<p>Actually, I really have no worries about my daughter traveling alone, but my mother is driving me crazy; I guess I understand when my daughter gets upset with me when I mother too much!!</p>
<p>The question is more on general safety, packing, tips, etc… when traveling for business. My daughter will soon be traveling overseas for work and this is new for our family; no one on either side has had to travel. It is my understanding that usually she will be gone for a week or two at a time. One trip involves 5 meetings over 5 days in 5 different cities. Looks like she will finish a meeting, fly or train to the next city, check into a hotel only to wake up the next morning and do the same thing all over again 4 more times. As she likes to pack light, she thinks she is good with only 2 suits per trip. I can understand if you are staying in the same city you can do with less, as something can always be sent to the cleaners if there is a spill or she gets soaked in the rain. I am a terrible over packer, so I would take 3 suits for 5 days, but maybe that is overkill.</p>
<p>As my daughter’s birthday is coming up, I was looking for good ideas that would make her travels easier-a great suitcase that would be good for hanging items, something for the long plane ride, must have items, etc… She does not have a trench/all weather coat which I thought would be good, especially in the UK where she will spend 2 weeks in June. While she has plenty of luggage, I wonder if a good piece that allows for her to hang her suits with room for her other clothing would be nice. I am thinking of a modern val pak. What other items do you seasoned business travels like to take with you on long trips?</p>
<p>I’ve done a lot of traveling and would have loved to have had something like a Kindle for the longer trips to Europe and other countries but it wasn’t invented yet. It’s difficult to bring a lot of books when traveling light and it can be tough to find paperbacks in English in other countries. That would make a great present if she doesn’t already have one. It’d really help with the long plane trips and nights in the hotel room.</p>
<p>I travel very lightly but I’m a guy. For someone with a bit more I’d recommend a rolling suitcase/duffel that’s permitted to be carried on the plane, which means it needs to conform to the size requirements. They’re usually stricter about it in Europe. It helps a lot to not have to check a bag - especially when doing a city per night like it sounds like she might do.</p>
<p>She’ll figure all this out. The more she travels the less she’ll likely bring and make sure whatever she’s lugging is worth the effort.</p>
<p>don’t worry. There is absolutely no issue with women - old or young - traveling alone for business overseas or domestically. goodness, I have been doing this for 25 years. Never had a problem. Of course, she needs to use her common sense. But how is it different here or overseas. It looks like she is traveling in “safe” countries - with security and safety issues actually better than in USA. If she were to travel alone to Pakistan, well, that would be a different story. </p>
<p>What you can do help most is step back, and let her handle the whole thing. By your own admission, nobody in either side of your family has done this before. She will get much better advice from her co-workers - even in terms of what to pack and what kind of suitcases work best.</p>
<p>To be honest, if my mother had been so involved in my business trip plans when I was just starting to be on the road for business (down to how many suits to pack), I would have been loyally miffed, and next time I wouldn’t even tell here where I am going for what reason. </p>
<p>Enjoy her success. Let her tell you how she is excited and congratulate her for being trusted enough by her management to handle business deals/meetings overseas on her own at such a young age. When she is back, she will tell you all about it, and you can tell her how proud you are.</p>
<p>Many business travelers prefer to go carry-on only to avoid problems with lost, stolen, or damaged checked baggage, and to speed their way through airports and other transport. The choice of bag type between backpack (lighter, more volume, less hassle on rough surfaces) and roller suitcase (easier on smooth surfaces like airport floors, “looks more professional”) is personal preference. It also depends on what kind of business materials (e.g. laptop computer, papers, etc.) one needs to bring.</p>
<p>But if she does not know this already, here are some tips:</p>
<ul>
<li>Know size and weight limits for carry-on baggage for each airline and country she is likely to fly in.</li>
<li>When shopping for bags, particularly roller suitcase type bags, bring a tape measure to measure them. It can be annoying if her suitcase is just 1cm too big because of a handle or wheel sticking out. Soft sided backpacks are easier to squeeze into tight fits.</li>
<li>Be sure that she can lift the full bag into the overhead bin by herself since flight attendants may refuse to help due to risk of injury if the bag is too heavy.</li>
<li>Try to put the bag in the overhead bin with the long dimension perpendicular to the airplane’s direction of travel to maximize the number of bags that will fit in the bin.</li>
</ul>
<p>And she may want to sign up on frequent flyer programs. To concentrate miles and points for awards, it is best to check what alliances and partnerships there are between airlines and use program(s) that cover the most airlines with the fewest programs. For example, United, US Airways, Continental (merging with United), Air Canada, Air China, British Midland, Lufthansa, South African, Egypt Air, and some others are in the same alliance, so she would need only one of their programs to be able to collect miles from all of them.</p>
<p>They’ve got nearly everthing extra she might need in Europe- same toothpaste, hygeine articles, etc. My number one advice is to travel light enough that she can get that suitcase into an overhead bin on a plane or train- and many train stations include long staircases, no close elevators or escalators- so light, well-balanced wheelies are beloved. 3 suits is overkill, but extra shirts/blouses are easy to pack. June in UK can be cool at night, but for biz travel, just the lightest/thinnest coat is needed- she can wear her suit jkt under, if it gets chillier. If you are worried about stains, just get her those spot-removal wipes that come in packets. The one thing I would haaaate to have to go looking for is extra stockings. And, I’d pack light socks in case a hotel room is cool in the early evening. And, a nice pair of pretty flats, for when she just can’t bear any more walking in heels (even low heels.) One other thing: has to bring a sense of adventure- on those evenings alone, it’s great to pick out a cute restaurant, check out a gallery, window shop, etc. Makes the travel special.</p>
<p>Rent Up in The Air and watch it together. DH says everything George Clooney’s character says about business travel is true, down to never following a family with a stroller in a security line :). </p>
<p>If she is traveling to Europe, their carryon luggage standards are different. If you have a Tumi store or a Tumi outlet in your neck of the woods, check their luggage. It is durable and very ergonomically designed. And she will definitely need a voltage adapter for the countries that she will be traveling to! Radio Shack has plenty to choose from, or you can get a universal one from Tumi:</p>
<p>A couple of suggestions to go along with the above. A convertible power cord to use with overseas outlets, a snappy little passport cover, a money belt…some cities are teeming with pickpockets and a slim pocket digital camera, just in case she has time to take some photos. </p>
<p>Clothing: black slacks, black skirt, matching jacket and several interchangeable blouses, shells, and/or sweaters. Lower heeled shoes for those long airport walks.</p>
<p>Safety suggestions; ask for a room above the first floor (but probably not way at the top for fire safety reasons). Remind her to note where the stairwells are. A small nightlight or a pocket flashlight to have handy in her hotel room. Know if there are ‘official’ licensed taxis for each city she travels to, especially if she is not familiar with the language or the city. Book hotels close to where the meetings are held, or close to the airport if that makes more sense. </p>
<p>Agree that it is quite likely she will want to carry-on whenever possible. Any good packer can travel for a week with a carry-on, even for business travel needing suits (I know that’s not you, snowball, from what you say about your own packing habits ).</p>
<p>In the old days I used to take a “hang-bag” for business travel - could hang suits/dresses in there, I had a special hanging lingerie bag that went into it for “lingerie”, nylons, jewelry,other small stuff. When I got onto the plane they had special closet sections for all of us business folks with the hanging bags. When I got to the hotel, I could just put it on the closet bar, unzip - done!</p>
<p>But… that was… the OLD DAYS. Planes don’t have a space for that anymore. And these weren’t rolling bags/roll aboard - convenient in some ways but heavy to deal with racing through airports to make connections.</p>
<p>I would bet she will want carry-on roll-aboards most of the time and these days they are STRICT with size limits on every dimension. Two suits for a week - plenty! So unless she tells you she wants to be able to hang her suits, she won’t want that type of suitcase. She’ll fold the suits and fit everything else over/under and around them (I’m sure you’ve seen the packing tricks - underwear in the “folds” to prevent creasing, stuffed into “dead” air space in the suitcase etc.
Kind of a good idea, but… I am a very short person… and without my even asking there is almost always a nearby passenger to help me stow my bag in the overhead bin. If not, I just hop onto the seat for a minute to stow it. Voila!</p>
<p>If this is the beginning of her business travel career, it may well be that a new suitcase will be in order. But let her travel a few times and see if her desires change with a little bit of experience such that none of the luggage she currently owns is quite right. THEN buy her a new suitcase if she needs it.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the kindle is a GREAT idea. Books take up space and add weight to a suitcase. I would have LOVED that - she can have newspapers/magazines that way too. There is wifi on planes now, so if you want to spring for a wondeful gift… an iPad or super thin MacBook Air would be great for a frequent traveler.</p>
<p>“Be sure that she can lift the full bag into the overhead bin by herself since flight attendants may refuse to help due to risk of injury if the bag is too heavy”</p>
<p>Some airlines will make you put yor carryon on the scale if it looks like it is a bit too heavy for you to handle (those ticketing agents have very trained eyes), and if it is more than their weight allowance, you will have to check it in. It is always helpful to read the airlines rules and luggage restrictions. Seatguru has a lot of this information (here is, for example, luggage restrictions for Lufthansa): [Lufthansa:</a> Baggage Fees and Policy - SeatGuru](<a href=“http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Lufthansa/baggage.php]Lufthansa:”>Lufthansa: Baggage Fees and Policy - SeatGuru)</p>
<p>Another tip - every now and then when appropriate and desirable, she should plan to arrive a day or two early or stay a couple of days extra and tour around the area she’s traveled to if it’s an interesting place. Even though she’d likely do this by taking PTO and her own expenses for that part, she can leverage the fact that she’s traveled there at no cost to her. If she doesn’t do this from time to time she can get burnt out of the traveling regardless of the destinations - she could go to interesting places and see little besides the airport, hotel, and meeting room. She might even want to tack on a vacation sometimes - ex: if she goes to Europe she might want to take a week or two of vacation to coincide with it since she’s already there. It doesn’t cost the company any more and makes for a happy employee.</p>
<p>It’s nice to leverage this way every now and then.</p>
<p>some gifts- kindle
chico’s gift certificate, they have a travelers line of clothing, dont know if they are businessy-y enough, but they fold into nothing…</p>
<p>I agree she should use carry on baggage, and she should pack lightly. If she has two suits and a few different shirts or sweaters to wear UNDER the jackets, she will be fine.</p>
<p>I happen to like Chicos but my 20 something daughter would NOT walk across the street to buy something at all. It’s a “mom” kind of store. That being said, I have two really nice black suits from Ann Taylor Loft (where my 20 something WILL shop)…they do NOT wrinkle (I have no idea what they are made of!!) and they pack very nicely.</p>
<p>Gotta say…I went on a 10 day cruise with ONE carryon bag and that included my “evening wear”. It wasn’t worth risking the loss of the bag to use checked baggage. </p>
<p>DD just traveled internationally. There was a 50 pound weight limit on her carry on bag.</p>
<p>Your daughter will be fine. Make sure her computer is Skype enabled and you can chat with her while she is gone (if she has time).</p>
<p>When going the carry on route those small refillable bottles are handy so you can take your own hair products. I have a clear plastic pouch for makeup in my purse daily so when I travel it just goes along…no need for a baggie.</p>
<p>There are some Kindle models that work internationally and some that don’t, aren’t there? I know they brought out the international model right after I bought one for my kid. :(</p>
<p>The upside is that I expect to inherit that one when I get the kid a new one for the upcoming gap year abroad.</p>
Yes, but sometimes they like to have shampoo and conditioner in one, doesn’t work for my hair.</p>
<p>When I am able to stay at some nicer hotels, I like to “steal” extra toiletries from them. My guest bathroom at home looks like a hotel bathroom. I also take some of those hotel shampoo and conditioners with me on trips, just in case.</p>
<p>I don’t like to have different currencies left over from a trip, so when I check out of a foreign hotel (especially if I know I wouldn’t be going back soon), I would pay part of my bill with left over country currency and go to the airport with very little money (maybe enough for some food, even then credit cards work very well at any airport).</p>
<p>Most Asia-based airlines have a 7 to 10 kg (15 to 22 pound) carry on bag weight limit for economy class passengers. Roller bags tend to take up a few kg of that by themselves, while backpacks’ larger capacity allows them to be easily stuffed greater than that limit even without dense objects like books.</p>
<p>On the other hand, one time that a gate agent asked to weigh my bag, it was 1.5 kg over the 7 kg limit at the airline. But they let me carry it on anyway (they probably saw that I had no trouble handling it and wearing it as a backpack).</p>
).</p>