It definitely feels like we’re “back to normal” as far as being in the office is concerned and for me, and Shiageto Consulting, this means back to incorporating a fair bit of Travel to spend time with clients.

Whilst we perfected how to facilitate and train remotely during Covid [I should say that this is no mean feat and worth a blog on its own; suffice to say clients have been very impressed with how we can galvanise teams over Zoom/Teams and it even opened up a new offering where we would train leaders how to make remote sessions super effective], now that people have confidence to travel again, clients are keen to bring their teams back together in-person and that means we are there too.

Since last summer I’ve had on average 2 work trips per month and the year ahead is already filling up with sessions in Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Milan, Muscat, Dubai, Singapore, New York, Miami and Addis Addaba… I know its a hell of a lot of air miles so I take the train whenever possible.

This is nothing like my previous work travels

For 12 years, prior to setting up my own company, I was a strategy consultant and my working life could be easily characterised as long hours in random locations.

Pretty much every Monday I would board a plane at a ridiculously early hour, get to a foreign city, taxi it to a client’s office, work a 12-14 hour day, then go to a nearby hotel, work some more whilst having dinner, Sleep and then repeat the work and hotel cycle until it was time to fly home at the end of the week.

It was intense and always made me laugh when people would say : “Ooh, it must be nice to travel with work”.

Now that it’s my company, I make sure I travel only if necessary, in a much more relaxed manner and make a rule to stay an extra couple of days to enjoy the city I’m in if I’ve never visited before.

It actually makes work travel very pleasant 😊.

Some habits die hard; my top travel tips

After so many years navigating airports and rushing for trains, I’ve refined my process for travel and I thought I’d share a few tips:

1. Always keep a rudimentary bag packed and a standard set of items to go in it — I have a standard bag and collection of items depending on how many days I’ll be away. 1–2 days it’s a rucksack with a spare shirt, set of underwear and washbag plus laptop and other work paraphernalia. 3-5 days it’s a small holdall with more of the same but gym kit included and spares of trousers, jumpers and some casual wear. More than 5 days it’s a large holdall and an expansion on the above (maybe some more luxuries to accommodate being away from home for an extended period). Having this pre-decided means packing takes literally a few minutes.
2. Keep luggage as accessible as possible — wherever possible I prefer hand luggage for work trips so as to avoid extended check-ins and other hassles at an airport. More than that I really dislike wheelie bags as they slow me down and tend to make people become zombies with their attitude to moving around an airport. A holdall for me is perfect to move quickly through an airport
3. Learn the art of airport-craft — you’ll be able to spot those people who travel a lot. They will know the best place to stand on the tube/train to get out first; it’s the same when picking airplane seats. More than that, they can spot the best Security and immigration queues to join, will have everything ready before they hit the designated checkpoint (belt off, liquids out, shoes in hand at a security gate; passport ready, smile present at immigration) and generally glide through an airport. You can become one of those people.
4. Don’t get to the airport early — this one is a little controversial so stick with me; yes getting there early mitigates for any delays you may face on the way but (unless you have lounge access), airports and train stations are often the worst place to spend your free time. Nowadays they are overcrowded, over priced and generally full of stressed out people. As such I time my arrival to just in time. Through this approach I’ve saved hundreds of hours of lost time over the years… Although I may have missed the odd ✈ and 🚉.
5. Pick up food before you board — it’s always better to have some supplies on you from your “home territory” then risk it on the other side. Even if you get fed on the plane/train, the number of times I’ve been glad to have a snack or some water on me when I get to the other side is immense because you often don’t have time or local currency to get something when you arrive.
6. Learn to sleep on the plane/train — unless it’s long-haul, it generally isn’t worth trying to do any work or watch a movie. For me this is valuable “keeping myself fresh time”
7. Network with everyone along the way— most people like to immerse themselves in their own world when it comes to travelling but for me it’s a perfect time to keep your head up and maybe make a new connection. Who knows? You might meet a CEO of a big company who needs your servicsz, your future spouse or just get some tips from a random local for your destination city that you otherwise wouldn’t have had.
8. Treat everyone like royalty — in conjunction with the tip above, don’t just assume your fellow passengers are the only ones worth chatting to. Your next best interaction could be with the cleaner who gives you some info on the best place to eat at the airport, the check-in attendant who might give you an upgrade, the steward who pours you an extra drink, the hotel receptionist who can give you access to the executive lounge for free. So many times, I’ve seen people treat others like they don’t exist and that’s terrible. I almost made a similar mistake the other night when I made a bad assumption that my taxi driver who collected me from the airport was only a taxi driver. It turned out he was an ex-accountant who ran his family business and did the odd extra taxi shift to mix things up; we had a fascinating chat, ended up swapping details and I said I’d be delighted to help his business.
9. Make sure you have enough battery — unless you’re old school and like to write things down, invariably pretty much everything to do with travelling will rely on your phone. Your boarding pass, your banking app, your payment cards, your hotel address, your map, and so much more all live on that little device so whatever you do make sure it doesn’t die on you. Be it charging in advance or carrying a spare battery, you will be grateful that you did. Arguably, when you strip it back, the absolute minimum you need to travel is your phone and your passport nowadays; everything else you can pick up.
10. Do things your own way — ignore all my suggestions above, take my advice don’t take my advice. Travelling should be fun so just make sure, even if it is for work, yours is too

Conclusion

Wow! I never thought I had 10 tips in me when I started writing the above (maybe it’s the fact I’m sat in an airport whilst doing it).

Hopefully you’ll find the above useful. If not, then at least entertaining and a little insight into how my brain works.

As ever if you enjoy my musings then hit follow on Medium to make sure you don’t miss a blog.

In the meantime, I better stop writing as I have a flight to catch (I kid you not) 🙂.

Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness.

Success = IQ x EQ x FQ

Originally Published on https://farisaranki.medium.com/

Faris Aranki Strategy & Emotional Intelligence

Having spent over 20 years delivering strategic change for the corporate and non-corporate worlds, Faris has experienced first-hand the fine differences between strategic success and failure.
His work has spanned numerous companies (from global behemoths to small start-ups), in numerous countries, across a range of sectors, supporting them all to unlock strategic success.

He came to realize that often what hinders institutions from achieving their goals goes beyond the quality of their strategy; it is their ability to engage effectively with others at all levels and remove barriers in their way. This has led to his passion for improving strategic effectiveness within all businesses and individuals and the foundation of Shiageto Consulting.

Over time, Faris has worked to distill his knowledge of how to solve complex problems in a structured manner combined with his skill on engaging effectively with others and his ability to quickly determine the barriers to a strategy's success. This knowledge has formed the foundation of Shiageto’s workshops, courses and methodologies. Faris believes that any firm or team can adopt these improvements; all it requires is a little of the right support -something Shiageto provides!

On top of leading our business, Faris is now an accomplished speaker and contributor for a variety of outlets.