This contest is closed.
In honor of the new Plantronics Voyager Legend headset, Road Warriorette will be featuring some sponsored posts on behalf of Plantronics and has been compensated for her contributions.
Plantronics has recently released the much anticipated Voyager Legend headset! It’s being touted as the “world’s smartest headset”, and includes features such as smart call routing, precision audio, and caller announce and voice commands. To celebrate the newest member of the Plantronics family, we are giving away one Voyager Legend headset to a lucky reader!
How to win? It’s simple! Between now and Monday, November 12, write a comment answering the following question: How do you bring your business and personal life together during business trips? A winner will be chosen randomly from all of the entries on Tuesday, November 13. As always, only one entry per person.
When traveling for work it’s so easy to get stuck in the go-go-go mode. Bringing your business and personal life together can be really hard when you’re on the road a lot! But you’re not just a worker bee, so make sure you pay attention to the rest of you as well. Here are some of my tips:
Stay in touch. Make sure you keep in touch with the people you love. The Home Warrior and I talk every day I’m gone. I will also make a point to talk to my sisters, mom, and best friend when I’m gone for longer periods of time. Just because you’re away doesn’t mean you can’t maintain regular conversations! If you’re pressed for time, multi-task—chat while you’re getting ready for bed or unpacking (this is where a headset like the Voyager would come in handy!).
Take some time for yourself. Just because you’re traveling for work doesn’t mean you don’t get down time! While you’re on the plane is a great time to do something just for fun—read a book, watch a movie, listen to music, knit… Or take advantage of a layover and get a chair massage. Just a few minutes doing something you enjoy can help you maintain balance.
Make sure you get your work done! At the same time, it can be so easy to let time slip away while you socialize with coworkers or wine and dine clients. Those things are certainly important, but save time to do your actual work as well. Presentations don’t write themselves, as I have unfortunately discovered. (But don’t worry—the Voyager has a sophisticated noise canceling feature, so even if you’re out you can still take that work call. The office will never know!)
See the city you’re in. So many of us don’t ever look beyond the office and our hotel room, but all cities have something to offer! Try to eat out at a local restaurant, and taste a local specialty. If you have a little extra time, cruise by an interesting attraction or take in some scenery. It will help all of those towns you’ve visited stand out from each other, and remind you that there is more to life than work.
Click here to see official rules for the sweepstakes.
Good luck!!
I take my family with me 🙂 It does sometimes get hard to actually work though…
I make sure to schedule daily evening phone calls with the family, to stay connected.
My main strategy for bringing my work and personal lives together is Skype. My husband and I Skype every night!
Have family photos easily accessible.
Business trips help earn the status, and personal trips help enjoy the status!
I always make sure I can do a video chat with the family each night I’m on a trip.
Skype is the best way for me to stay in touch with family!
I always Skype with my family and use a headset when doing so due to background noise.
Whenever I travel for work, I look for a small local theatre company to see a show. It helps me wind down.
Skype and FaceTime keep me connected to family and friends while I’m on the road.
My iPod is my life saver on business trips. Easy access to my stuff.
Skype video calls make it happen!
I always try to get in some alone time/relaxing apart from the group (if I’m traveling with others from work) as well as phone calls to the loved ones.
FaceTime
Try to do at least one thing unique to my destination and text messages home in real time if possible
Always try to see something other than offices, take pics, send out… And Skype, of course.
I Skype the kiddo! 🙂
Always carry an Internet connection to get work done and stay in touch.
skype helps you stay connected no matter where you are!
I bring my business and personal life together during business trips by always being social, meeting up with old friends or making new friends, so that it’s not all work and no play when I travel.
My wife travels with me as often as possible.
skype does it for me
This is a tough question, but I try to meet up with old school buddies when I travel to add some fun into my business travel.
may sound selfesh, but on longer trips, if there isn’t an ‘official’ dinner with customers/partners.. I skip the excess, shop-talk, forced dinner with colleagues and just do room service and a movie. I like the expense account feasts as much as the next guy, but a bit of quiet ‘alone time’ can do wonders to restore ones sanity on a long trip.
skype and an ipad works!
I always take some time out of my business trips and call my family first. As family comes first 🙂
Video skype helps you stay connected no matter where you are!
I have my kids research the city I am going to and they tell me where to go spend my down time. I send pics and Skype them from those places
I stay over the weekend if in a new city and do a lot of sightseeing 🙂
I try to call the wife at least once a day every time I’m away.
I spend my time planning and reading about my next vacation when I am flying. Makes the trip far more pleasurable!
I always try to get together with friends when I travel, and when I can’t I make sure to email/text/call them.
I try to average the business and personal time. One business trip, then a special family trip or event, as possible.
I use iMessage, Whatsapp and facetime to keep in touch with friends back home, and wander around on my own for hours to refresh myself and get ideas for work the next day.
I keep in touch with my wife and kids all thru the trip, via Facetime, phone or text (in order of preference).
I will make good use of the free internet perk from my Hilton gold status (relatively easy to get) to facebook/twitter/email my family and friends.
We use Skype to stay connected.
I email back and forth all day with family… it’s great to come back to my computer after a meeting and see some personal emails too along with company email.
To stay in touch, I facetime… and try and make travel a bit less dull by catching events where I go. Baseball game or Museums are good things to do when some down time exists.
check email.
Ah…very simple answer: I take my wife with me 🙂 And in the event that I can’t….we schedule time for calls and/or facetime before bed.
To stay in touch with my family I use Skype and Facebook/Facetime.
For staying sane personally I read and sew.
As much as possible, I like to go to concerts or clubs to see live music in my downtime on business trips.
iphone 5
I use the quiet time during a business trip for my personal down time so that I will not have to take that when I am with the family.
I try to find new walking (my preferred exercise method) trails in whatever city I’m in. Of course, I also skype with my boys at home!
I would actually like to be better about NOT mingling work and family…but i just multitask, try to reach out to my friends and family and have a few minutes to breathe, stand up, stretch and remember who I am!!
I email my family with details of the meals I have on the road, and occasionally pictures. My family loves food and it’s fun to share my trips with them this way. Sometimes I include pictures!
There’s not a lot air between my business and personal life at the best of times. Out of town with my iphone and ipad keeps me pretty well in touch. Of course the best business trips are when family comes along or business takes me to them.
A lot of phone calls and google hangouts with my wife and emails/google chats to friends and family.