Traveling is always challenging but it can be an immensely rewarding endeavor, whether you do it for pleasure or business. If you use these tips wisely, you can turn your business travels into the highlights of your career and create a scrapbook of memories that will last for ever.

1. Have a solid home life. Your home life is your rock and much of your success in business depends on the harmony you enjoy in your personal life. Work on strengthening and maintaining your bonds with your family and the people you love. Call them and email them routinely when you are away. Stay interested in their lives. Share your presence with them even when you are away. Bring something from home with you on your trips. And, if your assignment away from home is long, make sure you visit them frequently.

2. Use quiet time and a spiritual practice—instead of alcohol—to handle stress. Did you know that two minutes of silent meditation have a much more calming effect on your thoughts and emotions than two drinks? Plus, unlike alcohol, they cost nothing and enhance your physical health. Learn to practice silent meditation when you are stressed, when you are afraid, when you are anxious, and when you need to feel in control. All airports in the U.S.A. have a chapel. Try it—you will feel the difference.

3. Watch out for your safety. This is important especially for business women who travel alone internationally. Make sure you feel comfortable in your hotel room. Opt for a room in a higher floor, with less traffic. Give all valuables to the hotel safe, or keep them locked in your luggage at all times. Do not flaunt your wealth, be polite to the hotel staff, and when room service delivers something in your room, stay by the open door until they leave. Build relationships with the reception staff—turn them into your watching angels. Give them your number back home and let them know where you will be when you go out at night—in case something happens to you, they will be watching out for you. Reward them with a small gift at the end of your stay—they will remember you for ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maria Grace, Ph.D., is an expert at teaching people how to learn lessons from popular movies to find the job, home, relationship, and healthy body and mind they want. She is a Fulbright scholar, licensed psychotherapist, sought-after public speaker and coach, and the author of “Reel Fulfillment: A 12-Step Plan for Transforming Your Life through Movies” (McGraw-Hill, 2005). “Reel Fulfillment” was praised by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the top “self help books out of the self-help box” for 2005-2006.

For more information visit http://www.mariagrace.com and http://www.reelfulfillment.com

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