Many people find travelling very stressful, but taking a few precautions can greatly build one's confidence in going away and that should reduce your levels of stress. After all, if you know that you have done all you can, what else can you do, but go? Travelling should be fun. Going on holiday should be as much fun as being on holiday, but the same philosophy should be applied to all trips, business trips too.

My favourite travelling tips are laid out below, but first I'd like to share a quotation:

"The only way to be sure of catching a train is to miss the one before it"

G.K. Chesterton.

1] Check Your Tickets as soon as you get them. Travel agents and booking clerks are only human and they work under pressure to get tickets out to their clients. So, mistakes happen, but you don't want to find out there's a problem when it's your turn to board the plane, train or bus. Check the dates, departure times, the seating and price. The price/cost is important, because although I'm sure you were charged and you paid the correct amount, if that amount is not on the ticket a clerk might hold you up if the cost of the journey is $100 and your ticket says you paid $1.00. Report all discrepancies to the firm you bought the ticket from and comply with their suggestions.

2] Try For A Discount if you book your hotel yourself. The best way to approach this one is to book your hotel really early and do it in person. Contact the manager and ask for his rates by fax or email. Then contact him again, pointing out that you are not booking through an agent, to whom he would normally be paying a commission and offer to pay for the first night or two in advance. Or you could hold back on the last point, if the manager is wavering: it depends how you play poker. Aim for 10-20%.

3] Foil The Thieves by not letting them know you are going away. Places of departure are notorious haunts for thieves. Everyone knows about the pick-pockets and opportunist thieves, but there is another sort too. This other type are the professional burglars. Departure points, specially airports have played into their hands by insisting that all luggage is labelled with a proper address. The thief only has to read your address label and go around to your house a day or two later. You can make sure that you will not be a victim by putting your destination address on the outside of your luggage and your home address stuck to the inside.

4] Foreign Bathrooms are often short of a wash basin plug or two and they can be very hard to locate in some countries. So, the best thing to do is take your own. There are two approaches to this problem: either take a few of different sizes, after all they are not heavy of you could take few squash balls. If all this fails or if you forget, you can use a slice from an appropriately sized local vegetable, say a potato.

5] Airport Solace can be very important when there are delays or the airport is very busy or noisy. Most airports have a VIP lounge, but what if you are not a member of the scheme. Well, there is a very comfortable, well-appointed room, which is empty 99% of the time, but which is open to all - the airport Chapel.

These travelling tips will help you enjoy your journey more and reduce your stress too.

the inca