Regular Overseas travel with work - how to benefit from?

Jimbo Mahoney

Jimbo Mahoney

Jimbo Mahoney

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I work in technical support for a medium sized technology company.

The travel used to be insane - away in one place for 5 days of the week, back for the weekend, away again the next week to some other place. I would be home for weekends and maybe the odd week here or there (working in the office).

Now, OK, this sounds great and at times it was, but when you've been doing it for a couple of years, it gets tiring and you realise you spend most of your life alone in a hotel, away from the house you own/rent.

It's a lot better now as they have employed more people to do the job, so the amount of travel is somewhat diffused, but still present.

The salary is lower than in other companies and there is no salary difference if you travel or are office-based. You have your expenses paid when travelling, but there is no benefit from this as such - everything must have a receipt and the policy is fairly strict.

This is all well and good, and I'm not complaining, but it's got to the point now where I cringe when I have to plan a trip away. I'm trying to think of the positives of going away for a few days, but all I can think of is the negatives (stress, airports, hotel alone, away from home, unable to do a normal routine like following a proper diet / going to evening classes / gym).

Does anyone have any ideas on how to put a positive spin on it and the benefits of travelling or, better yet, ways to make money from it? :D

Here's what I have done/thought of so far:

1) Air miles / Airline reward schemes
2) Hotel reward schemes
3) Cheap booze/cigarettes/duty free
4) Sightseeing / Photography
5) Cashback Credit Card

Here's things I haven't done and probably won't ;):

1) Human trafficking
2) Drug trafficking

For what it's worth, the travel can be pretty much anywhere in the world except the USA (since they have their own office to cover that there). Most commonly, it's Europe, but sometimes places like India, Russia, Turkey, Israel.

Bear in mind also that, unless you take an additional day as holiday, there is no free time except the evenings and the working day is often long - 8am till 8pm is not uncommon.

Serious and less serious suggestions are all appreciated :p

EDIT - Forgot that I already use a Cashback Credit Card to pay for everything, then claim back.
 
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I would often tag a weekend or two on the ends of a trip

for example

we have a training centre in Sacramento

I fly into Vegas on the Friday, spend a couple of nights, connect to Sacramento Sunday, back to Vegas on Friday afternoon, fly home Sunday
 
Are you able to book your own hotels? I always use quidco cashback which equates to around 10%. Considering the average hotel room is around £150 per night, over a week this can add up to a little bit of spending money.
 
rz30 said:
How about your advertise your self as an air courier, some companies pay silly money for this.
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Interesting. I'll investigate.

Adam said:
Are you able to book your own hotels? I always use quidco cashback which equates to around 10%. Considering the average hotel room is around £150 per night, over a week this can add up to a little bit of spending money.
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Yes we book our own hotels. This is a good idea, thanks!

PMKeates said:
Cashback credit card. All those hotels, flights and meals add up, and getting back 1% on every company pound spent is worth a fair bit!
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I forgot to mention I already do this, but thanks! Sadly, it's only 0.5% though, but it's still nice to get at the end of the year.

meghatronic said:
Some companies have very strict rules on air miles/cashback/benefits.
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There is no company policy on this. :)
 
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I find being away saves me money as whilst I'm away I spend very little of my own money as nearly everything goes on expenses. It's nice to be able to go out for a decent meal and not care about the cost. Also if you're booking your own hotels and have a decent budget there's no excuse not to find one with a gym and/or spa attached.
 
Gribs said:
I find being away saves me money as whilst I'm away I spend very little of my own money as nearly everything goes on expenses. It's nice to be able to go out for a decent meal and not care about the cost. Also if you're booking your own hotels and have a decent budget there's no excuse not to find one with a gym and/or spa attached.
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This is a good point. I eat out a lot, and then I'm away I can claim all these backs. Which seems odd as I'd buy the food anyway at home. But I'm not complaining!
 
Rotty said:
I would often tag a weekend or two on the ends of a trip

for example

we have a training centre in Sacramento

I fly into Vegas on the Friday, spend a couple of nights, connect to Sacramento Sunday, back to Vegas on Friday afternoon, fly home Sunday
Click to expand...

This. I'm very fortunate in that when I'm away, the company is happy to delay my flights home as long as there is no extra incurred cost to them, and I come back on the same route. It effectively gives you the opportunity for a weekend break abroad with zero travel costs!
 
Makhaira said:
This. I'm very fortunate in that when I'm away, the company is happy to delay my flights home as long as there is no extra incurred cost to them, and I come back on the same route. It effectively gives you the opportunity for a weekend break abroad with zero travel costs!
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We have a stupid rule now, whereby the extra stay can be no longer than original trip again. E.g. if I'm at a conference for 4 days, I can only stay on another 4 days (2 before, 2 after or whatever). It sucks, but it's easily bypassable.
 
I used to do it too, over 40 return flights a year - after 5-6 years of doing it and spending most of my time away from home I had had enough.

However, I built up some nice airmiles (for free).
Tagged on some weekends to trips a bit like Rotty.
Got myself some fast track passes for numerous airports paid for by work, but also used on personal holidays.
Always got the admin lady to book me into decent hotels (she knew what I liked, but also used reward cards that I had (they kept a copy of it in their folder)) so the stay was always relatively pleasant.
Tried all sorts of different restaurants and bars (we had a decent "entertainment" budget).
I was also single, which meant a lot of fun could be had too and fully exploited it.
Build up credit rating with credit cards used in expenses.
Take out every reward card scheme possible (hire cars, hotels, flight operators etc...)
Make sure you turn your gas down and turn off home appliances to save a bit of cash too.

Cant' think of anything else. I just used to exploit as much as I could from being away from home so much - within reason, but still going for it.
 
Gribs said:
I find being away saves me money as whilst I'm away I spend very little of my own money as nearly everything goes on expenses. It's nice to be able to go out for a decent meal and not care about the cost. Also if you're booking your own hotels and have a decent budget there's no excuse not to find one with a gym and/or spa attached.
Click to expand...

I've just booked a hotel through Quidco and Hotels.com (thanks for the tip Adam) and made sure to get one with a gym. The company budget for hotels is kinda 'meh' but it covers moderate hotels.

I'll try and put a positive spin on things - take my swimming trunks and spend some time in the pool/spa.
 
Jimbo Mahoney said:
Here's things I haven't done and probably won't ;):

1) Human trafficking
2) Drug trafficking
Click to expand...
Arms trafficking?


Afraid I can't think of much to do if you usually finish only by 8 pm or so. It takes out sight-seeing as an option. Some shopping is possible if places are open, and you can pick up some very cheap things if you travel abroad etc. Not much else to do really :s I imagine that would get boring quite quickly too.

My dad used to travel a fair bit for work etc and would basically enjoy the hotels he was in and enjoy their food. So I would suggest that if you finish late regularly and have early starts. Or if you start feeling generous, start shopping for family and friends. I recommend starting with OcUK, and for giving this suggestion, me ;)
 
IHG Priority Club is by far and away the most generous hotel reward scheme. If you aren't in that, join, and make sure you always stay at an IHG hotel (Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn etc)
 
I maybe have to take 6 trips abroad a year. Mostly the US (Vegas, Boston, Orlando, etc)

Benefits have already been said:

- Air Miles (I think I have about 95000 Virgin Air Miles)
- Duty free, a lot easier to stock up on booze and ciggies for friends
- Credit Card bonuses I'm usually with customers abroad so I can easily rack up £10k+ of expenses, max all credit cards and rake the points.
- Tourism - I always tag on a few days to look around. In Vegas I went to the grand canyon, in Boston I flew down to NY, in Orlando I went to Miami, etc.
- Holidays & the year - Perhaps the biggest perk is that even when you don't get holiday time it still feels like a holiday. It breaks up the year, kills a week. Very simple really.
 
The best thing is definitely Air miles. My dad flies over 90 return flights a year and is literally rolling in money. What you can then do is book tickets for your friends using your airmiles and "they gift you" at least half the price of the ticket (plus tax). Probably not that legal, but meh, who cares. You make some cash.
 
It really depends on the company, if their strict you've already found most of the options. Some companies can make travelling fairly joyless. I'm fairly lucky my current employer is very laid back, basically any expense incurred it claimable and there's not much scrutiny of the amount, they're also seem happy to cover an extra nights hotel expenses here and there.
 
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