Introduction
This report covers a quick 2 1/2 week business trip to London, Munich/Nuremberg/Augsburg, London again, Stockholm, Dublin, and Boston. The focus is on some of the strategies and tactics employed to travel efficiently for business, as well as maximizing time during travel.
I'll post an update each day, though this is not a live trip report, but "tape delayed" by two weeks.
Flights
This trip also took advantage of the business class fare sales on BA from Dublin to the US. My company used BA OnBusiness points to book a positioning flight from Phoenix to London. We then booked a BA CW ticket DUB-LHR-PHX-LHR-DUB, with the return a few weeks after the conclusion of this trip. We then booked tickets on BA in CE for LHR-MUC-LHR and ET for LHR-ARN-LHR-DUB. We also had a ticket in ET for LHR-BGO-LHR, but this was postponed until the fall. And just after the longhaul trip started, a PHX-BOS-PHX ticket in F on US was booked for a couple of days after returning to Phoenix.
Hotels
The hotel strategy for this trip was varied. The flight to Munich was very early in the morning, so one night was booked at the Heathrow T5 Sofitel using the secret hotel offer via lastminute.com. Two nights were booked at the Hilton Metropole near Paddington, to be close to the Paddington Express, as this makes it easy to leave luggage for the day and then take the train to the airport.
In Germany, I stayed with friends that live in Augsburg. Upon return to London, I needed to be near the parliament area for a conference, so two nights were booked at the Royal Horseguards hotel due to its proximity and highly rated internet access. Two nights in Stockholm were booked at the Scandic Anglais hotel near a customer location. The night in Dublin was at O'Callahan's St. Stephen's Green, in order to force myself to go into the city. For Boston, a suburban hotel (Crowne Plaza Boston-natick) near our customer location was chosen.
