Always Set Two Alarms

The title says it all! This business-traveler's rule is so obvious that you may think it doesn't need posting. If that were so, why do I often forget it, myself?

Numerous times (greater than mere statistical randomness would allow) I have set an alarm to wake up for an early flight, and for some surprising reason, the alarm doesn't go off.

• I've set the alarm time, but didn't turn on the alarm.
• I've set the AM/PM incorrectly.
• I've set everything correctly on a hotel clock that had its AM/PM setting reversed.
• I've set my cell alarm after a day of having the cell set to silent mode.

The most infamous occurrence of a Visit from Murphy was in Eugene, OR. I had indeed set two alarms (okay, maybe the rule should be "Two Alarms and a Wake-Up Call"). I think I had set my cell-phone alarm time, but forgot to turn the alarm on. I had also set the hotel room clock, but the clock's AM/PM setting had been reversed. I literally woke up 45 minutes before my departure time!

Knowing that there was only one flight out per day, I decided to try to get there rather than just give up and reschedule. 30 seconds to pack, a minute to check out, 15 minutes to drive to the airport (and thankful that there were no patrol cars waiting for me that early in the morning), two minutes to drop off the car... They actually let me check my bags and get on the plane...but this was Eugene, remember: Friendliest airport on the planet! I was extremely lucky.

(Many thanks to the wonderful folks at the Eugene airport that day. All eight or nine of you. :)

The real trick seems to be setting the next day's alarms while you're alert, rather than waiting until you're sleepy and crawling into bed.

During my most recent trip to Boston, I decided I trusted my very reliable cell phone alarm to wake me up. I set the alarm carefully, made sure it was on, had AM/PM set correctly (note to self: consider going to a 24-hour clock), yet it didn't go off! I usually go back and try to identify the problem, and usually I find it, but this time there was nothing. Nothing but a mental image of my phone peering back at me through it's stupid little camera, and laughing at me.

Again, I was incredibly lucky. I had scheduled a room-service breakfast (the only way to get breakfast at this hotel at 6AM), and the kitchen folks had a question about my order, so they called the room only ten minutes after my alarm time. But my heart raced until I looked at the clock, because I immediately assumed it was the front desk, calling to tell me that the taxi driver was tired of waiting, and was leaving without me.

So, I'm saying this just as much for myself as for others: Two alarms, or one alarm and a wake-up call. And, if there's only one flight per day and it's the flight home, then do all three!

Bells wake me up almost fully. It only takes one alarm to wake me up, and I usually turn on a light to keep from falling back to sleep. If this isn't enough for you, set an alarm across the room, so you have to get up to turn it off.

Get Bumped

[Insert Paul Revere pic...]

Things really fell together for my flight from Boston to San Francisco last Saturday.

When I checked in, I was asked by the kiosk if I'd be willing to take a later flight in exchange for a full-fare travel voucher. I said "No" because it didn't say how much later, and I figured they would get plenty of takers.

I got to the gate, and they were still looking for two more people to bump. It turns out that they had canceled an earlier flight, and they couldn't get a family of three onto my flight. This family needed to be on my flight in order to make their connecting flight back home to South Korea!

"Say no more!" Having had some coffee, and time to think about my schedule, I jumped at the chance, and so did one other traveler.

I couldn't believe my luck. I got a voucher for a free round-trip ticket with no black-out dates. There are some fare restrictions (only W, Q, and V, or something like that), but those sound like fairly common fare categories. I got an exit-row seat on the way home, and a food voucher that bought me dinner at SFO before driving home. And presumably there's a young family that made it back home to South Korea on-time. All parties benefit.

The part I enjoyed the most was the four free hours I had before I needed to be back at Logan airport. Prior to Saturday, my "Week in Boston" had actually been a "Week in Woburn" which meant I got to tour yet another joyless office park in the middle of nowhere, so here was a chance to see Boston!

Boston's rail system looks to be about 200 years old (exaggerating a bit, here...not everything in Boston is 200 years old). The ride was rough and I'd never seen so much rust on a subway train, but the ticket system was high-tech, and I was in the heart of Boston in less than 1/2 an hour.

I had a great time walking through the historic areas and seeing the harbor. The weather was beautiful (hot for the natives: it was in the 80s by 11AM) and the air was fresh.

So, if you have an open schedule and something to do near or at the airport, it often pays to "get bumped."

Lowering the Stress of Business Travel

My boss, who also travels a lot, reminded me of the One Big Travelers' Lesson that I have neglected to post until now:

Your Flight Will be Late!

So take a deep breath, and plan for it. Expect it to happen, and you won't be disappointed either way.

I'm not always a patient man, but this is one area where I may have finally developed a bit of real patience. Here are some steps to take to keep your cool when you discover--at the gate, of course--that your flight is delayed by an hour or more:

1. Schedule the flight so that you arrive at least two hours before you actually have to be there. If the delay doesn't make you late for an appointment, you won't feel as stressed. Perhaps the rule of thumb should be two hours per time zone: The further you need to travel, and the more stops you make, the greater your chances of being delayed.
   
2. Schedule any layovers so that they are sufficiently long, otherwise you may miss your connection. But obviously not too long. See #1 for guidance. Usually one to two hours is plenty.
   
3. Bring plenty of things to keep you occupied during all the delays. I usually take some business related tasks (call the boss, work on the laptop, fill out some paperwork, read something technical) and some personal tasks or relaxing activities (bills, books, magazines, music, movies). These aren't things that I have to get done today. If they were, then I'd be stressed when delays didn't occur! Also, extended phone calls are very difficult at the noise-laden terminal, so I won't call an old friend, or a new client. I try to bring things I can do on the plane, so I won't limit myself to electronic stuff. Reading material is best. I bring my own, but I'm rather particular about the books and magazines I read. If you like the usual magazines, fine newspapers, or the latest best-sellers, you can probably find something at the terminal.
4. Bring snacks. Unless you've had time to scope out the best snacks and restaurants at your usual airports, you may get quite hungry. A small snack can keep you going--and keep you calm--during the delay. I usually bring or buy one small but complete meal to eat at the terminal or on the plane, and then dry stuff (granola bars, bananas, nuts) to keep me going. I pack snacks in my briefcase, so I can munch on something at any time.
   
5. When you hear that announcement, try not getting mad. Note that I didn't say "try not to get mad," but actually make an effort to keep from groaning, yelling, or cursing under your breath. Are you really surprised? After years of business travel, I'm not. These days, I often find myself smiling, thankful for the time to catch up on some reading.
6. If it helps you to feel self-conscious about your anger (which, for me, is a great way to learn how to let it go), keep this in mind: Seasoned travelers can recognize the newbies by how upset and vocal they get when the flight is delayed.
   

Avoiding Burnout

Let me tell you about my schedule during most of 2002. This occurred weekly, almost every week for a year:

Sunday morning I would take a taxi to the bus station and take a bus to SFO. I would then fly to DTW, rent a car, and drive to Ann Arbor. That was at least an eight hour day, door to door. And, Ann Arbor is on East Coast time.

Friday evening, I would leave the client's office as early as possible, drive frantically from Ann Arbor to DTW (20 to 40 minutes), drop off the rental car, sprint to my flight (and, if you've been to the new Detroit Northwest Airlines terminal, you know that this can be a literal 1/2 mile jog, worst case, which was also the typical case, due to Murphy's Laws of Travel). One time, when the flight was on-time, they were about to close the doors with me on the wrong side of the porthole. That was as close as I have ever been to being denied a seat on my flight.

If the flight was delayed, then--upon arrival in SFO five hours later--I had to sprint from the arriving terminal to the bus stop. (On those weekly DTW to SFO flights, I never checked luggage!) Fortunately, I never missed the last bus (at midnight), but I often missed the bus that I had planned to take at 11PM. Hurry up and wait, as the saying goes. To top it all off, the bus had multiple stops between San Francisco and Santa Rosa. There were times when I wouldn't get to bed until 3AM Pacific, 6AM Eastern, after spending a week trying to adapt to the Eastern time zone.

And Saturday was usually spent sleeping off the jetlag, and doing laundry.

But I'm not whining. I actually enjoyed that gig. I made a couple of good friends in Ann Arbor, and I made an obscene amount of money. But the stress was starting to wear me down.

What would I do differently today? I would certainly park my car near SFO. Eventually the bus fare got so high that off-airport parking became cheaper than taking the bus round-trip. At the time, I was very frugal: I was the business, so a dollar of business expense was nearly a dollar out of my own pocket. With my own car readily available, I wouldn't have to arrive on-time, and I wouldn't have to wait. Less expensive in terms of money, time, sanity, and life-expectancy.

Other things I would do differently today would be business-related: I now schedule Monday as a travel day, and I would try to plan to be elsewhere at least one week every two months, at a minimum. To that end, a consultant should try to have multiple clients. These are subtle reminders to the client that (a) you're not an employee, and (b) you have other sources of income.

But even if that other client turns out to be your family, and your projects are mowing the lawn and painting the guest room, you will thank yourself. I've noticed that the more money I made, the more "expensive" a week of unpaid vacation would seem. "Missed opportunity" we self-congratulating investors like to call it. What a load of crap! We serve the clients better when we take care of ourselves, too.

With the wonderful job I have now, we try to keep travel down to every other week. And we mostly succeed.

Keep an eye (or foot) on your luggage

I bought new a new suitcase for the Copenhagen trip. I needed two large suitcases, one to carry books and manuals for the class. The old one had lost the sliding handle that allows me to wheel the suitcase around. In fact, that poor old thing was so beat up, I could tell it apart from everyone else's just from the scuffs, stains, and tears.

How do you recognize your luggage? Perhaps more importantly: How do others know it's not theirs?

A few travel tips to keep you from losing stuff.

Checked luggage.

ID tags. Of course, the airlines want you to have your name and address somewhere on the luggage. I like those simple luggage tags that hold a business card, and use a stretchy strap to hang on to the handle. (If you own a company and your employees travel a lot, get them all a few luggage tags with your logo on the back!) You should also toss your business card inside the luggage, in case the tags get torn away. My new bag has a built-in external place for my name and address. Strangely, it's not large enough for a business card, so I don't use it.

Colored luggage belts. I'm surprised by how few people use those luggage straps that make your luggage appear unique. The luggage carousels are still a sea of mostly dull, nondescript black suitcases. We have two straps that are red, white, and blue, and two that are rainbow. If I'm checking two bags, I select matching straps. I can tell which suitcases are mine from a ways away. And there's a much lower chance that someone will accidentally take my luggage.

Carry-Ons.

I once lost a very nice camera on vacation. I left it with my carry-on for just a moment in a hotel hallway. The thief must have been incredibly fast, and must have somehow sensed how much time was available.

After that, I started developing the following weird travel habits to keep track of my carry-ons.

Line of sight. The idea is to simply keep an eye on your stuff. This is required activity while in an airport, but it has numerous personal benefits, too. Set the luggage in front of you. Often airport urinals have a shelf in front of you, at eye level. You can see your luggage, without peeing on it. Take all carry-on luggage into a stall with you.

The trick with the feet. When sitting in the terminal and reading or talking on the phone, always have a foot pressed against each of your two carry-ons. You'll notice if the pressure on your foot suddenly disappears! In the airport bathrooms (those without the convenient shelves), set the luggage behind you, touching your heels, or to each side (and back a little, gentlemen). Just remember they're there, so you don't fall over them while zipping up.

It's all done with mirrors. If neither of the above are possible (usually due to room constraint), try to find a way to keep your stuff within eyesight. Is there a mirror nearby? Can you see them through the reflection on the flusher mechanism? Can you see them out of the corner of your eye? Of course, you have to be careful with this technique, lest the man standing next to you thinks you're looking at him...

Skype Rules! (Especially while I'm overseas)

Copenhagen, Day 6:

With Skype (the amazing, free VOIP product), the internet really shines. Here I am, at 6AM in my hotel room in Copenhagen (I thought jetlag went away after a few days...?), on a wireless network, talking to my partner overseas with a clarity that puts cell phones to shame. I also called Mom, on her birthday, from Copenhagen! "And you sound like you're just in the next room!" I think that was a positive critique. Skype calls sound oddly realistic, even over cheesy laptop speakers and microphones.

And even when the other person is not using headphones, I rarely hear my own voice at the other end. When it does occur, usually the other party need only lower the volume. I don't know how Skype does it. I suspect that there is a smart bit of audio-manipulation software built in. And it has to be using some excellent compression, yes? I am again in love with the internet.

There's often a small delay that causes people to talk over each other on occasion, but it's no worse than cell-to-cell. (Or is that a Sprint-to-Verison delay?)

Skype is not limited to computer-to-computer VOIP, either. For a very small fee (essentially local-call fees), I used a feature called SkypeOut to call a hotel in Copenhagen while I was making initial arrangements for this trip. I've since used the same technology to call Northwest Airlines from Copenhagen, and to call my own US cell phone numbers to get messages.

http://www.skype.com/ Be sure to watch the cute intro movie.

What's In Your Luggage?

More travel tips...

Even when I'm checking bags, I usually try to carry on a little overnight bag containing at least one extra pair of underwear and socks, and all my "toiletries" (also known in certain circles as "product"). The airlines rarely lose my luggage, but when they do, it's a disaster...

<...Flash back to me teaching my very first Extreme Programming Bootcamp with wild no-gel hair, no deodorant, and geeky logo T-shirts borrowed from Josh Kerievsky...>

This overnight bag, as the airlines will tell you, is permissible in addition to your purse or briefcase. It should be small enough so that even the most restrictive Alaska Airlines representative at Oakland Airport will not make you check it at the gate.

I have two tips on those nasty exploding bottles of shampoo/hair-gel/toxic face creams. But first we must face reality together: These messes are not created by careless luggage handlers. It's air pressure plus altitude. Plane goes up, pressure outside bottle drops, bottle squirts contents all over luggage. It's called "explosive decompression," and it ain't pretty.

Tip #1: Carry all the mess-generating tubes and bottles separately in a large zip-lock bag. Yes, you could use the cool bag that came with your luggage, but do you really want to clean it? Zip-locks can be tossed when messy. Though I'm not fond of filling landfills with "disposable" products, I have my limits. Besides, the bags last quite a while, especially if you follow tip #2, below.

Tip #2: Squeeze out some of the air from those mess-generators. While packing, shake the product to the bottom, open the cap, and squeeze a bit of air out. Also, be sure the cap is tight, but not too tight (e.g., Aveda bottle-caps will crack if you try to overtighten, thus defeating the purpose of this tip and leaving you again at the mercy of tip #1, above).

I've noticed that I now reflexively drain a little air out of any bottle after use. Even the milk bottle in the fridge... Clearly, I've been traveling too long.

How do I remember what needs to go in the zip-lock bags? I travel about every other week, so I keep two of everything that goes into the bags (gel, shampoo, tootpaste, toothbrush, floss, deodorant, nail-clippers, Tums, aspirin...). One set lives in the zip-lock for travel, and the other lives in my designated bathroom drawer at home. If you don't travel that often, build a printable checklist and record everything you may want to take.

Business Insomnia? Bring something to read that will stimulate, yet relax, your mind and has absolutely nothing to do with your work. If it's three in the morning and you're tossing and turning about that presentation, make yourself read a few pages. Contrary to popular myth, this should not be a dull book! It has to be interesting enough to take your mind off work. I use either Science Fiction or some book on Buddhism that I'm trying to work through. Stimulating yet relaxing! (Your Options May Vary.)

Another thing that I try to carry for Business Insomnia: A small, portable fan. Just enough to create a pleasant whirring sound. It's a white-noise generator, and it drowns out a lot of the noises you would otherwise hear when trying to sleep in a new place. I use one at home, too, and often sleep right through the Thursday Morning Garbage Truck Parade.

There are a number of other useful techniques: Milk, peanut-butter, stretching, alternatively tensing-and-relaxing muscles. But beyond suggesting you pack your own small jar of peanut-butter (without partially hydrogenated oils, of course), I'd be straying from the topic. Besides, if I knew how to handle all forms of insomnia, I wouldn't be writing this post from my Copenhagen hotel room at 4 AM.

Simple Dining at The Flow

Day 1 in Copenhagen

Today I discovered a great organic vegetarian (and smoke-free!) restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. The official name seems to be "Restaurant Flow" but the locals call it "The Flow" (of course). It's on Gyldenlovesgade (the main road that goes past Tivoli and the Square), just past the waters as you enter the city center (at Gyldenlovesgade and Nyropsgade/Nansengade). It's not hard to spot.

From street level, you step down a few stairs past candles and oil lamps. The decor is simple, clean, light, and pleasing. The candles at every table and scattered throughout add a little romance to an otherwise austere experience. The dining area is small and very tasteful (reminiscent of The March in New York, only much less formal). Yet the ordering process is similar to a deli: You read the menu on the board (it's in Danish), or simply go look at what they're serving. They scoop it out from appetizing bowls and platters onto a plate for you. You choose how many items you want. 120 Krones bought a plate of four choices: I had lentils, an herb pasta, a simple tossed salad, and this wonderful red pepper garnished with pumpkin or squash (or something similarly sweet and homey). I was full, and quite pleased with the fresh, wholesome, and creative organic ingredients. This isn't Greens in San Francisco, but it would be a wonderful place for a first date, or a get-together with a few friends. Seating is limited.

Tip #1: If you want the most romantic spot, call ahead and ask to be seated under the Buddha. I didn't spot him until I was on my way out. ("The Buddha...romantic?!")

Tip #2: Travelers, bring cash. Apparently they are not set up to accept credit or debit cards from overseas. But they were kind enough to let me walk down the street a few blocks to an ATM. (There's one on the left side when walking toward the Square.)

See http://www.spisdiglykkelig.dk/

Have Laptop, Will Travel

I've been traveling for business almost constantly since 1999. Here are a few tips regarding airport departures that I've picked up along the way.

Arrive early. The early-bird gets the exit row (more leg-room!), and possibly the free frequent-flyer upgrade to First Class (if you qualify). Be sure to bring a book or something to work on. Where I live, I can't estimate with any accuracy when I'll arrive at the airport. So I'm often very early. When I travel, I get caught up on books, magazines, phone calls.

Bring your own food. The airlines rarely feed you anymore, and when they do, it isn't all that tasty. Plan ahead and decide whether you're going to eat before you drop off your car, before you're going through security, or when you're comfortably at the gate. What can you bring? What will you do with utensils afterwards? Security may balk at metal knives and forks. But if you use them before you get there, you could drop them into your checked luggage, or your car.

Streamline your security screening. Laptops have to be removed from the case and passed separately through the x-ray. Get a laptop case that allows you to slip the laptop into a pocket. Those old briefcase-style cases with the velcro straps are a pain. Also, wear shoes that will slide off easily, and pants that won't fall off if the belt is removed. Or not. (I've seen some cute underwear, thanks to the baggy pants that young men wear these days! :) Give yourself enough time (see tip, above) just in case you get randomly selected for a full search. I've been through plenty of them, and I can assure you it's nothing personal, nor is it racial profiling (see photo - I think it's the "Insanity" T-shirt!). If you really want to get through it quickly, be polite and cooperative. Truly, most people are not trying to make your life miserable. We're all just doing our jobs and trying to get by.