Like many of you, we travel all the time. And we have secrets that help us get around faster, more comfortably and tips on what to make sure and carry with you in the air, on the ground or even, underground!

Thanks to the generosity of these frequent flyers—these trial consultant secrets can be yours as well. As we collect additional secrets, we’ll add them here (check the Road Warrior category before you head out).

 

National Travel: [alphabetized by state]

Nevada, Las Vegas:

Very often the cab lines in Las Vegas are HORRIBLE.  If there is a convention in town you can literally wait an hour for a cab and the lines can stretch around the building.  There is a trick. Get one of the luggage porters that are employed by the airport to haul your bags out for you (even a briefcase).  They take you to the FRONT of the cab line.  Worst case, you will wait behind one or two people.  This can save a lot of time for a tip of $5 or $10 bucks. [submitted by Tara Trask of Tara Trask and Associates]

New York, NYC:

I really like hopstop.com. Great for big city metro info.  You can use it on your handheld and it tells you how to get where you are going via metro lines.  For NYC, it even says “go south toward Housten” or whatever to direct you when you come out on the street from the subway.  I use it in NYC on the subways all the time.  LOVE subways. [submitted by Tara Trask of Tara Trask and Associates]

North Carolina, Asheville

Asheville is lovely but the taxis at the airport are often dirty and rundown and I was sure the driver I had was going to communicate his tuberculosis to me as he spit phlegm into a plastic cup. Then I found Marvels Upscale Transportation. The same price as the dirty cabs with a wonderfully clean town car and a charming and personable driver! [submitted by Rita Handrich of Keene Trial Consulting]

 

International Travel: [alphabetized by country]

Japan, Tokyo

If traveling to Tokyo – you'll be flying into Narita, which is well outside of Tokyo.  Like Dulles and DC here, only worse.  Best way into Central Tokyo is to use the "Airport Limousine Bus" – and not a taxi.  It's a much cheaper, and nicer ride. [submitted by Bruce A. Beal of Beal Research]

 

Things to Carry With You: [alphabetized by product name]

A Playful Attitude:

I play a kind of Pollyanna Glad Game with the myriad of hotels I spend time in. I have learned a trick to no longer being angry and resentful over the fact that the place that I am to lay my weary head for the night or week or whatever has a boisterous convention group in it. I do this in one of two ways:

1.  I use the knowledge I get from staying with them for a show I am writing. For example, I just finished a short play partially based on the experience of staying in a hotel where a junior beauty pageant was taking place (think Toddlers and Tiaras meets me in the lobby). Another consultant and I stayed in a hotel recently in the midwest where upon entering we were greeted by a convention of Elvis impersonators and a very bewildered wedding party. You know I am using that one for something.

2.  Instead of pretending that I am not with the convention, I pretend that I am. I discovered this trick while staying at the same hotel as an NRA Convention once where it just seemed…well…safer to have everyone around me believe that I actually was carrying a concealed weapon. It is fun to be an IT genius, a Financial Planner, an auditor, an office supplies regional manager, a quilter, etc. So far it has only backfired on me once when a desperate woman in New Orleans ran up to me shouting, "Are you the Port Of San Franscisco???" and I blew my cover by saying without thinking, "Darling – how could you? I've really worked damned hard to keep the weight off." [submitted by Katherine James of ACT of Communication]

Belkin Power Cube:

Always travel with a power strip, or even better, the Belkin power cube with USB ports. Great for charging multiple objects, like computer, phone, iPad, et cetera. [submitted by Paul Scoptur of Scoptur Trial Consulting]

Divers Alert Network:

What do scuba diving and trial consulting have in common?  Travel, and the potential for illness or injury while traveling. Membership in the Divers Alert Network is $35/year and includes (as quoted from the website): "DAN TravelAssist®. As a DAN Member, you automatically receive DAN TravelAssist and up to $100,000 of evacuation assistance coverage. This benefit is effective for both diving and nondiving medical emergencies. Evacuation coverage begins when you travel on a trip at least 50 miles (80 km) from home and call the DAN Emergency Hotline (+1-919-684-9111) for assistance or evacuation."  Check www.dan.org for more info – you might just want to start diving too! [submitted by David Fauss of Magnus Research Consultants]

Google Translate:

Google Translate is a Google app that will translate between any 2 of dozens of languages, include a speech out load option. [submitted by Bruce A. Beal of Beal Research]

Taxi Magic:

iPhone app – Taxi Magic.  Need the phone number of a taxi, this app appears to know how to find them most anywhere. [submitted by David Fauss of Magnus Research Consultants]

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