I do a fair bit of travel and I’ve learned some things I thought I’d share with you. Here’s a list of 8 tips. There are a whole bunch more but I didn’t want to go overboard, and in all honesty, I couldn’t think of any more at the moment. I should really make a complete list.

For starters:

1. Every piece of luggage I travel with gets a bright red handle cover. If I have to check a piece of luggage I can easily spot it on the conveyor belt at baggage claim. Additionally if it’s lost for any reason it now stands out. I tell this to the agent and it makes it a lot easier to find.
2. Use technology. I use my phone now to check in and as my boarding pass. Additionally I can check the weather, make Phone.com calls and keep track of all my reservations.
3. Join every loyalty program and be loyal. My father-in-law taught me this. He joined every program he could and so have I. Over the years I’ve gotten 5 international airline tickets and some rental cars just from my miles alone. Whenever I get the opportunity I point my miles to American Airlines, my airline of choice.
4. Get a credit card that gives you miles. I personally chose a credit card that gives me miles on most major airlines. Some cards give you points versus miles and typically those don’t give you the most bang for your buck in my calculations. Typically the cards that give miles 1:1 or better for every dollar spent have an annual fee, but that’s ok with me. It’s always worked out in my favor.
5. Always carry food with you. I’m not suggesting you act like my mother and carry an entire chicken or a salami, but I always carry some snacks. Whether it’s a granola bar, a bag of nuts or some junk food, there’s always a few snacks in my bag. My mother was right, sometimes you get stuck on a runway, in the airport or you just get hungry on a long flight. Starving yourself isn’t good especially when traveling.
6. If you’re flight is canceled or you’re going to miss your connection I suggest calling the airline on your cell phone versus standing in line with everyone else to face that poor unfortunate counter attendant that is getting an earful from upset passengers.
7. On that note, be nice and smile. Even if you’re having a horrendous trip or are stressed to your breaking point, I suggest you be nice if you want to get anything from anybody. Want to rebook a canceled flight? Don’t scream at the unfortunate soul behind the counter; talk to them nicely and they’ll likely do their best to help you out.
8. If you’re a frequent traveler, need a tax deduction or can get your company to splurge for you, a membership to an airline club can make your travel significantly better. Private bathrooms/showers, quiet secluded areas, free food and drink plus a whole list of other benefits make club membership one of a traveler’s best friends.

One friend of mine always flies with a scarf that he pulls up over his mouth and nose when he sleeps on planes. He claims he doesn’t get sick from flying because of this. Do you have any tips or tricks you can share with us? What do you know that others may not? Please share on Facebook or Twitter.

I got an HTC One last week from AT&T to review and of course I wanted to install the Phone.com Mobile Office app on it as well as see if it had an open SIP stack so I could program a Phone.com extension. Our Android app works perfectly on the One and if you watch the video you’ll see a short tutorial on how to program a Mobile Extension onto the phone.

This definitely isn’t necessary if you have our Mobile Office app but it’s nice to have options, plus I like push the limits of these phones along with fiddle. Enjoy the video and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask on Facebook or Twitter.

If you’re a user of Phone.com’s Communicator software on your laptop, as I am when I travel, here’s a neat little tip I picked up while sniffing (okay, call it surfing) around the web. (Communicator, for those who aren’t aware of it, is a neat little program that turns a laptop into a Phone.com extension on your virtual switchboard, both for incoming and outgoing calls from anywhere in the world that you can connect to the Internet.)

Most modern laptops have tiny built in microphones but, let’s face it, the sound quality on those microphones isn’t really all that great. The solution, it would seem, is to connect an external microphone. The microphone, with the proper interface, can cost anything from a few dollars up into the big bucks for a broadcast-quality unit. Even a modestly priced one does amazing things to the way VoIP sounds over your laptop (by the way, the same is true when you replace the little pinhole size microphones on many modern cameras with an external microphone, assuming of course that your camera will support such a microphone).

Communicator supports external microphones but, it seems from what I’ve been reading, a lot of people who have used such microphones complain that they’re still not getting the sound quality they were hoping for. As it turns out, the reason is simple: the laptop is still set to use its own internal microphone. All it takes is a simple setting change to choose the external microphone and instantly get the sound you are paying for.

Figuring out which microphone is actually in use is also usually simple. Just tap the external microphone, then flick the laptop with your fingernail. Watch the bar on the microphone input. That will tell you quickly enough which microphone is really being used.

For those interested, I found this tip on a web site called RadioWorld (www.rwonline.com), which is devoted to the technical details of radio broadcasting. Programs such as Communicator, it seems, are now being used by broadcasters to send broadcast-quality sound from remote locations, for uses such as news reporting. I would think it could also be quite useful to traveling executives participating in conferences back at the home office.

Facebook is a key tool for companies, from sharing news about the company to publishing coupons or disseminating information, it’s become part of how businesses work. So when an admin on the company Facebook page wants to Like, comment or Share as themselves not the company it can be frustrating. I couldn’t figure out how to do it myself (posting on the Phone.com Facebook Page as Jeb Brilliant) and searching on Google wasn’t much help. When I read Baochi Nguyen’s guide to changing 1 tiny setting I was relieved and wished she had posted it years ago.

Follow the instructions and you can start posting as yourself on any Facebook Page you’re an Admin on, in particular your companies Page, with ease.

Many Facebook Page admins are unaware of a somewhat obscure setting in Facebook that allows you to Like, Comment, and Share on your Facebook page as an individual rather than as a brand. Here’s how to change that right now:

1. Log into Facebook.

2. In the upper right corner, click on the star-like icon. You will see the option Use Facebook as. Select your brand page. NOTE: this is a very important step — you must, at this point, be logged in as your brand page in order to complete this process.

3. On your brand Facebook page, click on Edit Page >> Update Info located at the top of the page.

4. On Edit Page, click on Your Settings in the upper left navigation.

5. In the Posting Preferences section, uncheck the option to Always comment and post as your page, even when using Facebook as your personal profile.

6. That’s it! Now you can interact with your Facebook Brand Page as an individual. This means that when you are logged in to your personal profile, you can engage as yourself with your brand’s posts in the home feed. If you are on your brand’s Facebook Page, you can toggle between your personal and brand profiles by using the star-like tool in the upper right corner. Facebook will also alert you at the top of the page as to the profile you are engaging as. Now go amp up engagement and reach!

Many thanks to Baochi for enlightening me about this setting. You may have already known about this but it’s really helped me. Make sure to read her blog and if you get a chance, say thanks to her on Twitter.