As a person who often has to travel for business, I have noticed that it is not like traveling for a vacation or to visit relatives. Perhaps it is the relatively short notice sometimes, or the fact that you know you will probably not have that great a time, but travel for business can be hard to plan.
A few months ago, I had to make a trip to Denver to work on a business proposal with a colleague, and it was a last minute thing. Trying to book the flight, find a hotel and a car rental place without spending an arm and a leg was pretty difficult, and I did end up spending more money than I had originally intended.
Another thing that has been kind of hard for me anyway when I am trying to plan for business travel is figuring out the best place to stay. I have had a couple of business trips where I was going to have to go to multiple places, and I ended up staying in a hotel that was very close to one venue and probably 30 miles from another.
Because I was not familiar with the city, I did not know the best place for a hotel where I would be centrally located and still in a desirable area.
One other problem that I have encountered with travel for business is that the directions I print out to get from one area to another are not always accurate. Obviously, this can be a problem on any type of trip, and it has happened on a couple of the vacations we have taken as a family. When you are on a tight schedule, however, and people are waiting for you to arrive, it can be quite an unsettling feeling driving around in a strange town when you are not really sure where you are going.
Now, most of the time, if you know you are going to have to travel for business a few months in advance, it is not difficult at all. I remember about three years ago, I had to make a trip to Chicago on business that I knew about well in advance and I actually found a travel deal that included airfare, a hotel and car rental deal that cost a lot less than I thought it would.
I have taken a couple of steps to make sure that travel for business does not become a serious issue for me. First, I make sure that I allow plenty of time to get lost when I am driving around whatever town I am in. Second, I reconcile myself to the fact that I may have to pay a little more for the trip than I would like, but that's the price of doing business no pun intended. Third, I ask people who will be on the trip with me about the best place to stay so that I don't have to drive all over creation.