Travel management tips
Scott Davis: I optimize less. I used to be really aggressive about it, saying, "Alright, my first talk is Monday morning at 9 a.m. I'm going to get in on Sunday at midnight because that is the least amount of time I need."
Unfortunately, that strategy doesn't leave any margin for error, as all professional travelers learn. Nowadays, I try to give myself a full 24 hour buffer coming in.
When traveling to India from the U.S., that 24 hour buffer is almost a requirement. There's a 12 and a half hour time difference between the two countries and around 18 hours of flight time depending on how many hops it takes to get there. At that point, night is day, left is right, and up is down. That kind of time shift can be brutal if you don't anticipate it and make accommodations.
..."Trying to live in one time zone while being physically located in another is a recipe for disaster."
—Scott Davis