Top 7 travel tips from a road warrior

The following blog post was written by Nick Simonette, Vice President of Sales at Czarnowski

In my role at Czarnowski, I find myself on numerous flights throughout the year traveling to key client events and prospect presentations. To further quantify this statement, I have logged over 110,000 Sky Miles this year alone. Essentially, that is flying around the globe just over four times, and I will probably log another 50,000 miles before the end of the year. In fact, I am on a flight right now as I write this!

Travel can be brutal even on the most seasoned traveler. Your immune system and sanity is constantly under attack; especially when you consider that the flying petri dish is relentlessly re-circulating air and spreading all sorts of viruses (don’t get me started on the seats, tray tables, armrests, and other surfaces). So, as a gift from me to you, I have provided my ‘expert’ opinion on what are the most vital and life-changing travel tips.

Bottom line, hydration is essential in air travel. The rule of thumb is to drink 8 oz of water for every hour of travel. Being well hydrated helps fight jet lag for both cross-country and international flights.

Additionally, it will help you shed some of the retained water that your body is holding onto at 35,000 feet. So grab a big bottle of water before the flight, because you never know when the occasional flight attendant will hoard water as if they are rationing out their own supply.

I am not a hand sanitizer guy. In fact, I have read numerous articles on how sanitizers are either a) counter-productive in helping build our immune system or b) don’t work at all.

Some recent groundbreaking research suggests that rubbing your hands together briskly causes heat and friction that kills most surface germs. So I’ll be rubbing my hands.

Sitting for long periods of time wreaks havoc on your joints, back and posture.

For every hour of flying, it is recommended you get up at least once to stretch your legs and joints or to just move in general to keep limber.

We are all busy when we land at our final destination or return home. Going for a workout is probably not the first thing on your list, or even on your list at all. But the sooner you can get moving and sweat, the sooner you will adjust to life back on the ground or the time zone.

Even a 10-minute workout in your hotel room can provide great benefits: luggage air squats, push-ups, stretching, crunches and planks. Just start moving!

I am sure those of you reading this might be saying, “How do you meditate on an airplane?” Especially if there is a number of audible assaults happening at once –crying babies, talkative seatmates, loud talkers. A nice pair of headphones is a good start to beginning your meditative journey. Music, lectures, nature sounds, you name it; get in your own audible space.

I personally like to put my iTunes library on shuffle and see what pops up. Pantera’s Cowboy’s from Hell is on right now. Before that, it was Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues. No shame.

Man, this is where the wheels can fall off quickly: peanuts, pretzels, Biscoff cookies, chips, etc. Food served at 35,000 feet is packed with salt and other flavor enhancers.

Here’s the deal, salt causes water retention, thus undermining our well-being once we are on the ground. Try to stay away from the salty snacks on the plane. Bring your own (unsalted) trail mix, protein bars or fresh fruit.

Alcohol dehydrates you in an already dry and dehydrating environment. Given what I told you about the salty snacks, that is a double whammy –alcohol AND salt.

Try to limit your intake or offset it by drinking water. Side note: with all this drinking you may want to sit on the aisle as to not irritate your seatmate and allow for easy access to the bathroom.