As an Executive Assistant, it is almost always inherently anticipated that you will possess the aptitude to be intuitive when it comes to your work. You bear the responsibility for planning somebody else’s life, so much so that you may even become the most significant support system available to your C-level staff.

However, there is only so much you can anticipate, especially when it comes to travel arrangements. While you may be able to gauge the political and environmental climate of a destination, that’s just not enough to ensure that you will be prepared for every spanner that is thrown in the works. As a Travel Management Company, we can affirm this is hard even for us, which is why we have a 24/7 emergency response team, along with technology in place to foster communication during times of disaster. We understand how difficult it is and that you cannot be awake at all times, which is why we want to help you take steps to try and prepare for the worst, when you don’t even know what the worst could be!

Before the trip

• Understand the health concerns of the destination and advise the traveller to ensure all their vaccinations are up to date

• Note all 24/7 travel clinics within the vicinity of the traveller

• Email electronic copies of all important documents to your traveller

• Establish a communications plan if the primary communication method drops out. For example, perhaps an instant messaging application online, in case a phone stops working and vice versa

• Create an “Emergency Contact” list for your traveller, with the number for important local emergency services. In this list, make sure to include numbers for relevant embassies, medical centres, police, banking customer service etc.

• Assess the specific needs of the traveller. You should already have a traveller profile by now but just in case you don’t, make sure you understand all pre-existing medical conditions and ensure the needs of this condition will be met by appropriate medical facilities.

• Try and pre-book ground travel such as car transfers to avoid the chance of your traveller entering an unlicensed vehicle, especially in destinations where this is very common.

• If you do not have Traveller Tracking technology, make sure to register the traveller at www.smarttraveller.gov.au.

During the trip

• Agree to communicate regularly and set timeframes for when to be in touch

• Be armed with travel apps so that you can stay up to date with local weather, traffic conditions or political stability

• Make sure you have the contact information of the respective accommodation, air and car providers at hand, in case other means of communication are lost

• Regularly monitor local news and scan for possible threats. Your traveller most likely will not be watching the news as they will be busy, so you might be their only connection to what’s happening in the vicinity

After the trip

• De-brief with your traveller to find out if at any point they felt vulnerable to identify areas that were missed.

• Review the communications plan and decide whether or not it was effective

• Note where you felt you went right and wrong, so that the next trip will only be an improvement going forward.

If traveller safety is an area that you have previously struggled with, or you want to find out about how we use technology and a fully equipped after hours team to handle emergency situations, click here .