How I organize myself for travel

It’s conference season again, so I thought I would give you an insight in how I organize myself for traveling.

Generally, I try to take as much of the administrative hassle out of traveling, so that my time goes into the actual travel. I also put as much on autopilot as I can.

Here are some of the tools I use to organize myself:

• Checklist: for what I need to print and take with me.
• Outline my goals: what do I want to achieve with the trip? What is most important?
• Packing list: OK, my lists and lists sound perhaps a bit neurotic, but having things in lists to print out and check off does speed everything up.
• Reporting: Do you need to submit your receipts? If so, what’s the easiest way? Get them all digital and then PDF them all together is a winner for me. I also have a standard Excel sheet that I use for reporting my costs and get my refund.
• Couleur locale: If you are traveling to a new place, ask local colleagues for recommendations on what to go see and where to eat – they will know (and this will prevent you from going down the online rabbit hole of lists on what to go visit).
• Something for the flight: I hardly ever work on a flight – the space is too cramped, it is just not ideal. I either nap or read a good book – makes the long time of sitting in a small space at least more enjoyable.

How do you prepare yourself for traveling?