Tip: Eliminate unnecessary travel tasks

Fewer links in the chain mean fewer potential points of failure

We’re preparing to travel for spring break, and some routine snags have brought to mind one travel strategy that I pursue aggressively: minimize the number of travel tasks.

Note: By “travel” in this context, I’m referring to the part of any trip between leaving your home and walking through the door at your final destination (and vice versa).

Travel can be a chore under the best of circumstances. Throw in some random snafus and unforeseen problems, and it can become an utter nightmare. I expect most of you reading this could tell such a story or two. Between technology issues, customer service failures, extra bureaucracy, changing climate, and decreasing empathy from fellow travelers, every link (task) in the chain of travel adds uncertainty. With uncertainty comes risk—of delays, missed flights, other issues—so more links mean greater risk that one or more of them might break.

A typical day of travel involving a plane flight involves many such links: car ride to the airport, parking the vehicle, getting into the airport itself (possibly involving a shuttle bus ride), checking in, getting bag tags, dropping off baggage, going through security, navigating to the gate (often involving a tram ride), boarding the plane, stowing hand luggage, and so on. Making a connection? Add more links. Then work backward through all of the above at your final destination.

Each of these tasks—links in the chain—are potential points of failure. Parking off-site? The shuttle bus could break down. Checking a bag? Flip a coin to see if it makes it through. Carrying on luggage? If you’re one of the last to board, good luck. Live somewhere that gets snow in the winter and thunderstorms in the summer? Pray to the weather gods.

Many of these potential points of failure are outside of your control. So the best strategy you can employ is to eliminate as many of them within your control as possible. Make your chain of travel as short as you can make it. When you think you’ve cut out as many as possible, take a closer look. Get a ride to the airport from someone you trust. Never check a piece of luggage again. Check in online. Sign up for TSA PreCheck or other skip-the-line service. Board as early as possible. Know how to navigate the airport. The list goes on.

I’m ruthless about this strategy and probably spend more time planning ahead than I actually save. Case in point: I booked this upcoming trip through Chase, using rewards points, and the result was an itinerary with the outbound and return flights on separate tickets. As a result, I’m unable to check us in online, so I have to go to the ticket counter at the airport on arrival. I spent a good bit of time contacting the airline today to see if anything could be done to avoid this step—again, trying to eliminate an extra task ahead of time—but I was unsuccessful.

The time I spent on the phone didn’t pay off, but it was still a worthwhile effort. Any time spent in advance trying to eliminate extra tasks is worth it, especially if it results in avoiding a missed connection, lost suitcase, or other major travel hassle.

Try it next time you go somewhere. This strategy applies regardless of how you get from point A to B, even if you’re simply driving yourself, and it takes practice to shorten that chain. Keep at it: the reward—less stressful travel—is well worth it!