61: Tips for Traveling Well: How to Prioritize Your Energy & Productivity on the Go

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Transcript:

Bonnie Christine [00:00:00]:

I am a homebody through and through, meaning give me the choice, and I will choose to stay home for as long as you let me. But I have been traveling so much over the last couple of years. Specifically, it's just felt like a lot so far this year, so I've been gone three out of the last four weeks. And because of that, I've just learned some tips and tricks on how to travel well, some things that I've learned along the way that really help me feel good when I'm traveling and really enjoy the experience. And so I thought I would share those with you today. And then I also asked you all over on Instagram to ask me any of your burning questions about traveling, so I'm going to answer some of those at the end of this episode as well. But before we dive in, I wanted to read a review from one of you that came in a couple of weeks ago. This review is from D Marie Holme.

Bonnie Christine [00:01:06]:

It says, Bonnie, did you create this just for me? Wow. So good. Hands down, this is the best podcast. The content is exactly what I need to hear. So many tips for starting and running a creative business, so many things I didn't know. Every time I listen, I feel so encouraged. I leave the podcast feeling and knowing that I can work hard and see success I long for. Thank you, Bonnie and her team.

Bonnie Christine [00:01:33]:

Marie, I did make this just for you, and I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. Also, thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a review. They make my day. I read them every day. You all are awesome. If you want to leave a review, you can head on over to Apple podcasts and just click leave a Review. I would love to hear from you, too. I'm Bonnie Christine, and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite.

Bonnie Christine [00:02:06]:

I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the professional creative podcast. So I have about six things that I like to think about when I travel, and the most recent trip that I returned from was speaking at Convertkit's conference called Craft and Commerce it was in Boise, Idaho.

Bonnie Christine [00:03:21]:

The conference was amazing. So I'm actually going to share all about that with you in the next episode. So if you want to hear my biggest takeaways from being a keynote speaker at Craft and Commerce, make sure to tune into the next episode. But let's just talk about traveling for now. First and foremost, I want to talk about snacks. You know, I think by now that I eat a pretty clean diet, I eat a plant based diet, and I also eat a high protein plant based diet, which can just be a little bit tricky or difficult when I travel. And so really what happened to me a couple of years ago was that when I traveled, I just felt like I was going to treat myself and get special treats along the way, and it would be okay to completely fall off my regular eating habits. And what that really ended up doing was just making me not feel very well.

Bonnie Christine [00:04:19]:

So this is all about how food makes us feel. Not that I don't cheat a little bit and give myself treats when I travel, but I think it's so important to be proactive about the food that you're going to eat and the snacks that you have. So I pack a lot of snacks with me in three different ways. So the first one is actually with me for travel days because I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to find something really good at the airport. And so I want to be very proactive about anything that I would need for day of travel. So for me, that usually looks like packing just in my backpack that I'm going to have with me the whole day, a couple of different things, and I don't even know if what I pack matters because it's probably going to be completely different for you, whatever you feel good eating. But for me, I do typically four things. So I do a pack of my favorite protein shake so I can link these up over on the show notes for today.

Bonnie Christine [00:05:27]:

But the one I love is called Plant Fusion, and so it's just a pack, and I can take it with me and mix it up as a protein shake anytime during the day. The second one is a pack of roasted edamame. The third one is usually a little squeezy pack of something called Fuel for Life. And then sometimes I also pack like a package of Tofurky. Now, I'm hesitant to even tell you all of this because my husband thinks I'm crazy, but it's what I do. If you find me in the airport, I always have these four things, and a pack of Tofurky will totally get me through the day, especially on travel day. And it's totally fine to keep in your bag during travel. And so it's just my trick.

Bonnie Christine [00:06:13]:

That's what I do. That way I'm not stuck in the airport really looking for something that is maybe not going to make me feel well. The other thing that I do is when I arrive, I go ahead and make sure that I just have the food that I want. So sometimes I'll head to a Whole Foods to pick up some things or I'll do like an instacart order, and that way whenever I get settled into my hotel room, I just have everything that I know I'm going to want for that week to make me feel really good and healthy. And then the other one is that I oftentimes pack some things in my actual luggage. So pretty much anything that I eat every day at home, I try to bring with me. So this again would be like my protein shake that I like to drink after a workout. And again, these are just packets.

Bonnie Christine [00:07:05]:

I also take that fuel for life. I usually eat that maybe on my way to workout in the mornings, and then I always pack my coffee set up. So for me, the coffee setup is a whole thing. I really need to make sure that I just have a good setup when I get there. And so I have this little travel pack with like a pop up water, boil, a little grinder. I bring fresh beans of my favorite coffee and an aero press, and so it actually doesn't take up that much room, but it's just everything I need to make sure that I have a really good cup of coffee in the morning because you never know. You never know what the setup is going to be. So those are the things that I do oftentimes.

Bonnie Christine [00:07:48]:

I will check two bags. One like with all my clothes in it and then a small one with nothing but like my supplements and the food that I wanted to bring and my coffee set up. And I have found that it just makes my trip so much like it feels so much better. Okay, number two is that I very much prioritize my energy specifically around when my flight is going to be. And so sometimes we all know you just can't avoid really early morning flights or late returns and things like that. I will try my very best to avoid insanely early flights. Also, our airport is about an hour and a half away, and so if I'm waking up in the 03:00 range, I know that I'm just going to feel a certain way all day and it's not a good way, and it's going to take me days to kind of get back on track. And so I also very much like to utilize my plane time for productivity.

Bonnie Christine [00:08:52]:

We'll talk about that in a second. So I just want to make sure that I'm doing a time that's going to feel okay in both directions. And so I typically don't like to wake up before like four or 430 to make a flight even better if it's a little bit later. And then I also want to get home at a reasonable time and so I'll pay a little bit more for a flight that just is going to make me feel better energy wise because really, how much is it worth just feeling really well? If I totally wreck myself because I was up all night or had a red eye or whatever, then it's going to take me a couple of days to kind of recover and start feeling well and that's worth a lot. So I'll typically pay a little bit more to just get a reasonably timed flight. The other thing that I love to do is return from a trip on Saturday. So tempting to return on like Sunday evening but I just find that it spits you into the week and doesn't give you a time to catch your breath. So I love to return from a trip if possible on a Saturday.

Bonnie Christine [00:10:01]:

That means that I have all day Sunday to really reset, unpack and get geared up for the week. And so that's another thing that I do to try to really prioritize my energy. Now number three is airplane productivity. Now, I think that this could be a debate, and so I'll just tell you what I do. Because I very much love and respect people who can completely unplug and watch movies on the airplane. But I use it for my productivity time. So much so I don't know what it is about an airplane, but I do some of my best work in flight. I think it has something to do with just being like buckled in.

Bonnie Christine [00:10:46]:

Typically I feel like no one is expecting me to be available. So even though I generally have WiFi, sometimes it just feels like an extra level of solitude and focus and then there's like that humming of the white noise and I don't know, the mixture of those things makes it the perfect storm for some of the best work of my life. And so I'm very careful about what I choose to do. It's typically writing and so I will outline a course, I'll write lessons, I'll plan podcast, scripts, I'll start thinking about chapters of a book maybe I will do. One time I wrote like 28 emails for my nurture sequence. I get into this really deep flow state and I want to utilize that for some of my best work. And so I have brainstormed, like membership stuff. It's awesome.

Bonnie Christine [00:11:45]:

So I laugh sometimes and say I'm just going to book a flight to somewhere far away and turn around and come right back just for the productivity alone. I've never done that though, I don't think I will. But I love a good flight and I'm really careful about what I choose to do on that flight. I don't want to do like menial tasks, I want to use that time to be really like a deep flow. Generally writing or being thoughtful and it works so well. So if you've never tried it, maybe give it a try and then I also love to have a book, either paper or in an audio format, so that when you're just shuffling about and transitioning and waiting for the flight to take off, you can also kind of be listening to something along the way. Which brings me to my next one that's a book. So I typically do both a paper book and an audiobook.

Bonnie Christine [00:12:43]:

Sometimes I very much want a paper book, especially if I'm on vacation, I want to be able to take a paper book with me, like to the beach or to the pool. I don't want to necessarily have air pods in. And so I'll choose a different book to listen to on audio during travel, so I can listen to it while I'm walking or waiting for the flight again to take off or something like that. Number five is working out and so I always try to keep my workout routine even when I travel. And this was really like an identity shift that I worked on earlier this year. I wanted to identify as someone very disciplined and so people like me do what is kind of the question that I would ask myself. And I'm like the person that I want to become prioritizes health and gets up even on vacation or a work trip and exercises in the morning and so I've just been doing it. No, like I don't debate with myself, I don't question it.

Bonnie Christine [00:13:48]:

Oftentimes before I go somewhere, I'll do some research on gyms in the area. Sometimes I end up at the hotel gym, but I love to drop into like a CrossFit gym or something like that when I travel. And oftentimes I'll go ahead and buy a week pass. So I just set myself up for success, plan for it, look at the times of the classes, know which one I'm going to go to and just do it. And I love that so much. It's also a really fun way to just kind of drop in and get to know different people in different places and so absolutely keeping that workout routine up. Now some leniency there, especially on travel days, that doesn't always work out, but if it's a normal day, getting up and hitting the gym for sure. And then the last one, number six is always thinking about opportunities to network or connect with someone.

Bonnie Christine [00:14:41]:

When I travel, if there's anyone in the town that I'm going to that I have met before or have connected with, then I love to use that as an opportunity to be like, hey, I'm coming into town. Do you want to grab lunch, or do you want to go for a walk, or do you want to go to the gym with me or something? And this one I have to work out because not only am I a homebody, but I'm also an introvert, but I'm learning how to travel well, and I'm also learning how to extrovert well. And so that importance of just relationships and keeping in touch with people, whether it's a personal relationship or a business relationship, anytime I go to a town where there's someone there, I always look them up and see if we can get together, which has just been a really sweet way to travel as well. So those were my six things tips on traveling well for the homebody. But I also wanted to dive into some of the questions that you all submitted to me over on Instagram. Okay, the first question is what part of your routine do you pause and what do you keep even when traveling? And so I definitely keep the majority of my routines. I will let slip a little bit, like my whole morning routine. I do a whole morning routine when I'm at home, but I will still try to work out, like I said, when I travel.

Bonnie Christine [00:16:09]:

And so I try to keep all of my routines. The exception to that would be on travel days where I just feel like for the most part, any routine goes out the window. What's your favorite thing to do as you explore somewhere new? Okay, so I love to find a great coffee shop. I love to find a great hike, and I love to drop in to a gym, those things, I think, and a great restaurant. Right. So, like food, hiking and dropping into a gym to me, just really lets me get a good scene, a good picture of the place that I'm at. Okay. This person says, how do you manage work and deadlines when traveling? And another question that was similar is how do you manage work for your business and your team while traveling? And I would say we just work ahead for sure.

Bonnie Christine [00:17:04]:

The team knows the dates that I'm going to be out of town way in advance, and so everyone's prepared for that. They know that I'm going to be kind of Mia. And I always try to communicate to them whether I'm truly out of office, like I'm off the grid versus like, I'll be checking in and available if you need me. But for the most part, I'll be out. And I think it's actually really important to give an equal balance. Like, sometimes your team really just needs you to maybe be unavailable, and it really brings the team together and helps them work together as a solid team. So I like to also be completely unavailable on some trips because I think it makes the team stronger. So to answer your question, we really just work ahead.

Bonnie Christine [00:17:50]:

If there are any deadlines or maybe calls or recorded calls that I need to do beforehand, I just work ahead and make sure to get all of those things done before I check out. Okay. The next question is sleeping well in places besides your own bed. So I very much think that part of traveling well when you're a homebody is taking your creature comforts with you. And I would not say that I overpack, but I also don't underpack. I know people who it's almost like a competition of how little they can take. And I'm like, well, I'm just going to check a bag. And that means that I can bring some of my creature comforts with me.

Bonnie Christine [00:18:32]:

That's just going to make my travel time and time away so much more comfortable. And so one of those things for me is taking my pillow. I always take my pillow. I'm kind of a pillow person. I love my pillow and I really, really want it with me when I travel. And that means I can really sleep in any bed and be comfortable because I've got that with me. How do you combat travel? Exhaustion. And so I think I really already answered this one, but really prioritizing my travel times when I'm choosing flights and when I'm leaving and returning home, I think is so important.

Bonnie Christine [00:19:11]:

So a couple of other questions. Food, I always struggle to eat healthy. And do you Google ahead to check out healthy food options or do you take your own snacks and ingredients? So again, I really do take quite a lot. I just feel like being prepared is everything. So make a store run when you get there. Do an instacart order when you get there, but make sure to have the foods that you're going to need in order to feel the way that you want to feel. How do you pack wrinkle free clothing? Such a great question. I don't know that I've figured this one out, but I will say I'll do one of two things because everything gets wrinkled.

Bonnie Christine [00:19:50]:

Now, one trick that I've learned is that I actually pack my clothes on my hangers. So I actually travel with all of my hangers. So everything is on a hanger. It fits into my suitcase and then I just take it out and hang it up when I get to the hotel room. But it still gets wrinkled along the way. So I'll always ask the hotel for a steamer, unless they have one in the room already. I'll see if I can get a steamer and steam everything. On occasion, I've actually had it ironed, like pressed professionally.

Bonnie Christine [00:20:22]:

It's made the biggest difference specifically for an event when you have really nice clothing that probably has collars and buttons and cuffs and all the things. Typically every hotel or within the vicinity of the hotel will have a cleaning service or a dry cleaning service, and you can have them just press your clothes. So I think I spent $40 when I was on this last trip for a conference and I had like, I don't know, eight outfits completely pressed and it was like my favorite money spent of the whole trip. So absolutely worth it. Don't forget about options like that when you travel, especially when it's for something like an event or something that you really want to look nice for. This person says, I get the flu or I get sick every time the week after I return from my travels. How do you stay? Well, again, I think prioritizing eating well, but also taking all your normal vitamins. Sometimes I will increase the amount of vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc when I travel.

Bonnie Christine [00:21:34]:

Those three things very much boost your immunity. So I will always take those things when I'm actually sick. And so when I'm traveling, sometimes I'll take it the same dose as if I were sick. And I think that that helps prevent so much from happening because I rarely get sick. I also keep, like, a little bottle of Sanitizer in my bag, and I'm just extra careful. Do you check a bag, or do you bring all your daily necessities when you go to a hotel? So I typically check two bags, one normal sized and then one that's a carry on size. But I don't need to necessarily have it with me on the plane, so I check that one as well. And again, the big one is for my clothes, my pillow and my shoes and, like, toiletries.

Bonnie Christine [00:22:21]:

And the other one is kind of like all those creature comforts that I want. My coffee set up, my supplements, my food, vitamins. And it just makes the trip so much better because I've got everything that I want while I'm gone. Okay, last question that I'll answer is, do you bring any art supplies when you travel? And then another question was, how do you keep your creative routines while traveling? And I have to say, some trips I don't. Some trips I don't necessarily prioritize being creative or designing or anything, but if I am working on something, then I will bring it with me, and it kind of depends on the trip. So if I'm going to attend a Mastermind, I always bring a little bottle of paint. I have some walnut ink that I love, a little paintbrush, and a little watercolored notebook. And it's small, and I can just have it with me.

Bonnie Christine [00:23:15]:

That way, when I'm listening to a presentation, I can kind of be painting or drawing at the same time. I'll also do that if it's a family trip, because if the kids are going swimming or something, I can kind of sit by close by and paint. And then if I'm working on, like, a fabric collection or something like that, I will scan things in ahead of time and work with them in a digital space. Or I'll use the iPad. So it kind of depends on what I'm currently prioritizing and if I'm in the middle of a collection or not. And then if I'm not if I'm not really pressed for any kind of deadline or anything like that, sometimes I just won't I'll typically just turn to things like books and podcasts to take up my time as well. So those are some of the things that I've just figured out that work well when I travel. I think that we all travel differently, but prioritizing what you need to feel really good when you travel, I think is the key, whatever that is for you.

Bonnie Christine [00:24:20]:

It's probably different for all of us, but don't feel bad about taking some of your creature comforts along the way if this is going to help you travel better. And I can't wait to see what you do on your next trip and where you go. Create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you're.