Like George Clooney in Up in the Air , business travellers may travel up to 360 days in a year. It is not interesting to travel alone (or with working partners) in a place you have never been to, so how about going with your family? It is possible.
More and more business travellers combine the business trip and the family trip. It saves your time, and money of course. Not to say it is fulfilling your multiple needs and desires.
According to a 2008 study conducted by Egencia, a corporate travel arm of Expedia, as many of 59 per cent of business travellers said they have friends or family joining them on trip. Therefore they could spend free time together.
Andy Palmer is one of them. He is a co-founder of Vertica Systems, also the global head of software engineering at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, the U.S.
“I hate travelling away from my family,”
“so having any of them with me is a million per cent better.” Palmer said.
He combines corporate travel and family time whenever possible. Last spring, his wife and four children came along with Palmer to Switzerland when he worked at the Novartis headquarters.
It becomes a trend. According to Lois Howes, who works at Superior Travel in New York, there is an increase in travellers combing work and vacation. She is experienced at making these special arrangements for her clients.
“I had a couple of married teachers from New York going to a convention in Seattle this summer and I booked them on an Alaska cruise,” she said.
“If their work hadn’t paid for their airfare to get out west, they couldn’t have afforded it.” Lois added.
