer up some of the little tips I've picked up along the way.

1. Find Constructive Ways to Burn "Gaps" of Time

This has happened to me on numerous occasions: I am on a side of town in which I have two meetings but they are three hours apart. We are all hip to the gas prices out there right now, so who wants to waste the money and time it takes to drive back to the office just for an hour?

• Plan Ahead: Once you know the addresses of your stops, research what is in that general area. You might try to find a café with free WIFI where you can catch up on some work emails.

• Scope Out Local Eateries: A great way to kill two birds with one stone is go ahead and eat when you've got some free time. The more you travel repeatedly to certain locations, the more experience you will have with what is available in the area. In the beginning, though, it will be necessary for you to find local restaurants that will work for both your time availability and your budget. Sure, you have two hours to kill, but chowing down on a 5-course lunch might not be the best idea for your wallet. You don't want to get stuck consuming something you'd rather not just because you didn't research properly.

• Bring Portable Work: You need to review the purchase report before handing it over to your boss? Now's the time to do it. Taking along any piece of work that you think will be easy to transport and re-visit in small chunks of time is a constructive way to eat up free time.

2. Organize Your Vehicle

Depending on the purpose of your in-town travel, you will need to organize your car accordingly. The goal is to avoid bending your back in ways you never thought possible because you can't locate a promotional item somewhere in your vehicle - I speak from experience on this one.

• Get Some Hardware: Whether it's portable file boxes, rolling crates or keeping necessary items stored in your trunk, you need to assess what materials are needed to create an organized portable ‘workstation.' If your company has you doing in-town travel on a regular basis, odds are they will be expecting to put out the dough it takes to get your vehicle up to par when addressing organization.

• Be Prepared: Always keep pens, paper, business cards and any other pertinent information in your vehicle. Again, look into purchasing a carry-all to house such materials. Whatever it is that you need to conduct your business successfully on the road, be sure you have it before heading out each day. Keep in mind, your boss will be less likely to reimburse your mileage if you are making a second trip to a location simply because you were not prepared. You also don't want to be perceived as disorganized or unprepared.

3. Track it ALL

My first inclination was to list this as number 1 on my list, as it is the most crucial element of successful in-town travel. As I started to write, however, I realized that I should place it last on my list so that it is freshest in the readers mind. Of all things on this list, tracking everything you do while conducting in-town business travel is essential to your success at it.

• Mileage: Obviously, you want to be reimbursed. There are many different ways your employer could choose to go about reimbursement including gas cards, un-taxable income on your pay check, etc... The key is to keep track of every single mile traveled. Note: Do not attempt to put your family vacation on your mileage. Your boss will probably notice in comparing it to your other travels, it's dishonest and it's just plain tacky.

• Visitation Information: Your not doing all of this work for your health and just as you would keep files in your desk of your completed work; you need to keep track of every visit made. Whether you went to meetings, met with potential clients or provided lunch for a company, your boss will want to be informed of your progress and you need to keep track of this information for future use.

• Food Receipts: I keep these for two reasons: First, some companies reimburse for food consumed while "on the job." Second, it is a great way to track your monthly spending on lunches and lattes.

• Cell Phone Usage: I didn't realize the amount of work-related calls I was conducting on my cell phone until my gigantic wireless bill arrived. Track how many minutes you talk on business related calls to see if it is necessary to approach your boss about the possibility of acquiring a service specifically for work (that they would pay, naturally).