Summertime is in full swing, and as usual, magazines and newspapers have provided their lists – best vacation spot, beaches, movies and of course, best books for the beach. The books are usually divided into mindless drivel that you can read while you’re laying in your beach chair or books that will eventually be classics and will be made into movies. (We all know these bear little resemblance to the “classic”.) Usually it’s hard to tell the mindless drivel from the classics, but that’s another story. So in keeping with the time of year, I decided to create my own list of best books that are of course travel related, at least indirectly.

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With summer vacation in full swing, family schedules are quickly filling up with camps, sports and a variety of other activities. Coordinating a week or a few days to spend together can seem daunting – especially with your increased business travel. What do yo do?

Heck, stick them all on a plane and take them with you! Share your joy with the world. You won’t be the only one. According to a recent survey, business travelers took family members with them on 14% of the 435 million business trips they made last year (D.K. Shifflet & Associates). The line between business and pleasure travel has become fuzzy (not just the Vegas trips…). And in these uncertain economic times, bringing the family on a business trip can also reduce vacation costs. While many employers pay for expenses – there may be room for family members to take advantage of a “free” hotel room and rental car – does it get any better than that? Below we’ve outlined a few tips to consider if you plan on bringing the family with you.

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Do you feel as if your brain is running on empty? Are you bogged down with hundreds of e-mails that you were copied on and they have nothing to do with you? Have your creative problem-solving abilities taken a vacation? And to top it off there is another business trip on the horizon. We’ve all been there, but there’s a way to turn things around and boost your creativity.

Instead of dreading that next trip, consider opening up to the possibilities it might bring. Travel can be just the stimulus you need to open your mind to a new way of doing something or a different way of tackling a project. Today we’ve compiled a list of 5 suggestions that may help you break through the rut and get your creative juices going.

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So, life isn’t always a party, there are days when you have to push yourself out the door. You hear a person on the news talking about their “passion” for their job and you just want to throw something at the screen. Well that might be a sign you have the dreaded disease we all get now and then…burnout. Yes, it can happen to anyone…one day you’re a happy employee, working seventy hours a week and next thing you know, you want to spend the rest of your life watching Buffy reruns or reality TV.

A few posts ago I talked about trying to balance the daily grind with that work thing. This post is a little test to see how you’re doing and ideally it also might give you some ideas how we can beat this thing together…

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Ahhh… as the swallows return to Capistrano, the bees to the nest, and Jason to Crystal Lake…so the beginning of vacation time is upon us and people who travel once a year are back …Mom, Pop, Sis and the family pet will be joining us in the friendly skies. They of course didn’t get the memo that we are in the age of high-alert travel that means they will have to strip down just to walk into the airport, all the while keeping their liquids in a plastic bag.

This will definitely slow you down – the travel pro…who can strip, place your laptop into a plastic bin while showing twelve forms of ID along with your boarding pass. (And unlike Animal Planet there are no predators to thin them out.) So take a few cleansing breaths while imaging your happy place and we’ll continue our ways to keep your sanity and shoes on the road…

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The first day of summer is rapidly approaching and so is vacation season, which means crowds. Yes, now is the season when you’re struggling to get to a meeting across the country all the while dodging families who are entering the mix to go to some fun place on their vacation. I love families, heck I have one of my own, but when you’re on a plane trying to organize a presentation or even trying to read email, you don’t need brothers and sisters fighting over who gets the window seat or asking, “are we there yet?” So to help prepare you, I’ve put together essential tips that ‘ll keep you sane during vacation season. This is just Part I. Part II will tackle how to deal with the crowds if you find yourself surrounded.

Be sure to click Read More for the rest of Anne Rumpf’s weekly column focused on business travel. If you have any comments for Anne, feel free to email her here.

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As you sit in your homes watching T.V. or walk through your local stores you’ve probably noticed everything has become green (i.e., earth friendly). It may be because, we’ve finally woken up to the fact that we have to protect the earth or we’ve noticed New Jersey is slightly under water. So, I thought I’d do my part to help the environment by providing some effortless suggestions on how to make your next business trip just a little bit greener. Ok, I can hear the muttering now I’m so busy I don’t have time to save the planet today, I’m late for a meeting, etc. Well if Superman felt that way or any of the other super heroes; we would be living under the reigns of killer robots or evil doer. OK! I got off the subject, but seriously even if we all do a little during each trip, it could make a big difference…

Be sure to click Read More for the rest of Anne Rumpf’s weekly column focused on business travel. If you have any comments for Anne, feel free to email her here.

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