Tips for travelling with your boss on business.

Are you travelling with your boss for some business project across the states? Will you be travelling in the same car, plane, or even booking the same hotel? Then you need to understand some basic etiquette tips so that you don’t spoil things for yourself because of the prolonged closeness that the travel will engender for both of you.

It is very essential you understand and apply these travelling etiquette tips when travelling with your boss your official duty and status within the company makes the travel with the boss a possibility, and you have earned the boss’s trust to get things done right when you accompany him on trips.In fact, you must never forget that your boss is watching and evaluating you at all times, and committing foolish blunders along the way seem a little insignificant or inconsequential at the time, but they may potentially harm your career advancement within the organisation.

i. Keep in mind you’re at work: As a professional, you must always bear in mind that being with the boss means being at work – only with a changed venue. Whether you are in a hired taxi or flight with the boss, or you are set at a dinner table in some restaurant, you are at work and must behave or carry yourself accordingly. Do not get carried away with the momentary opportunity of sitting next to your boss on the flight or eating at the same table with him – he is still the boss, and should be treated so.

ii. Know the protocol: You must know your itinerary and the protocol for getting things done. Does your boss carry his luggage himself of you do it for him, or you pay someone to carry it? Who hails the taxi, and who places the orders for foods at diners? Who also gives tips to valets, drivers, waiters and others? You must understand whose duty it is to do these things and the best ways for doing it correctly if it falls into your lap to do them.

iii. Prepare comfortable points to discuss: You must know if your boss is the talkative type and if he might talk through the whole flight. You must be able to match up when he talks, and know how to steer conversations in the area you are comfortable with. If you guess that the conversation is getting too “close up and personal”, you could just introduce some back-up topics that you know could generate a mild controversy and divergence of opinions and that will carry you through the tide.

iv. Have a Plan B for expenses: If it happens that your boss relies on you to settle the bills for every expenses, then you must have a Plan B and have your own cash and credit cards handy in case the company’s credit card hits rock bottom. You might be required to handle taxi rentals, hotel bookings, seminar fees, feedings, and phone call cards; but you must ensure that even though the company cash with you runs out or the credit card maxes out, your own personal cash and cards must come handy to save the situation. But always remember to call the office for reimbursement for extra expenses you make on your own.