You didn’t read that incorrectly – today we are talking about Bleisure. A portmanteau for the rising trend in mixing business trips with leisure.
I hadn’t even heard of bleisure until my Dad and I were in a taxi returning home from our recent (as it turns out – bleisure) trip to Singapore and Thailand. Bleisure was being discussed on the radio and the conversation topic immediately piqued my interest.
Bleisure is a buzz-term favoured by hospitality businesses looking to capitalise on people’s desire to incorporate personal travel in to a business trip. The likelihood is that you have partaken in some kind of bleisure without even realising it.
Case in point – having completed some business in Singapore, my Dad and I opted to tag on a couple of days in Thailand on our way back to the UK.
Today I am sharing some simple tips for scoring more bleisure time and maximising it whilst you are there. Whether you run your own business or work for an employer.
How To Maximise Your Bleisure Time
1 – Aim to tag on a few leisure days at the end or beginning of your business trip.
Oli and I recently visited the Croatian island of Obonjan for work. Originally we had thought that we would visit the island only, but we impulsively decided that an extra day at the beginning of our trip would be a nice addition. We opted to stay in Split for one day and night before travelling to Obonjan, and it was wonderful to explore another location as well as to have some ‘time off’ before heading to the island we were reviewing.
Despite reviewing a holiday location, there is a different mindset when you are visiting somewhere for an article.
If you work for a company, or indeed are travelling in a more traditional business sense, then ask your employer if they would be happy for you to use some holiday time to tag on a couple of extra days at the beginning or end of your trip. If your employer is flexible and is paying for your air fare, they will hopefully be happy to book an alternative outbound or return date.
From your company’s point of view you are still present for your business trip, and from your point of view you get to explore a cool place for a couple of days and perhaps even save some money on your travel.
As this article shares, there is a potential added benefit to your employer, by you travelling more too:
“they (the employer) benefit from their employees’ increased cultural awareness of where they’re being sent while also potentially avoiding burnout from too much business travel with no downtime.”
“Bleisure doesn’t have to work with business leading the planning. Perhaps you have somewhere in the world you would love to travel to, and doing business in the area is an extra stimulus?”
2 – Research neighbouring locations.
What if you are travelling for business, to somewhere you don’t particularly have an interest in exploring? Research the areas which neighbour your location, and you may find that there is somewhere you really do want to go, a short journey away.
As I mentioned, this year I’ve tagged on an extra city on one work trip, and an extra country on another.
If you are travelling long distance, some airlines even allow you to choose an extra stop-off location. My Dad and I flew to Singapore with Emirates and we were able to add a stop in Thailand on the way home for free.
3 – Turn your leisure trip in to a business one.
Bleisure doesn’t have to work with business leading the planning. Perhaps you have somewhere in the world you would love to travel to, and doing business in the area is an extra stimulus for booking that trip.
For me, I would love to travel to California next year, and know that there is as much of a business justification for the trip, as there is a leisure one.
Try this exercise:
Write down five places in the world you would love to visit, and then look in to the potential business opportunities there. If you work for yourself, what contacts could you make there? Could you visit a potential business connection? Could you fit in some research? Could you observe the way another market works?
If you work for another company, the same principal can be applied. What is of interest in the place you’d like to visit, for your employer?
One friend I know struck up a deal with their company: they very much wanted to visit a certain city and knew that they would be doing natural research whilst being their. Their boss gave them paid time off, and they worked out a shared cost for the trip.
In today’s modern working sphere, I’ve found that forward-thinking businesses are more open than ever to smart suggestions. If you make the travel worth the while or your company, hopefully they’ll be just as keen to support your trip as you are to take it.
4 – Make suggestions, or take responsibility, for your itinerary.
You don’t necessarily have to extend your work trip, to enjoy certain leisure activities. The likelihood is if you are travelling, you will be taking meetings with local contacts. You may even have allocated time slots for exploring the city with your colleagues.
If there is somewhere you really want to visit during your trip, you can always volunteer to take charge of the itinerary. Be it booking the restaurant for dinner with clients, or suggesting the bonding activity you all take part in. When Oli and I had some time to kill in Šibenik before getting our boat to Obonjan recently, we took a friend’s recommendation and checked out She Bistro (seen above ^).
You could also look to arrange your last meeting of the day in an area you’d like to visit, thus cutting down travel time when you clock off. You can go straight from ‘meeting mode’ in to ‘exploring mode’.
You can even make suggestions for the hotel you are staying in. Given you will have to work within the restrictions of your company, but you may be able to influence either a more interesting location, or a particularly cool hotel you’ve been wanting to check out.
5 – If you’re up against the clock – take your running shoes with you.
In some cases, you just won’t be able to negotiate a longer or more leisurely trip with your company. In which case, it’s important to make the most of the time you have abroad. For me, even when travelling on a press trip with a packed itinerary, I like to take my running trainers with me for an exploratory jog.
It is so worth setting your alarm an extra hour early, or fitting in thirty minutes before dinner, to get outside and go for a run in your adopted area.
Not only will the exercise help wake you up and shake off any jet lag you may be experiencing, it is also a personal time slot for you to explore your location.
Some of my favourite memories from work trips I have taken have been the early morning jogs I’ve taken before the day has got started.
What is your take on Bleisure? Is it something you like to do with your company right now? Or something you’d like to explore more?
If you are a regular bleisure traveller, do you have any more tips to share?
Love, Monica x
P.S. I was locked out of my WordPress account whilst in Singapore, hence why Friday and Monday’s posts were no-shows. Sorry to have missed you guys! A shout out to the Chloé Digital team for helping me to get back in.
OUTFIT CREDITS
Dress: Monsoon c/o | Tote Bag: Diesel (Old)
Sandals: Seven Boot Lane (Old) | Sunglasses: Taylor Morris
Hoops: Dinny Hall
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