EPT'Up in the Air' Quick & Dirty Guide to Biz Travel - Page 4
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ProFail
Korea (North)81 Posts
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itzme_petey
United States1400 Posts
Also, I'm not sure why you recommended checking-in luggage (unless I read that wrong). I always travel with carry on and if theres no room, make them put it under the plane. I have been on flights where they get canceled and I dont get access to my luggage but there is route available with another airline. I know they will deliver your luggage, but if you have time for waiting around for your luggage, then you are not in the right game. | ||
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GrayArea
United States872 Posts
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Kage
India788 Posts
I just have one tip. If you have to check in luggage make sure it's a soft cover type, that way it's put on the top mostly so it comes out quick during the wait at the belt. If you have put a hard case and have luck like mine, it'll be the last fucking piece of baggage coming out. | ||
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Broodwich
United States393 Posts
On September 01 2010 08:33 itzme_petey wrote: I wished you covered this in more depth. But for those people who think all credit cards are equal. They are not. AMEX is your friend. Fuck Visa and MC. AMEX will settle disputes so quickly that its not even funny. Just buy stuff with AMEX and no one fucks with you unless they want their transaction voided/suspended. #1 customer service. However, retailers will hate your ass if you use AMEX, fees are the highest in the industry. Also, I'm not sure why you recommended checking-in luggage (unless I read that wrong). I always travel with carry on and if theres no room, make them put it under the plane. I have been on flights where they get canceled and I dont get access to my luggage but there is route available with another airline. I know they will deliver your luggage, but if you have time for waiting around for your luggage, then you are not in the right game. Not to mention that there's travel insurance built in some AMEX plans, especially corporate AMEX cards. To the OP's point 5: I always brought at least an extra pair of underwear, socks, and undershirt. Just makes things easier. Point 11: Look at your bank's ATM exchange programs, if they have some. I have Bank of America, and they have free ATM reciprocity with banks in 5 or 6 foreign countries. | ||
MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 01 2010 08:33 itzme_petey wrote: I wished you covered this in more depth. But for those people who think all credit cards are equal. They are not. AMEX is your friend. Fuck Visa and MC. AMEX will settle disputes so quickly that its not even funny. Just buy stuff with AMEX and no one fucks with you unless they want their transaction voided/suspended. #1 customer service. However, retailers will hate your ass if you use AMEX, fees are the highest in the industry. Also, I'm not sure why you recommended checking-in luggage (unless I read that wrong). I always travel with carry on and if theres no room, make them put it under the plane. I have been on flights where they get canceled and I dont get access to my luggage but there is route available with another airline. I know they will deliver your luggage, but if you have time for waiting around for your luggage, then you are not in the right game. on the Amex I generally agree but when you get to infinity or diamond for either visa or MasterCard then the service is much better. I also agree for 3 day trips just carry on is fine. But my trips will be at 5 to 10 day minimums and after a while you just feel like a non human by just wearing the same clothes or not having cologne or other grooming products with you because you can't check them through the hand luggage. I'd say the first 8 months of constant travel I just carried hand carry. But afterwards feeling like a human was more important. No mater how clean the clothes are if you just have a couple of each, you still feel like a corporate slave. | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 01 2010 09:01 GrayArea wrote: What job do you do that requires this much traveling? Also, how did you get into this career (what qualifications etc.)? I did get in quite late relative to many of my peers. For me what opened a lot of doors was doing my masters in business from a good school then I worked like a muthafuker ^^ you ll get your opportunities then. Cheers | ||
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mel_ee
2448 Posts
On September 01 2010 13:48 MightyAtom wrote: I did get in quite late relative to many of my peers. For me what opened a lot of doors was doing my masters in business from a good school then I worked like a muthafuker ^^ you ll get your opportunities then. Cheers may i ask what school? i'm about to graduate now and im going to start my applications to grad schools. did u go also consider schools in Asia, US, Europe? | ||
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FuRong
New Zealand3089 Posts
Kind of a random question, but any advice on how to sleep on planes? I can never fall asleep in any kind of vehicle, even if I am tired as hell I can never quite fall asleep, so I end up just resting my eyes and feeling really out of it by the end of the trip =/ | ||
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Shaithis
United States383 Posts
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 01 2010 17:44 mel_ee wrote: may i ask what school? i'm about to graduate now and im going to start my applications to grad schools. did u go also consider schools in Asia, US, Europe? Korea University, more than sufficient for me in Korea (its equivalent to the 'Yale' of Korea, Seoul being the 'Harvard' and Yonsei being the 'Princeton'). I had special consideration because I was also accepted on their professional rugby team so my room and board was free when I was playing on the team. But any reputable business school will be sufficient according to your funds and whether you want to work for a domestic firm or international, just graduate with top markets. Now, this is not the only way to get your foot in the door, it was just my way, but a lot of the things that I learned wasn't in School, but rather afterwards, this was more of way to get in. During school, I had 'private family friend tutors' plus I was doing a gov't agency internship (which eventually became full time senior position) so when I did graduate, I graduated 1 year later than most of my class because I took a year off to keep working at the gov't agency and I'd say I was significantly ahead of my peers for business knowledge. Even just getting into a great company as a free intern (if that is what it takes) and getting recognized and given opportuntities, well that is maybe all it takes. I have heard a lot of my peers, when I was in grad school say, 'I'd take the internship, but they don't pay at all, so screw that, I'm not going to waste my time' and I'm like, in my head, 'wtf? you have pride, you really think you are worth something right now because you go to a good business grad school?.' I picked my grad school not because of its program actually though, its because I could play the most beautiful and excellent sport that Man has created which is most reflects the world's greatness and the potential for human's future, Rugby Union. keke. But honestly, the most important thing, if you are not going to a super top reputable school, and just a good one is your GPA and your internship experience. Don't settle for less than the best marks and get whatever internship you can in a field you like or that you'd think would be good to be exposed to. Cheers. | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 01 2010 22:37 FuRong wrote: First of all, great post. Kind of a random question, but any advice on how to sleep on planes? I can never fall asleep in any kind of vehicle, even if I am tired as hell I can never quite fall asleep, so I end up just resting my eyes and feeling really out of it by the end of the trip =/ I think some other people posted on this, I personally dont' take any sleeping pills because I was always in a sleep deprived state- but there is that natural meletonin or something; but I bet you its because of your sleeping/sitting posture. I don't do this either, but you may want to try those pillows that wrap around your neck and provide support for your head to sleep slightly upright without any neck strain. Sorry, I'm not the oracle of life, but at least I'm trying here. keke | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 02 2010 00:36 Shaithis wrote: Props to a fellow accountant! sadly I was one of the few non CPAs on my team as a consultant and negotiator, but I have to say, the experience with working the CPAs has always been a positive one and I think in my general outlook towards business, I am more systematic and realistic in my budgets and forecasting because of it. ^^ | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On August 31 2010 20:24 Sadistx wrote: No offense, but if you someone needs a guide for travel and laundry, i.e. the 2 most mundane things in life, they are probably not only unfit for business world, but for pretty much everything else. And for the love of your health, lay off whatever stimulants you're taking, especially if its stronger than coffee. I didn't miss this post or didn't want to reply, but I wanted to think about it for a bit and of course I got your other reply in the other recent post on the 'Michael Clayton' one, so I know that this post wasn't your personal cup of tea. I think the main point of my writing is that knowhow of what I want to pass on to this community and for one day, quite far away, for my son to read, with the cursing and all. Now I want to write my blog and guide in how I have trained or would train my juniors and staff and ultimately my own son. This particular post I think is good on a couple of levels: its more introductory and besides the points about travel and laundry, it really sets a scope of the work load, intensity and schedule. Have my own juniors praised me for my insight while doing on the job training, yes, I still get msn message from interns even from years ago saying that I was their best trainer in that I put them with the right mind set to filter out a lot of bullshit? But more importantly, its those little things that showed them that whenever I do a job, anything from checking in to geting on the right bus or buying the right travel luggage, I am adding value to every part of the job always, I never stop trying to do my job better. And it is the little things that do add up like which credit cards to have or not going to a meeting with a unclean shirt on which will wreak your confidence when your French counter part looks like he was born fully groomed, and it all does matter when months of you life have been preparing for a single final meeting. I also want to step away from a writing style that is 'puffed up', not that I am writing to sound humble or some false modesty, but rather, I want to write in a way and tone that says, 'look, you many not be enaged in professional business, but I want to say, what makes you professional isn't some form of ettique but your performance via a focus and competitive ambition to be the best.' So to summarize my OP has just a guide into travel and laundry, would be to miss the intention of the post, which I think is very appealing as a light introduction into this type of business lifestyle and approach. So I reckon that is quite clear for my own points in writing; now in the case of your concern for my health, I don't really even drink coffee as a simulant, my health has been fucked up because I put it second to work, my firm and my peers. Which ultimately means that when I'm fucked up, the people who get hurt the most is my wife and son, because even if I do this all for them, in the end, what is money if I don't get enough for them to live the way I tried to achieve for them or enjoy it with them? For me that is what I want for them, but I also know that in business you do, at one point in your professional life, got to work that hard to know what you can really achieve and have that confidence carry with you. So in some ways I have already taken your advice, I've taken off six months of work which is my ultimate stimulant. Once I joined this dating service for consulting reserach project hwne I was single, so that I could map out its applicant process so I really didnt' care and wanted to just get it done, so I just put down the first and most honest things that came to mind. My profile was something like this: I am a workaholic, I love to work late and I can't stop working during weekend and holidays, that being said I love to party hard and after I make my first 10M USD, I will take at least 5 days off to celebrate. While I ended up getting a few replies from some golddiggers, at the time it was absolutely true. But i'll say this: for two years, I took off a total of eight days off when I didn't work or touch an email or take a call. I worked all 722 days and I'm not talking 30 mins days, I'm talking about having zero sleep routine and being in a constant state of napping during travel and working through the day and napping between meetings and sleeping a full 8 hours once every three weeks or so. I'd work till 3 am, then take a nap until 7:00 am and continue to nap in the shower, nap during breakfast then completely focus for a meeting and work the rest of the day and when I had a 30 min break, I'd go for a nap, etc. The eight days I took off where after long business trips and it was because I passed out when I got home for a period of 24 hours straight (meaning that I didn't eat, drink, go to the washroom, or move for 24 of constant sleep) And I did what no one has yet to do and is pretty much scared shitless to even try in my industy which is one of the most profitable industries in the world. And for all that sacrifice and cost on my health, if I can recover enough now, then I have no doubt that by the end of the next five years I will have further accomplished such another feat, but hopefully with my health intact. But, I'm also willing to put that on the line as well. So I wanted to respond to your post because normally, if you had this attitude in meeting me as one of my new staff or even a peer or a senior, I don't think I'd bother having any further discussions with you because you're not someone who could value the insight or who could understand my obssession with being the best of the best. I'm not looking for my friends, my peers, my juniors or my son to be a cookie cutter of me or of what people think is a professional business man, as long as they are insightful, focused and a true competitor, then that is all I want to contribute to. If people want mundane detials on how to do something, go read a text book while you do your presentation in your stinky socks and your single corporate credit card gets rejected because their machine doesn't work during the biggest deal of your career. ^^ but thank you for your other comment in my other post, and I would assume that this post here was more about expecting something more 'significant' in what business can be. Now I write this reply because of that other post's comment; that this post, again, wasn't your cup of tea. If I really felt as though you didn't get anything out of posts, then I wouldn't have posted this reply, because I would have rathered you thought of me as someone who is writing this as some egotistical fool doing a lot of back patting and receiving geek worship than for you to continue to read my posts and have any benefit whatsoever from my own experience which I did earn and nearly led to a divorce and who I would only share with my son or my staff who I thought were worth my time and attention. Now that may sound also quite arrogent as well, and if it does, then please chalk up as such and peg me as that. But if you get where I am coming from, then I hope you'll take whatever insight from me and make it your own and really rock whater you do and share that knowhow with whoever you feel is 'worthy' in the future as well. Wasn't trying to be melodramatic or anything, just wanted to be clear as to why I'm writing. Cheers. | ||
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Impervious
Canada4200 Posts
On September 02 2010 00:50 MightyAtom wrote: I picked my grad school not because of its program actually though, its because I could play the most beautiful and excellent sport that Man has created which is most reflects the world's greatness and the potential for human's future, Rugby Union. keke. Here is where you are definitely wrong. That is football (American or Canadian). Canadian football has a superior set of rules, however, lacks the same calibre of players, which is why it is a tossup atm. PS - Love your blogs. Keep them up! I'm in Engineering atm, but it's definitely enjoyable to read. | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 02 2010 02:06 Impervious wrote: Here is where you are definitely wrong. That is football (American or Canadian). Canadian football has a superior set of rules, however, lacks the same calibre of players, which is why it is a tossup atm. PS - Love your blogs. Keep them up! I'm in Engineering atm, but it's definitely enjoyable to read. I'd still say it is the second best game in the world, but a very close second ^^ but I absolutely love watching NFL, but I have absolutely no idea what is actually going on haha. | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
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Sadistx
Zimbabwe5568 Posts
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 05 2010 05:17 Sadistx wrote: What is it you actually do, Mighty-Atom? Can you explain without a wall of text what it means to be a corporate fixer? You read the other post already, it should have been sufficient. cheers! | ||
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johnlee
United States242 Posts
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