Many business travelers take advantage of the fact that business conferences often happen in places where you can also enjoy some rest and relaxation.
Maybe you’ve tacked an extra day onto your trip to catch a baseball game, or grabbed some extra time on the front end of your trip to catch up with an old friend. Orlando conferences make it commonplace to tack on a few days to visit a theme park.
I’ve done all of those. But I also like to go a bit farther afield with these adventures when I can. Like just last week, when I spent a night in Marrakech on my way to a conference in Europe.
Maximizing your work travel
If you’ve followed some of the tips we share in TPG Business Brief, you’re probably building up a pretty good collection of points and miles to use for vacations. And while you might feel guilty for taking the time away from work, or feel like you should save those points and miles for a bigger family vacation, you can pretty easily put together a short trip that doesn’t dent your wallet or mileage balance too badly.
When I book work travel overseas, I generally start by running broad searches to understand the cheapest ways to get where I need to go in time for my meetings. In many cases, it’s cheaper to fly into a big conference a few days early (or leave a few days after it ends). Once I identify a date range that fits my schedule, I can start searching for flights that make sense for a side trip.
Of course, some places are more conducive to these short, cheap excursions than others. While it can be pricey to tack on a flight to an exciting destination in the United States, it can be much more affordable in Europe and Asia. Major airline alliances offer excellent award redemption options throughout these regions, and they each also have an abundance of low-cost carriers.
Most of Europe is exceptionally easy to move around due to the Schengen Agreement. The Schengen area is a group of 29 countries that allow fairly free movement across their jurisdiction. This makes it easy to bounce between countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and France for a couple of days.
17 hours in Marrakech
On my most recent trip to Europe, I was only able to squeeze one extra day of travel into my schedule. Departing one day early for my conference actually lowered the cost of my flight, but also reduced the number of options that would allow me enough time on the ground to explore a new city.
Porto, a lovely city in Portugal, was a place I’d already explored. Other destinations on my radar (such as Bilbao and Valencia in Spain) just didn’t have as many flight options as I would have hoped for my time window. However, Marrakech — which, like other Moroccan cities, is increasingly popular with U.S. travelers — lined up almost perfectly.
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I landed in Lisbon late in the morning and cleared immigration and security to head to the gate for my EasyJet flight to Marrakech. EasyJet doesn’t participate in any airline alliances with which I could burn miles, but I do have a stash of Capital One miles I need to redeem, which made a perfect fit for my outbound flight. I chose to fly back to Lisbon on TAP Portugal, a Star Alliance member.
While I did have to wait in some long lines to clear customs and ultimately enter Morocco, I didn’t need to apply for a visa ahead of time. Entry requirements should definitely be on your mind if you’re considering a side trip before the primary purpose of your business trip. You don’t want to overlook a requirement that might get you stuck in a foreign country on a tight timeline.
I was on the ground in Marrakech by 4 p.m. and at my hotel shortly after 5 p.m. There are a number of hotels in Marrakech where you can redeem points — even some lovely riads around the Medina, the heart of Marrakech and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was able to walk around Jemaa el-Fnaa square, enjoy dinner outside and walk through the souks (a maze of markets). In the morning, a rooftop breakfast was the perfect way to finish less than 24 hours in a new city before heading to the airport.
Options beyond Europe
Asia is another region where many appealing destinations are within a few hours via plane, and there are lots of cheap flights available. Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo are all great jumping off points, with numerous flights to Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines. It’s also worth noting the excellent high-speed train network in Japan.
The United States is definitely less appealing for quick, affordable jaunts to a second city. There are a few geographic areas more conducive to a short trip, but you may need to be in one of the handful of hubs where there’s competition on popular routes.
If you find yourself in the Southwest or Southeast, consider Mexico or the Caribbean. The same strategy holds true if you’re near one of the big Canadian gateways such as Toronto and Vancouver. Depending on the time of year, you’re probably more likely to find cheap flights to Mexico or the Caribbean than Canada.
Bottom line
Your work schedule may make it seem like there’s never enough time to explore a new destination. But tacking on a short adventure to your business trips can help you explore new places without burning a lot of time or money — especially when you use rewards to cover the travel.