So just how do you travel like a pro? That is exactly what I wanted to know so I created the the Jetset Genius Podcast! This is THE travel podcast for travelers who want to get the latest travel tips and hacks to make life on the road easier. Today I’ll share with you my story on how I went from loving travel to hating it and back again. Plus I’ll share with you  the 5 keys to traveling better that I learned from years on the road.

My Story: From Loving Travel to Hating It

Landing Travel Dream Job

Many years ago I landed my first job traveling for work as a software consultant based in Los Angeles. I had traveled a bit before that but this new role would have me on the road almost every week to a new city across the US and even a few international trips. I simply couldn’t wait!

At first, everything about traveling for work was fun. Getting to expense meals, flying to new cites and staying in great hotels.

Reality Sets In

But the honeymoon would soon be over. After about a year of the travel grind, flying out on Sunday and back home on Thursday every week really started to take its toll. The newness of travel had worn off and I was left with only the stressful parts. I felt like I lived at Gate 23 at LAX airport. I felt like I was always in line at security or boarding the plane or checking into a hotel. I was tired of packing every week and dragging around luggage everywhere.

Low Point

The low point for me came on a tripto Seattle. I had grabbed a tuna sandwich at the airport and by the time I got to the hotel and it was trying to come back up. And it kept coming back up for the next four hours. So there I was literally a thousand miles from home sick with food poisoning and no break in my upcoming travel schedule.

That was it, I was done with business travel!

I loved my job but I hated traveling like this. So I drafted my letter of resignation and sat there staring at it not wanting to hit send.

There Has to Be a Better Way to Travel

So I asked myself, is there any way I can make business travel better?

And I realized there were probably lots of things I could do to make life on the road easier. What if I learned how to be a travel pro? So I started researching every travel tip I could find. And when there wasn’t a good travel strategy for something, I invented one. Pretty soon the small tips here and there started to really add up.

I found ways to get through security faster, pack faster and lighter and make the best use of my time on the road.

And the best part is that I started to love traveling again!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Start loving travel again! Checkout the Jetset Genius Podcast!” quote=”Start loving travel again! Checkout the Jetset Genius Podcast!”]

I Want to Share What I’ve Learned about Travel with You!

After discovering all this great stuff I want to share it with other travelers so they don’t have to make the same travel mistakes I did and can learn to travel stress free. So I took all these tips, strategies and advice that I’ve found and created what is now the Jetset Genius Podcast.

What this Podcast is About

This podcast is simply about learning to travel better. 

Whether you’re a business traveler, someone backpacking across Europe or just want to have an easier family vacation this year, this podcast is for you.

We’re going to be covering all sorts of travel advice and if I had to summarize it I would say that it can roughly be grouped into these five keys to better travel.

The 5 Keys to Genius Travel

1 Travel Lighter

I would say that you can cut your travel stress in half by traveling lighter. Most people don’t give much thought to the weight of their bag unless they are trying to stay within the airline’s limit for checking a bag, but it’s actually one of the biggest contributors to your travel woes.

Think for a moment of how many times you lift that bag: off the bed when your finished packing, out to the car, onto the security conveyor belt, off the conveyor belt, onto the plane, into the overhead bin, out of the overhead bin, into the taxi, out of the taxi and onto the luggage rack in your hotel. Say 12 times? Now multiply that by your return flight and we’re talking about lifting that bag at least 25 times during your trip! Not to mention the extra burden of all that walking carrying a heavy suitcase.

If you’re traveling with a heavy bag, you’re making everything harder. The lighter traveler wins every time.

My goal is to teach you how to travel as light as possible withe the lightest gear and the lightest packing list.

If you’re looking for a good packing list to get you started on just packing the essentials, you can download this free resource, the Essential Packing List for Business Travelers.

Pro Travelers Pack as Light as Possible

2 Travel Faster

Another key element to better travel is saving time whenever possible. Wasting time in security or taking forever to pack your bag really adds up over time and makes traveling a hassle.

Saving even 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there can add up to hours each week you travel. Hours that you can use doing anything else you’d rather be doing.

Pro Travelers look for every opportunity to save time.

3 Travel Productivity

There is so much wasted time traveling, but we often don’t think about what we could be doing with that time. How to best use that time sitting at the gate so that when you get home you can just be home and your work is out of the way.

In this podcast we’ll cover the very best ways to be as productive as possible on the road.

Pro Travelers are squeeze productivity out of every opportunity while traveling.

4 Travel Healthier

We all know that it’s hard enough to eat well and exercise at home much less while traveling. But there are a lot more things that make up healthy travel. How do you avoid germs and avoid getting sick? How do you keep from getting bed bugs? What are the dirtiest things in your hotel room?

We’ll cover all these things in future episodes as part of our efforts to travel better.

Pro Travelers use effective strategies to stay healthy and fit.

5 Travel and Relationships

The final category is how our crazy travel affects those around us that we love. How does being away every week affect our husbands, wives, girlfriends, kids, our families and friends? How do we stay involved with them while traveling and how do we maximize our time with them when we get home?

Pro Travelers know the burden travel puts on their relationships and make up for it when they get home.

Let’s Get Started

Now it’s time to take some action to start traveling better:

1 Download the Free Packing List for Business Travelers

2 Subscribe to the Podcast – and each week I’ll share with you the latest tips and strategies for Genius Travel.

See you next week, where we’re talking about Rookie Travel Mistakes: 10 Things New Travelers Do Wrong and How to Fix Them!

Happy Travels!