Lost and found stuff on business trips

During daily life losing personal objects are quite a disturbing thing. Especially if you are a person with attention deficit, each day may become another hassle that you search for your keys at home or tossing your bag upside down in the middle of the restaurant to find your debit card.

For business trips, the cost of losing valuables may be harsher. Since company-owned items are mostly technological devices, losing your phone or laptop given by the company may cause bigger problems. Because those devices also include confidential information that may harm business relations besides their monetary value.

For your next trip, you may consider following tips on the business trip checklist to avoid wasting your time at lost and found offices. 

Focus on what you lost most

If you tend to lose small valuables like keys, credit cards, and ID cards, then try to apply a routine that you will check the same objects when you are leaving from a place. Create a mental checklist and tick each item whenever you change location. Also, putting these items to the same place every time will create a habit, and the memorization process becomes easier. For example, you make sure that you put your Business cell phone to your bag’s inner pocket, or your VPN device to the front pocket of your laptop bag. These precautions will help you to maintain a routine and reduce the risk of lost and found objects.

Do not bring your valuables with you

Even you plan to go on a business trip with a small suitcase, you may end up with overstuffing your baggage or carrying multiple bags. This would increase the likelihood of losing personal belonging. To carry your personal cell phone and business mobile, or 2 laptops along with other things will stress you and as well as distract you. So, try to reduce your personal items and especially valuable belongings for business trips.

Choose your accommodation location wisely

Yes, due to budget limitations, you may not choose the best hotel for your business trip. However, do not forget that this for business purpose. So, rather than a landscape view of your room, your safety matters. Check the visitor comments on the safety of the neighborhood and the reliability of hotel staff. Losing a personal belonging at a hotel may become too stressful if they do not have cameras or poor understanding of service quality.

Use ID tag stickers for your valuable belongings

One of the most effective ways for ensuring your belongings is to use ID tags to avoid spending time at lost and found services and waiting for their return in exceedingly long lists. This practical solution provides tags for your valuables to attach on them with the information of lost and found company’s contact info. There are also rewards offered to your future finder if s/he returns the lost and found item to the owner. This motivates most people who find missing objects. While providing only mediator company information, the owner’s contact information stays confidential. 

Waiting for the return of lost and found objects is a desperate process and owners mostly think they will never reach their belonging again. However, the ID tags for belongings can be used for life-long and always stay on your goods. This solution increases the return rate of missing personal belongings. While you carry valuable technological devices on your business trips, and if you are a frequent traveler, using these ID tags for personal items may become a beneficial tool for you and also for your colleagues.

Lost and found, a cat

I am an animal lover, I have always had pets since I was a small child and there have been all sorts of animals: ducks, turtles, cats, dogs, snails, chickens… but my favourite was a white cat, a beautiful sweet creature whose eyes had different colours (one was blue, the other green). Saying it was my favourite pet does not mean I did not like or care as much for all the others, it is about the connection that there was between the two of us. Some may say it is silly, but truth to be said… we really had some special, unspoken connection.

This little friend of mine was part of my life for a quite long period too, which certainly contributed to our mutual affection to grow (eighteen years). To describe the depth of our friendship, here is an anecdote: I spent a period of my life living abroad and during this time, one day, I woke up with an unpleasant feeling that I could not understand. Later on, that day I called my mum to hear from them and when I asked about my cat, she told me it had been missing for almost a week. I felt horribly. To me, it was like my cat was communicating that we may not meet again, and I spent the night awake, worried and sad. Luckily, the following morning I was told it had come home, very hungry and scared. Apparently, it had lost and found its way home with some difficulty – I believe it was locked in some cellar, or hut which it had entered to hunt some little animals. Connection between living beings is something amazing, and we should not underestimate it, never. On the contrary, it is really worth taking care of, becoming aware of it, it will only help us live better.

School bags: wheels or not?

If you told me about a school bag with wheels when I was at school, I would have laughed in horror. And if I had received one as a present, I would certainly never have used it. What is a bag with wheels, anyway? Isn’t it more correct to call it trolley?

Well, as I see it now, if I had had school bags with wheels when I was a kid, most probably, I would not suffer from backache the way I do… According to my doctor, in fact, a major contributor to my current health problems is that for long years I have carried heavy weights on my back, referring to scholastic knowledge, of course. We all wanted to be cool when we went to school so we would only care about style, but even if I wanted to, I would not have been able to get one of these new wheeled school bags, because by then they didn’t exist. However, now they do. While you can get many models of school bags, the ones with wheels are very much appreciated and largely sold. The reason is obvious: why carrying heavy weights on your backs if you can avoid to? The answer is so clear, so sensible… what better way to ensure your child’s back is not in danger?

All these words are meant to get to the question: should I buy a school bag with wheels for my children? As far as I am concerned, the answer is 100% yes. Do not hesitate! And yet, do not make the mistake to forget about other requirements. When you go to the store and start looking for bags with your child do not just check wheels and colours. There are a few more features you need to check out, to be sure you buy a quality product – you do not want to be buying another bag next year, do you? So, inspect the material it is made of, check if it is waterproof and if the bottom is resistant to abrasion (we all know kids do not exactly take care of their belongings and usually just drop their bags wherever); also check if the size of the bag fits the size of the child and that the shoulder straps are adjustable; and do not forget to look how it is made inside (compartments are a very good thing to keep order). Finally, hold it for a while and choose a bag that it is not heavy when empty, you do not want to add any unnecessary weight to your children’s already heavy school bags. If you keep in mind these few tips, you will make the right purchase, guaranteed!

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The Office Chair, how to choose it

Whether you spend a lot of hours in front of your laptop or at your desk, choosing the right office chair is important, if you want to avoid health issues, such as backaches or neckaches.

How do we choose, then? The best office chairs, the high-quality ones, feature a series of adjustments you can do to seat at the right height and to have your back to correctly rest on your seat. Height adjustment, lumbar support, knee supports are only a few features available to the best office chair. Naturally, such chairs do not come at a small price. These are pieces of furniture specifically designed to ensure you can use them for long periods of time and to last for many years, it would be silly to assume they are cheap. What to do, then, if you can’t afford it? Well, the advice here is to wait until have enough money saved up to invest in a really good office chair.

There are many offers, and it is not easy to decide which chair is best – especially because you should try it yourself, meaning you should sit on it for a day or two, and that of course, is not an option. So, to help you choose, while you should seek the help of a professional, here are a few extra tips:

  1. Ergonomics. A good office chair must have a seat that is ergonomically correct, with a robust structure, adequate lumbar support, made with quality materials and padding so that is adapts to the body shape of the user.
  2. Comfort. Choose your office chair for its comfort, not design. Comfort is a must in this matter, probably the only thing that counts. Don’t let yourself get tricked by an intriguing design that may end up being a downside.
  3. Quality check. Make sure you are buying a good product. Do some research before selecting the brand or shop.
  4. Space. Remember that your office chair has to fit in your office, that is, don’t buy something that is too big or can’t be moved around.

In conclusion, remember that you sit a lot of hours, and that this is a long-term condition. If you are going to buy an office chair you have to go for a good product, so you don’t get injured – this is a health matter. Don’t go cheap. Make sure that you invest in it and that the chair is comfortable enough. Comfort first.…