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Google Maps is your best friend when it comes to travel planning. Use it to locate your hotel, your worksite such as a convention center or customer location, nearby restaurants, any other places you want to visit, and for driving directions between these places and the airport. Print out as many maps as you think you’ll need. Once you have the directions, follow them on screen to make sure they make sense. It can also be useful to switch to satellite view to make note of landmarks.

About directions:  If the directions say ‘Turn left on Turner Drive’, make note of the last street you’ll cross before Turner to use as a landmark. Once you find that street, you’ll know that Turner is next. This decreases your chance of missing a turn.

Stack the maps in the order in which you’ll use them. The map on top of the stack should be the one with directions from the airport or car rental place to your hotel. The second map should be from your hotel to your customer’s site or wherever you have to go next. Keep the printed maps in a manila folder. When you get into your rental car, take the folder out of your bag and keep it within easy reach. It’ll usually tuck nicely between the center console and passenger seat. Also print the maps to PDF and keep them on your laptop or thumb drive.

Buy a travel-sized wireless router to use in hotels that offer only wired broadband connections. This could get you in trouble with the hotel, so turn off the router’s SSID broadcast so no one else can see your router. This will let you move about your room or suite without worring about cables. Sharing this wireless connection with your travel companions to deny the hotel more than one broadband access fee is between you and your conscience.

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Program any phone numbers you’ll need on your trip into your cell phone before you leave. Boss’s home number, customer, travel agent, rental car place, hotel, etc. Alternatively, make a list of those numbers and keep it in your wallet so you’ll always have them with you.