(Photo courtesy of socialmonsters.org)
The era of the traveling salesperson is not dead. Airplane travel is great for when you have one big meeting, but the car is the preferred travel method when you have several meetings in a small geographic area. Being productive and safe while driving to and from meetings takes some skill, forethought and a few handy gadgets.
Take Care of Your Car
You can’t travel in a broken car. If you want to make it to every appointment, then you need to have regular auto maintenance done and keep emergency items on hand. Before every trip, check your oil, water and tire pressure. If driving through rougher terrain, make certain that the tread on your tires is deep and that your tires are not worn. Also check your spare tire for pressure. A full-sized spare tire is preferable to a doughnut in case you still have a long distance to drive. Your travel emergency kit should include water, oil and duct tape. A small tool kit and a can of Fix-a-Flat are good even if you are not a DIY kind of person.
Find the Best Gas
Finding the best price for gas can be tricky in unfamiliar areas. Some gas stations or parts of cities gouge their prices to be much higher than others in the same area. They get away with this because tourists do not know any better. To avoid this type of price trap, use the GasBuddy app. It helps you find the most economic stations in your area and give you an area average to help you avoid sticker shock.
Know How to Get Lost
Traveling comes with the inherent risk of getting lost. It also provides the opportunity of discovering something amazing. Unfortunately, if you are in a situation where you are lost and in a hurry, it can be hard to retrace your steps and find your way. With a tool like Trackstick, you can download your driving path and upload it into a Google search at a later time. It has a bunch of other fun features, such as an active recording of stop times, direction, speed, altitude and temperature. This way you can make your error into a destination in the future.
Be Productive in the Car
With the warning that you should not use any device that requires you to shift your eyes off the road, Bluetooth technology is enabling you to get some work done while on the road. BlueAnt’s Commute lets you text and read texts without using your hands. Add Dragon Drive, a complete content delivery platform, and you can do much of your business writing as you are driving from one place to the other.
Carry a Pocket Printer
When you pull over, you can print your documents using the ZUtALabs pocket printer. Lay the portable printer on top of a blank sheet of paper and watch it move across the surface to print your document. This device retails for just under $200.
