Travel

If you’re like most people and you believe that government travel advisories, warning and alerts represent the most accurate advice for business travellers then you are terribly mistaken.

Here are the key elements that all business travellers and travel managers need to know regarding the validity and application of government travel alerts and travel related advice. Knowing and understanding these few simple issues will save your company unnecessary travel delays and disruptions under almost any circumstance. The main points to always consider in the wake of a renewed or updated advisory, warning or alert is the target audience, specific government resources, commercial relevance and the avoidance of evacuation scenarios.

The primary demographic for government advisories are first time travellers, backpackers, families and anyone else with little to no prior travelling experience and preparation or the lowest possible denominator. It is this group that governments aim their advice and analysis towards with the belief that if this group is adequately informed, then all remaining demographics will be covered. Unfortunately this results in an artificially low benchmark for all travellers not within this group.These other groups depend upon travel for business productivity, management and administration and the more likely to have their travel plans altered unnessesarily due to many government alerts. This is in part due to corporate risk avoidance (in the belief the government travel advisories are adequate) and insurance companies benchmarking many of their travel policy exclusions on that of government travel advice (again, in the belief the government are catering to their needs too). Unless you are a first time traveller, significantly inexperienced or lack appropriate business support while travelling, then the majority of government travel advice does not apply to you.

Detailed examination of dedicated resources aimed at travel related advice and content typically reveals little more than a handful of “specific” resources. That is, someone or department dedicated solely to the collection, analysis and dissemination of commercially relevant travel advice. Most government resources are “shared” services when it comes to travel intelligence and advice with general non-government travel a very small increment of their overall mandate. Smaller countries have no dedicated resources and simply “share” the advice from coalition partners or more populace countries, further diluting the relevance to their citizens. Most continuous travel advisory services, provided by a government, are little more than a chronology of publicly available media updates. While resources are limited in the first instance, it is the lack of commercial experience that constitutes the greatest flaw to government travel advisories.

What little resources there are that are aimed at travel intelligence typically lack any direct commercial experience. Therefore, all their apparent advice is predicated more on the interests of the government (resulting in censorship, omissions and politically correct publications) than that of any business sector or commercial demographic. When you have soldiers, government agents and police officers commenting on matters relating to commerce and business travel, you get little actionable advice due to their inability to put into commercial context the impact events may have from a purely commercial perspective rather than a transnational or political viewpoint.

These business travel tips will approach the topic of business travel expenses in general terms. You must always follow your local laws and regulations and seek professional advice as applicable.

Business travel expenses are cost that occurs while you are travelling on business. Sounds simple enough… but unfortunately it isn’t. When is the cost of a trip deductible as allowable business expenses? Can you deduct all the cost of getting there and while there? What if you take your family with you?

What Are Business Travel Expenses?

The first golden rule of business travel expenses is that they must be ordinary and necessary. This leaves some room for interpretations but in principal its typical travel expenses that you need to incur in order to operate your existing business or to satisfy your job duties.

Secondly your business travel expenses must be reasonable. This again leaves some room for interpretations as first class flights and limousines can be very reasonable for some but not for others.

The business travel tips remind you that the expenses must be for business purposes only. Like expenses incurred in order to gain new customers or meet current customers, or to seek new investors, etc.

Allowable business expenses must be incurred for an existing business only, i.e. you can’t deduct travel expenses related to acquiring or starting a new business. Those travel expenses should be treated as part of the capitalized startup cost.

When you travel on business internationally then all your travel expenses related to getting to and from your business destination are deductible. If you spend part of your time abroad on personal business then you must check if you are can deduct all your travel expenses or if you must allocate them proportionally between business and private expense.

When you travel on business domestically it makes difference if your travel includes an overnight stay away from your tax home or not. If it doesn’t include an overnight stay then it’s considered a local same day business excursion and you must make sure your trip qualifies as such, i.e. must be a reasonable distance from your tax home and for clear business purposes.

Your tax home is generally the entire area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. So if you live in one place and work in another then your travel cost is not for business purposes.

You might want to combine travelling for business and pleasure. That’s fine as long as you know what allowable business expenses is and what isn’t. Business travel tips reminds you that all tax authorities do look out for taxpayers that might be tempted to classify a nondeductible personal trip as a deductible business trip so always make sure you follow your local rules to the letter.

Luxury Hotels

Family travel guides and family travel tips are especially useful when travelling with children of any age.

When we as adults think back to our childhoods we usually don’t remember the things we owned or the clothes we were wearing. What we remember is the time we spent with our loved ones. So when you are travelling with your kids you are creating memories that will last them a lifetime.

The importance of planning your perfect family holiday in advance

Travelling with your family is a quality time like no other, even if there are some unavoidable “ups and downs” along the way. However the better you prepare in advance, the more you should enjoy your family holiday.

Planning a family holiday with children of any age is different from planning a holiday for adults only. Children have different needs and ability, depending on their age and development. When planning your perfect family holiday, the most important thing is to keep the needs and ability of all family members in mind.

What is the best age to travel with children?

There is no one best age to travel with children. Each age group offers different delights and challenges.

Many parents feel the best time to travel with young children is when they are babies. Healthy infants tend to be very adaptable, as long as properly fed and are clean and comfy.

Travelling with toddler is considered by many parents the most demanding time to travel with a child. It can still be enjoyable experience, you just need to prepare accordingly and don’t forget to pack your patience – and lot of it.

Many parents consider travelling with school age children not only easiest but also the most enjoyable. School age children show more interest in their surroundings and are old enough to remember the trip.

There is though no reason why travelling with teenagers isn’t as enjoyable as travelling with school age children. Teenagers can be excellent travel companions as they are mentally and physically as fit as their parents, if not fitter.

Well prepared family holiday should help you to enjoy travelling with your kids – no matter what age they are.

Travel tips that are valid for all children

Babies, toddlers, school age children and teenagers have very different travel needs. However there are some valuable family travel guides and tips that are valid no matter what age your child is.

Air travel with children or long car journeys are usually challenging as most children don’t like confined spaces for too long. Make sure you provide age appropriate entertainment for your child while travelling. There are many excellent travel games for children available now-a-days, but the good old imagination is also a valuable travel companion and can be the source of many fun travel games for children.

SA flights |
Everyone saves money on cheap hotels