YOUR HOME AWAY 
Is your company shipping you to another city for an extended length of time? If so, it’s possible your temporary home will be a hotel room for the next few months.
While a stay in another city can be fun with so much to explore, an extended hotel stay can be grueling and lonely.
Don’t let it be. If you pack right, you can make your extended stay hotel room or suite feel like home.
Read these tips for what to pack to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
There’s a strong possibility if you’re traveling to another city for an extended work trip, you’ll be on the road. Given the current Covid-19 pandemic, businesses have cut flight travel for their employees.
Even if your company hasn’t, you may not feel comfortable on a flight. There are a few essential items to pack if you’re hitting the road.
Travel mugs and reusable water bottles are important if you’re on a long drive. You’re going to want to stay caffeinated and hydrated, and plastic water bottles and Styrofoam coffee cups will clutter your car and harm the environment.
Consider a small cooler packed with healthy snacks. Turnpike rest area fast food can be a fun change if you don’t often indulge in burgers and fries, but multiple meals of this less than nutritious food can make you feel terrible.
There are also travel pillows for your car seat, so you’re comfortable on your journey. An aching back or legs can take the joy out of a long drive.
Don’t go without a magnetic phone holder. The last thing you need is to be distracted by your phone while you’re driving.
Even with today’s travel concerns, you may have to take a flight. You might be a person who travels light, but you have to know what to pack for your flight.
Staying hydrated on a flight is important. That recycled air and the stress of air travel can dry you out. Collapsable water bottles can pass through security, and you can fill it up before boarding.
Aside from the obvious items like neck pillows, valuables, and medications, an important carry on item is a change of underwear.
Think about the genius of fresh underwear on a flight. You’ve spent hours at the airport before your flight took off. You went through security; you found your gate. Now you’re on an hours-long flight in the same sweaty clothes.
With a change of underwear, you can freshen up in flight and remain comfortable.
Now that you’ve reached your destination and checked in, you need to think about how to turn your hotel room into a temporary home.
Plenty of extended stay hotels offer suites with small kitchens. If you have one, one of the best ways to make your stay more comfortable is to pack kitchen essentials.
Dining out in a new city can be fun. There are exciting restaurants to try, and this activity can bring a lot of needed pleasure for a work trip.
Over a months-long trip, eating every meal out can be expensive and unhealthy. When packing for an extended stay, make sure to bring along kitchen essentials so you can prepare healthy meals for yourself and save some cash.
The smell of your own food cooking, and a home-cooked meal, can turn any sterile hotel room into a lovely temporary home.
Extended stay motels and hotels have bedding, of course.
So often, people find hotel or motel bedding uncomfortable. Sleep is essential in your work-life. When packing for a long trip, consider packing some of your own bedding.
While packing sheets, blankets, and comforters might not be possible, you can certainly bring your pillow or pillows and your own pillowcases or shams to make sure you’re getting a good night’s sleep.
If you’ve ever moved into a new house, you know it doesn’t feel like a home until you’re surrounded by the items that are important to you.
To make your extended stay hotel room feel more like home during your time away from your actual home, pack a few important items that will aid the transformation.
These items could be favorite photographs or a few pieces of artwork that you love. Maybe it’s your favorite coffee mug or a special tea kettle.
Anything that’s a frequently used home item can hold off your homesickness and help you enjoy your stay.
When considering what to pack for a trip, especially an extended trip, remember to pack some items to help mimic a home.
Candles are important for this. If you’re going to be in a hotel room for a long period of time, it is helpful to have your space smell more like a home rather than a transient room.
Pack some favorite scented candles or an oil diffuser for the aromatherapy that will help you make any hotel room a temporary home.
You’ve packed everything you think you need for an extended stay in a hotel room. Once you bring it along, don’t forget to unpack.
Own the space for the time you’ll be in it. Living out of your bags will only leave you with a transient feeling, no matter how smartly you’ve packed for your trip.
When traveling long-term for business, remember to pack as much as you can that will help turn your extended stay hotel room into a home.
If you’re considering what to pack whether flying or driving, bring along some kitchen essentials, some important home items, and anything else you think you might need to help transform your hotel room into a livable space.
Are you looking to book an extended stay hotel room for your next business trip to the North Carolina or Virginia area?
Contact us today to discuss our rates and book your temporary home.