Travel and Event Logistics

You get the owner where they need to be, rested and prepared, and you make events run so smoothly that nobody notices the logistics. The standard: options presented clearly with trade-offs, entry requirements checked on official sources, an itinerary that answers every "where, when, how" question, a plan B for the likely failures, and no money spent without the owner's explicit go-ahead.

When to use

• "Book me to Berlin for the conference next month."
• "I need to be in New York Tuesday to Thursday, sort it."
• "Plan a two-day team offsite for 12 people."
• "Organise a dinner for eight investors in London."
• "What do I need to enter Japan for a business trip?"
• "My flight was cancelled, what are my options?"

What you need

• The traveller profile, kept with memory: seat and cabin preferences, airline and hotel loyalty programme names (not numbers or passwords), dietary needs, accessibility needs, preferred hotels or areas, the company travel policy and budget. Store passport numbers, dates of birth and payment card details nowhere in memory or notes; ask for them at booking time or use the profile already saved in the booking site the owner uses.
• The trip: purpose, fixed meetings with addresses and times, flexibility on dates.
• Access: booking sites, airline and hotel accounts through the agent's own browser signed in by the owner, or a travel tool the company already uses as a connected app. Calendar and email to place holds and read confirmations. You may search and hold; you may not pay or book without explicit approval for that specific booking.

Method

1. Pin the constraints. Fixed meetings, earliest departure and latest return, budget or policy limits, and the owner's priorities for this trip (cost, comfort, time, flexibility).
2. Check entry requirements early. On official government sources only (the destination's immigration or foreign ministry site, and the owner's own government travel advice): visa or electronic travel authorisation needs for the owner's nationality and purpose (business visits are treated differently from tourism in some countries), passport validity rules (some countries require several months beyond the stay; check), and health entry requirements.
   • Record each with the source link and date checked.
   • Flag anything that needs weeks to arrange.
3. Compare transport options. Present three where possible: cheapest acceptable, best timed, most flexible.
   • For each: times in local time zones, duration, connections and their minimum connection times, fare rules (refundable, changeable, fees), baggage, loyalty fit, and total cost.
   • Consider rail for short routes.
   • Leave realistic buffers: arrive the evening before an important morning meeting, and avoid scheduling critical meetings in the first morning after a long eastbound flight where possible.
4. Compare accommodation. Two or three options near the meetings, within policy, with cancellation terms, total price including taxes and fees, and any accessibility needs checked.
5. Get explicit approval. Show the options with show_card and your recommendation.
   • Book only what the owner approves, exactly as approved.
   • Booking is a payment and cannot always be undone: if anything differs at checkout (price, fare class, cancellation terms), stop and ask again.
6. Build the itinerary. Use references/itinerary-template.md: day by day, every time in local time with the owner's home time in brackets, confirmation numbers, addresses with map links, ground transport, meeting details with briefs linked, local emergency numbers, and the company contact. Add everything to the calendar with the correct time zones (compute with execute_code and zoneinfo).
7. Prepare plan B. For each leg: the next alternative departure, the airline's rebooking route, the hotel's late-arrival policy. If disruption happens, present options fast and act only on approval, unless the owner has agreed in advance that you may rebook within set limits.
8. Run the day-before check. With cronjob: flight status, online check-in opening, seat, weather, any strikes or disruption news, documents reminder, and the first morning's plan. Send it to the owner the evening before.
9. For events, run the countdown. Use references/event-countdown.md: purpose and success measure first, then dates, venue, budget (with a contingency line, commonly around 10 per cent), invitations and RSVPs, dietary and accessibility needs, run of show, session owners and note-takers, supplier confirmations, and follow-up.
   • Keep a budget tracker with committed versus spent.
   • Contracts with venues or suppliers go to the owner for approval and, for large commitments, a qualified reviewer.
10. Close out. Collect receipts for expenses, note what worked and what did not in memory, and draft thank-you notes to hosts or speakers for approval.

Judgement calls

• The best option breaks the travel policy (cabin class, price cap): present it with the reason and let the owner or approver decide.
• Loyalty versus price: show the difference in money. Loyalty benefits rarely justify a much higher fare.
• A very early departure or overnight flight before a big meeting: recommend against it unless the owner prefers it.
• Destinations with travel warnings: read the owner's government travel advice, summarise it, and let the owner decide with whoever is responsible for staff safety. Insurance may not cover areas under an advisory.
• Group travel for events: decide early whether attendees book their own travel within a budget or bookings are central; either way, each attendee enters their own personal details.
• Disruption: hold a refundable fallback only if the owner has authorised that in advance.
• Accessibility: confirm assistance requests directly with the airline and hotel, in writing.

Before every departure:

• The itinerary is shared with the agreed company contact.
• Emergency numbers and the nearest embassy or consulate for the owner's nationality are in the itinerary.
• Insurance details, if the company has cover, are at hand.

Output

• An options card per trip (transport and accommodation) with a recommendation.
• travel/<trip>-itinerary.md and calendar entries in correct time zones.
• An entry requirements note with official sources.
• For events: events/<event>/plan.md (countdown checklist with owners and dates), budget tracker, run of show, attendee list with needs.
• A day-before message for each trip.
• Options card headline layout (full template in references/itinerary-template.md):

Trip: <purpose>, <city>, <dates> · Fixed: <first meeting, local time>
A cheapest acceptable: <summary, total> · B best timed: <summary, total> · C most flexible: <summary, total>
Hotel: <option, total, cancellation> · Entry: <requirement> (<official source>, checked <date>)
Recommend: <option> because <reason>. Nothing is booked until you approve.

Checks before you finish

• Entry, visa and passport rules checked on official sources, with dates checked.
• Every booking was explicitly approved and matches what was approved.
• Itinerary times are in local time with home time shown; calendar entries use correct time zones.
• Buffers are realistic for connections and first meetings.
• No passport numbers, card details or passwords stored in memory or files.
• Event budget shows committed and spent against the approved total.
• Personal data collected for an event (dietary, access, emergency contacts) has a deletion date.

Pitfalls

• Booking before approval. Even a "great deal" needs the owner's yes.
• Trusting old entry rules. Electronic travel authorisations and passport rules change. Check the official source every trip.
• Tight connections. A 45-minute connection at a large hub with a terminal change is a missed meeting. Check the airport's minimum connection time and add margin.
• Time zone slips in calendars. An event saved in the wrong zone moves by hours. Verify in code.
• Storing sensitive documents. Passport scans in a shared folder are a breach waiting to happen.
• Events without a purpose. An offsite with no agenda becomes an expensive holiday. Start with the outcome.

See also: schedule-and-protect-time for fitting trips into the calendar and meeting-prep-pack for the meetings on the trip.