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It is about the same routine I follow. Specifically the "walk the emergency routes" since muscle memory can help you a lot when under stress. Missing one point
by WelcomeShorty 4y ago
It is about the same routine I follow. Specifically the "walk the emergency routes" since muscle memory can help you a lot when under stress.
Missing one point: take a couple of business cards from the hotel with you. Whenever you need to get back, it most often makes it easier for people (cab drivers) to get you there without too much discussion and misunderstandings.
Other points:
- To be sure you have some clean water in your room, bring a few small water bottles.
- Avoid the in house WiFi
- Do not order room service
- Have a family photo / familiar item on your bed stand, so that if you wake up in a panic, you know you are awake and in "your own room"
- Don't invite people into your room
- Personally I like to unpack, even it is for a short stay, since it make me feel more comfortable and less "on the run"
- Give the cleaning people a decent tip (if they are allowed to accept it) on the first possible occasion and make it clear who you are and what your room number is, and what you expect from them (clean / leave alone etc.)
- Use the in hotel services like shoe polishing, tip them well. These people know everything going on
- Order cabs via the lobby
- If possible, let the lobby pay your taxi when inbound
I do not miss traveling professionally.
- FractalHQ 4y agoNo offense but this sounds neurotic to me. I’ve been traveling internationally for over a decade professionally and never do any of these things. I’ve woken up to a fire alarm in a random hotel in a random country (more than once) and even then, I immediately recognize I’m in a hotel room and traveling for work. Then I just followed signs / people until the alarms stopped.
- graderjs 4y agoWhy do not order room service, what's the risk there in your opinion? I like the stuff about personal photo next to the bed as well as using the in-house services and tipping. That's smart man!
- lordgrenville 4y agoPoisoning I guess. I recently heard an interview with Eliot Higgins from Bellingcat and he said he doesn't order room service for this reason.
- Scoundreller 4y agoThis is why I order room service and throw it away in front of them. Really sends the message to back-off: I’m either crazy or multiple steps ahead of them. /s
- shapefrog 4y agoI make them eat it infront of me then and there - that way they are either dead or know not to try to poison me.
- DonHopkins 4y agoI always have room service dry clean my dirty gorilla suit. Really sends the message to back-off: I'm crazy.
- kingofpandora 4y agoImagine modelling your life after Eliot Higgins ...
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoI'm not famous or whatever myself, but, the fewer people that are aware I am present, the better.
- vladvasiliu 4y agoBut in that case, shouldn't you limit as much as possible the interactions with hotel staff? So, no shoe-shine guy, no housekeeper, etc.
- folli 4y agoSorry, I don't get the personal photo? Is this some kind of Inception thing, if you wake up due to intoxication, or what?
- WelcomeShorty 4y agoIt happens to me that I wake up and do not know where I am (or why). The personal item helps me instantly knowing that I am on familiar ground. Happens to many people who travel a lot.
- ghaff 4y agoI won't say it happens to me regularly. But when I've been on some customer event road show with one or two nights in each city, I have definitely woken up and taken a minute to remember what city I'm in.
- pmontra 4y agoIt happened to me once when I was moving to a new home. I was spending a few nights in the old one and a few nights in the new one. I woke up one night believing I was in the new one but the sources of the street noise outside didn't match the ones in the new house. It was very disconcerting. It took me a while to realize where I was.
- Tangurena2 4y ago> Why do not order room service, what's the risk there in your opinion? In my opinion, room services is horribly overpriced. There have been incidents where the delivery person assaults the guest. When I used to travel on business, I would put a notepad next to the phone (the one by the bed) and write on it what city I am in and what day ("Wednesday"). This helped cut down on confusion. It did not help when I went to the wrong Springfield though. The area code for Springfield, MO (417) is a single digit different than the area codes for Springfield, IL (217 & 447). Waking up in the wrong state is not the kindest way to discover that your territory now includes Illinois. Oops.
- kqr 4y agoIn my experience, the emergency routes are not always open for regular walking. Specifically, the doors involved are unlocked, but also trigger an alarm when opened, so they are not misused. How do you deal with that?
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoI feel like that adds to confidence, because nobody's tampered with the exits. However, that also means you can't check if the other side is blocked or not, or if it leads to a staff corridor with unknown circumstances.
- ramblerman 4y agoAre these still in the context of safety though? Or just your general business trip advice. The latter would make more sense.