5 Travel Mistakes I’ve Made Recently – and How You Can Avoid Them

As I sit here at my desk, tired & sniffling, I started thinking about all the travel mistakes I’ve made recently & how they’ve led me to where I am right now.

1. Not flying the airline I’ve loyal to – & have status on!
The benefit of all my business travel last year is that I finally have status on U.S. Airways (&, because of their recent merger, American Airlines). The perks of this status are numerous, including complimentary upgrades & earning more miles. But on a recent business trip, I flew United instead because the flight times were better & it was significantly cheaper.

Sure, they’re all members of the Star Alliance, so, based on some advice I got on Twitter, I assumed that my U.S. Airways status would carry over. However, it actually meant that I was “competing” for that upgrade with all of United’s frequent fliers & I ultimately stood no chance of getting an upgrade. I found the flight crews on both legs of my flight to be less-than-friendly & the whole thing was just… different than what I was used to. In addition, United’s in-flight service is a bit more limited than what I’m used to: most of their planes don’t have wifi, which means I lost almost 10 hours of work time in my journey back & forth across the country.

How can you avoid this mistake? Unless you don’t have a choice, stick with the airline you’re loyal to. It’ll be a much more comfortable experience!

2. Not getting enough sleep when traveling
One of the hardest things about traveling to the West Coast is the time change. I arrived only two hours (on the clock – almost six hours real time) after I left the east coast & had to charge through the rest of the day, eating dinner at the crazy time of 8:45pm – or 11:45pm according to my body. The next morning, I was wide awake at 5am (8am body time). Unable to fall back asleep, I got up & started working, my east coast colleagues already at the office & firing off emails. And thus a vicious cycle begins…

How can you avoid this mistake? Grab sleep when you can; a cat nap in the afternoon can be especially helpful. In addition, create an environment for sleep in your hotel room. I was tempted to leave my curtains wide open, so I could wake up to the magnificent San Diego view, but knew that a pitch black room would be more ideal for sleeping. Lastly, don’t be ashamed to listen to your body. The last night I was in California, I climbed into bed at 7:45pm. 7:45pm! I was just exhausted &, while I felt totally pathetic, it was the best night of sleep I got the entire trip.

3. Not taking care of myself.
I flew 8,761 miles over a period of 11 days. That is a lot of time in an enclosed metal tube during cold & flu season. In fact, on my third flight of the bunch, the woman in my row’s window seat coughed for five hours straight.  Soon after arriving home, the familiar scratchy throat crept up & within days I too had a nasty cold. I loaded up on zinc & vitamin C &, with the occasional Advil Cold & Sinus, I hope to only feel crummy for about a week.

How can you avoid this mistake? Do what I normally do: load up on vitamins while you’re on your trip. Guzzle an Airborne (a high concentration of vitamin C), suck on Halls Defense drops (I swear by these), eat nutritious foods &, for goodness sake, wash your hands! I didn’t do enough of these things while I was traveling & had to deal with the negative impact. They’re all so simple to do & really do make a big impact.

4. Not planning ahead.
I am normally an obsessive planer. I know exactly what we’re doing & when we’re doing it & how we’re going to get there. But on business trips, my main concern is the business side of it – what’s my client doing, when are they doing it & how are they going to get there – so the personal side of things tends to fall off. An example from my recent trip: following an afternoon event in Oceanside, California, I’d be on my own for the rest of the trip. I planned on slowly making my way back to San Diego by driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping to see the sunset at a beach shack along the way. Imagine my surprise as I turned onto the PCH to find the entire thing shrouded in fog. I drove on, hoping the fog would lift, with no luck. I eventually gave up & sat in traffic on The Five instead. A few hours later, I found myself back at my hotel, exhausted from driving in traffic & no dinner plans. I hadn’t even considered that my drive-down-the-PCH-beach-shack-for-dinner plan wouldn’t work out.

How can you avoid this mistake? Have a Plan B. Even when you’re 99% sure Plan A is going to work out, some semblance of a Plan B will save the day. I should have researched a solo dinner location not on the beach before I left for my trip & knew I’d be too tired to figure out something out on the fly.

I made a similar mistake the week before when I was in Phoenix. I was in town for less than 24 hours, so I thought renting a car would be foolish. One $75 cab ride & being stuck at a hotel in the middle of an office park later, & I was certainly regretting not having a better plan.

How can you avoid this mistake? I usually am great about checking out my transit options before a trip. There’s nothing more frustrating than taking an unexpectedly expensive cab ride, or paying to rent a car & then leaving it parked at the hotel the entire time. One option I love is Uber. This on-demand car service is usually comparable in price to a taxi & is automatically charged to a credit card. They’re in San Diego & Phoenix, so I really missed out on using them on this past trip! I you’ve never used Uber before, I encourage you to try it out. In fact, they’re currently running a special promo with me: use the code ‘MiddleSeatUber’ & get $20 off your first ride with them! Undoubtedly you’ll be as hooked as I am.

5. Not enjoying every moment.
Travel is messy & exhilarating & exhausting. But it’s also a break from reality & an opportunity to try something new. Sometimes I need to snap the preverbal rubber band on my wrist & remind myself how lucky I am.

How can you avoid making this mistake? Remember that travel is a glorious thing that is best embraced to its fullest.