Work trips
Business trips go wrong in small ways: a charger left at home, a hotel booked for the wrong night, a receipt lost before the expense report. A checklist written once and reused every trip takes care of most of it. Here is how to build one, and what goes in it.
Updated November 9, 2026
Get the trip approved and read the travel policy: which flights and hotels are allowed, the per diem for meals, and what needs receipts. Then book. Write every booking on one page with confirmation numbers, the business travel checklist has a trip planner for this, or use the flight details planner and hotel booking tracker if you travel often. For an international trip, check passport validity (many countries want six months left) and visa or travel authorization rules on official sites; the travel document checklist covers the details.
For two to four nights, carry-on only saves time at both ends. Plan outfits around one or two colors so everything goes with everything, and wear the bulkiest items on the plane. The things that actually ruin trips are tech: laptop charger, phone charger, a plug adapter abroad, and the presentation saved both on the laptop and in the cloud. Keep medicines and one change of clothes in the bag that stays with you.
The week before, block your calendar, write a short handover note (who covers what, what can wait, how to reach you), and set an out-of-office reply. Save anything you need offline in case the hotel Wi-Fi is poor. If you work remotely or use a VPN, test it before you leave rather than at the airport. The remote work checklist has the security basics for working away from the office.
Keep every receipt and photograph paper ones each evening, with a note of what it was for and who was at a business meal. Logging costs as you go on the trip expense tracker turns the expense report into a ten-minute job instead of an afternoon. Submit it within the time your company allows, usually a couple of weeks, using the expense reimbursement form. Send follow-up emails to the people you met within two days, while they still remember the conversation.
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Questions
Approvals and bookings, documents, tech and chargers, work materials, clothes for each day, an office handover, and a plan for receipts and the expense report.
Photograph each receipt the same day, note what it was for, and keep paper ones in one envelope or folder. Log the amounts as you go.
Two to four weeks ahead usually gives better fares and hotel choice, and time to sort out visas or approvals.
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