Throughout my husband’s career as an executive in the technology field, he had a chance to travel all over the world. Be it to see customers, open (or close) factories, or just participate in conferences and trade shows. Unfortunately, many of the times he traveled for business he neglected to take a little extra time to do some personal sightseeing to enjoy the places he visited, even if just to scope them out for future personal travels by us.
The Reality of Business Travel
The sad truth is that the inside of a conference room at the Marriott looks just about the same in Hawaii, as it does in Taiwan, London, or Miami! The same can be said for a computer room or a conference room or to some degree a factory floor.
It is true that business travels are not as flexible as they once were. One is often expected to get in the same day, dine with customers or contacts and rush back on the red-eye to save the company the extra hotel expense, or avoid the more expensive morning flight. Others may simply want to escape and head back home to be with family or to get some rest. That being said, the adventurous among us may still find ways to plan for and get a little pleasure out of our business travel. This is even more true, when visiting interesting places that we would like to explore!
Bleisure Travel Definition:
“The art of mixing business and leisure travel.”
Here are a few tips to help you get some pleasure out of business travel:
- If possible, plan your trip around a weekend, with either a Monday or Friday meeting and add a day to your itinerary on the weekend to do some sightseeing.
- It is rare that any company would complain about you spending a day on the weekend at a place such as this when picking up the hotel and meals at your own expense.
- If arriving on a Sunday, you may even arguably bill the dinner to the company, as you needed to be there for the Monday morning meeting.
- Pick a hotel, or change hotels if extending your stay, to one that is near the places you want to see.
- Rent a car to facilitate getting around to see the sights you choose to visit. Ask the hotel concierge for a map and perhaps a visitor’s guide.
- Research the place, and see when sites are open, i.e. nature parks, museums, or historical sites. Look to see if they have a hop-on/hop-off bus tour. This is often a great formula to get around the major attractions in a day, on your own at your own pace.
- Ask your local contacts for information, if you feel comfortable doing so. Most locals will be happy to help, and glad to know you’re spending a little time visiting their city. Some may even be generous enough to take you on a short tour of their own!
- Check with the hotel concierge for local attractions, visitor’s guides and perhaps organized tours. If only in town for a day, an organized and guided tour may be your best bet to see the most things in a short time. The downside is that you may just barely get a glimpse of the highlights. Consider visiting one or two places more thoroughly instead of spending half your time sitting on a bus (perhaps stuck in traffic) and getting 10 to 20 minutes to visit 10 sites.
Conclusion
Even if you don’t get to spend all the time you would like, perhaps you’ll get a good enough idea with an introduction to the location to decide whether you would want to come back for pleasure, and if so for how long.
For tips on seeing the most while traveling, check out our post:
Make the Most of Your Vacation…Power Travel!
See our Travel Planning Guide: