Traveling for business

[neskora]

I’ll be shipping out to the Balkans pretty quick here for a little over a month for work (with additional trips likely to follow). This
will be my first long-term travel project for work, and I’m kind of at a loss on what to pack. I’ve backpacked through Europe twice, so I’m not too worried about that adjustment – it’s primarily not throwing on a t-shirt and shorts everyday that I’m concerned with. For the business guys that travel, what are your essentials to take along?

[Bigdaddy]

Power converters!! Figure out what converters you need. It varies across the world.
be safe in your travels

[SwampRabbit]

I have only done week long travel. If I had to be longer than 1 week I'd probably pack the same as I tend to dress in 1 week increments anyways.

1 week's worth of business dress + casual wear for every evening and weekend. I would launder my clothes 1x a week (send out or find a laundromat)

dress shoes and walking shoes.

A rain jacket for the expected climate. A stuffable down jacket if a cold environment.

Sunglasses (always on my head anyways)

Normal Toiletries for 1 month (pack the big toothpaste)

Get your haircut just before you travel. Pack your razors/trimmers.

Power Converter.

Verify Cell Phone coverage and check to see how your data plan works. I got free 2G Data on most places in Europe and use WhatsApp for calling back home for free.

Make sure you have a PIN on your credit card, in a lot of countries, you don't sign, you use a PIN. (learned that the hard way)

Pack common meds that you tend to use, allergy medicine, ibuprofen, nasal sprays, band aids, triple antibiotic cream, any other over the counter that oddly enough, you may not find over there.

Going back to the phone plan... my primary form of entertainment is via the internet, so I just make sure I can get internet and don't worry about magazines, etc, etc.

Do a little research and see if there is something there than you may want to do, that you wouldn't otherwise do on a short trip. If you workout, bring exercise clothes. If you fish, see if there are unique places to go fishing and figure out what it takes for a non resident to legally do so. If I were staying in Spain for instance for 1 month, I'd bring a bow and go hunt and pay the fees to do so...

[hooligan]

Dress depends on what your business is and what you’ll wear to see your customers. I always back 5-7 dress shirts, hotels usually have a laundry service. 2 suites a couple pairs of jeans, some work out clothes.

Normal toiletries, power converters and any meds you may need. One of the biggest gangs I forgot to do my first time was call my bank and credit cards and notify them so i was in Denmark and couldn’t pull cash out because Navy Fed flagged it as fraud until I had called.

[WT]

Make two copies of your passport ID page (the page with your picture) and laminate them. Give one copy to someone you trust in case you need to contact them for any information while on your trip. Keep the other copy in the bottom of your suitcase or in a spot where it can't be easily lost.

Train travel is slow. If you need to do any traveling besides work, take a bus or hitchhike. Most drivers are happy to give you a lift as long as your destination isn't too far out of their way.

The food is great and relatively inexpensive so try a bunch of it.

Call your HR person and verify EXACTLY what your health insurance covers and what it doesn't. Just because you're traveling for business doesn't mean you're covered for every little thing.

Type L and Europlug should be your adapters.

Whether you wear a tie for work or not, take at least two.

Pack a good roll of TP from home.

Start on the Airborne or EmergenC a few days before you leave.

[stickemhard3]

Make sure your cell company has your roaming turned ON. I flew to Nigeria for work and it took them 3 days to figure out that my roaming was off. My company had setup a special plan based upon being in Nigeria but the CS worker forgot to toggle roaming on. It's a lot easier to check before you leave, than mess with it while you are there.

Great point on the insurance plan. We had a special plan and contact information in the event of medical need.

Advil
soap
shaving cream
razors
pepto
deodorant

[neskora]

Thank y’all guys, these are some great suggestions. They actually make me feel a bit better, as a lot of the stuff I’ve actually thought of, but definitely some things I’ve added to my list.

Probably the thing that had me the most uncertain was that I had about a 4 day turnaround between finding out I was leaving and when I fly out.

As a side note, I’ve been researching a little on some outdoors type stuff to do there, but findings have been slim. I’m planning to do a little more research once I’m actually on the ground.