Last Business Trip to New York

Acela Express 2159, departing Boston at 9:15 for Washington, D.C.: I'm on what is almost certainly my last business trip. We've just passed Providence. I've got the Glee version of "Like a Prayer" blasting through my headphones (to block out the shouted conversation of the businesswoman-in-jean-shorts across the aisle).

End of an era.

I'm heading down to our New York for a two-day training that GSMCF is putting on for those of us who are heading off to grad school this fall. The vast majority of the attendees will be going to business school (the usual suspects of HBS, Kellogg, Wharton, Haas, Tuck, etc.). Two of us (I think) are doing non-business related grad degrees. I'm the only one off to a doctoral program and the only one in the humanities / social sciences.

The training seems to me to be a very smart idea in both directions: for us, we'll get time to reflect on our careers at the firm, learn about how to position our consulting experience, dig into our leadership and communication styles, etc. The firm gets one last chance to make sure that we take off on a high note and with happy thoughts about GSMCF in our heads. I'm not sure what my chances are of ending up back in consulting or at GSMCF specifically; hopefully, if I play my cards right and do well in grad school, not very good. But these are the types of things that the firm does for us that make me think that, if I were to end up back in consulting, it wouldn't be such a bad life after all.

Given that I'm on my last business trip, I suppose some reflections on business travel might be appropriate:

• Buy pull-on shoes to speed through airport security. I have two pairs of pull-on loafers, one in black and one in brown, for maximum flexibility.

• Keep a separate travel toiletry bag. Rather than having to rifle through your toiletries at home to assemble a travel kit for every trip, stock a quart-sized plastic bag (the kind approved for airport security) with travel-sized toothpaste, deodorant, hair product, etc. so that you can grab-and-go in the morning.

• Never fly from Boston to New York. It just doesn't make any sense to me to take a flight that lands in an airport that is a $50 cab ride from downtown when you can -- in roughly the same amount of time -- have a leisurely ride on the train into the heart of the city. You get ample leg room, all the electricity you can use, and pretty views of Connecticut. It's not even close.

• Never check bags. This goes without saying.

• Invest in wrinkle-free shirts and pants. I don't know how I would have looked presentable for the past 4 years without wrinkle-free business clothes. You can virtually stuff them into your carry-on for the flight, hang them up when you get to the hotel, and -- voila! -- the next morning it looks like you've just taken them out of your closet at home (you can hang them up in the bathroom while you take a steamy shower for a quick refresh). Now we just need Brooks Brothers to start making its extra slim fit shirts in non-iron fabric.

That's all I can think of for now. Is it any surprise that Up in the Air has become one of my favorite movies?