My husband joked the other day that some of his lessons learned…aren’t! I’m sure we can all relate to that. It seems like sometimes we forget the lessons we’ve learned and repeat the same mistakes over again. Well, I’m proud to say that on my recent business trip I did not repeat my lessons learned. In fact, I was extremely proud of how well I planned and prepared for my first-time trip to the 2011 National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Conference in San Diego, California. I mean talk about pressure. As a professional organizer getting ready to meet with over 700 other professional organizers I had to be…well, you know…organized! Sheesh….I looked like a chihuahu! Shaking with nervousness and excitement!
So what unrepeated lessons learned do I owe this proud moment of travel satisfaction? Well, several lessons actually…and ones that you can use as well. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Review your itinerary and hotel accommodations. I did this a couple of weeks before the conference so I had an idea of what I needed to pack and what I could leave at home (like my iron and blowdryer). Find out what type of transit services are available from the airport to your destination…taxi, shuttle, subway, etc. That way you’ll be prepared with cash to pay for the transit and to tip the drivers if needed.
2. Try on your business clothes a couple of days before your trip to make sure they fit and aren’t outdated. Good thing I did this as most of my business clothes were a tad too big and and not exactly stylish. Luckily I planned a day to do some shopping. Oh darn….
3. Schedule a hair appointment a few days prior to your trip. You’ll be too busy packing to try and squeeze one in the day before. Plus, if you get a haircut a couple of days in advance you’ll give yourself some time to get used to your new harido ;o)
4. Create a packing checklist. Whether you use a sticky note, notepad or a travel app, start adding items to your checklist as you think of them. If you don’t want to reinvent the wheel, use a travel app on your smart phone so that you can create customized checklists for your each of your trips or events. This is a life saver!
5. Bring a travel surge protector to plug in your electronics. I use one made by Belkin that’s perfect for charging mobile phones, PDAs, MP3s, etc. It now goes on every single trip I take these days! Hotel rooms never have enough outlets so why not bring your own?
Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger
Used my surge protector to plug in a Macbook, iPad, and 3 iPhones.
6. Coordinate your outfits and shoes. I love shoes but having a separate pair for each of my outfits takes up way too much room in luggage. So, try to coordinate your clothes (wear similar colors) so that you only need to bring 1-2 pairs of shoes that will match all of your outfits.
7. Take pictures of your outfits and accessories. Ok…this really isn’t a lesson learned because it’s the first time I’ve done it…but I loved it! I actually laid out all of my outfits along with the shoes and accessories I planned to wear with each. I even took the pictures in order of when I was going to wear them! Excessive? Perhaps, but it allowed me to know exactly what I was going to wear to each event saving me time, energy and frustration each morning. What’s even better? I wore every single item (except one workout outfit) that I packed! Can you believe that? That is by far my greatest achievement on this trip…not overpacking!!!
8. Use your cell phone camera to take pictures of where you parked and of your hotel room. You don’t have to rely on your brain to remember everything. Just take a picture of where you parked at the airport so when you fly back so you’re not flagging down the security guy begging him to take you on a tour of the parking garage to find your vehicle! You can also take a picture of your hotel room number in case you loose your card sleeve with the number on it.
9. Remember everything by using Evernote! I used Evernote to store everything regarding my trip: flight itinerary, boarding pass info, conference schedule, hotel info, shuttle service info, as well as all my notes from my conference workshops. The beauty of Evernote is that you can write a note, take a picture, save a document, make a voice recording or capture a screenshot and save it to your Evernote account which is securely stored out in cyberland. It also has an app where you can access the information anytime on your cell phone or iPad with internet connection. It’s genius!!!!
10. Take notes during your trip…to keep track of future lessons learned! Because inevitable there is something you either forgot or didn’t need. Jot it down on your travel checklist for the next time.
So, do you have any lessons learned that you’d like to share? I know you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve too and I would love to hear them. Until then, safe travels and may your lessons learned not be repeated!!!
