How to Plan a "Workcation" During Your Next Business Trip ...Middle East

I personally love any excuse to travel. Because I live on the West Coast and most of the Popsugar team is in New York, I travel back and forth quite a bit and often dream of living a true bicoastal lifestyle. Whenever I have a reason to be in New York or another city for a big presentation or work event, I opt in - and I'll often try to tack on a couple of days and make a real trip out of it to explore, try new restaurants, and catch up IRL with long-distance friends.

That being said, I have many friends who travel for work - to New York, yes, but to other places like Miami and San Diego and Milwaukee - and dread it. These trips are often chaotic and busy; the travel pulls them out of their usual routines; and they end up spending their time in drab hotels and eating at the airport. Given some recent work travel I've done, I decided to consult a travel expert to find out how to really maximize business travel and make it feel like a downright vacation.

Experts Featured in This Article

Katy Nastro is a travel expert and spokesperson for Going.

Katy Nastro, a travel expert for Going, is a pro at workcations. "If you have the flexibility and the availability to take more time across a weekend, you're taking advantage of the fact that you had to be there anyway and maybe some of your costs are being taken care of by your company," she says. "I don't want to call it a free vacation, but it's a more attainable way to maximize vacation."

To empower all of you traveling-for-work folks, I got Nastro's top five tips for turning your next business trip into a workcation.

1. Be Strategic in Extending Your Work Trip

Generally, there's no recipe with exactly how to extend a work trip to make it feel more like a vacation, according to Nastro. Some companies will only pay for the flight and hotel costs associated with the work purpose itself, while others might be flexible. But if you extend the trip a couple days to fly back mid-week, the entire flight cost would typically be cheaper, so you could be "saving the company a couple bucks," Nastro says.

As I mentioned before, I work remotely in San Francisco, but a lot of happenings are in New York, so I try to get out there as much as I can. Last month, I opted to fly in late on a Wednesday night and stay through the weekend, using some travel credits from a canceled flight to pay my way there (though if the travel is required by your company, they should be paying for the flights!).

For the extra days you'll be tacking onto the travel covered by your company, I'd highly recommend crashing with close friends, checking out last-minute booking sites like HotelTonight.com, or taking advantage of credit card bonus points. I was able to stay at the Moxy NYC Lower East Side - a very lively hotel right in the heart of one of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan, with a killer rooftop bar - because I was checking out the kinds of rewards the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card from Chase offers. Credit cards like this can allow you to earn points on purchases that you can then use for free nights around the world - perfect for an extension of a work trip. (Even better, right now, new cardmembers can earn up to four Free Night Awards, which can then be redeemed for one-night stays at properties like the Moxy.)

2. Honor the Type of Vacation You Actually Want

Depending on where you're traveling, you might feel pressure "to see the greatest hits." But Nastro advises to spend time doing the things you want; that's what will make the trip feel like a vacation. For Nastro, that looks like trying a new restaurant wherever she is for work, even if she's been to that city multiple times. "I'm spending the time doing the things I would normally do if I were on vacation," she says. Maybe that looks like doing a self-guided walking tour of a new city for you or carving out some spa time. Whatever it is, commit to giving yourself a vacation treat.

When I was in New York City last month, I spent an hour window shopping in Soho - an experience I used to absolutely love doing as a teenager and something I usually don't make time for at home. I fell in line with tourists who were milling about and taking their time, and it was a nice break from the busy-ness of the business side of my trip.

3. Lean Into the Unexpected Delights

If you're traveling to a city that wasn't necessarily on your bucket list, it's important to still try to seek out experiences you're excited about. As Nastro says, "You might be delightfully surprised." When she traveled to Charlotte, NC, for work, for example, she found a box park with pop-up shops and cafes that she loved. She also suggests asking locals - and not just the folks working at your hotel - what they enjoy doing in that particular city.

4. Use It as an Excuse to Catch Up With Friends

Part of why I love traveling to New York is to see a lot of friends from various chapters of my life - childhood, college, and work - and coming in for work is a great excuse to catch up with them. Of course, when it's a shorter trip, it can be difficult to see everyone. But I try to make it a point to set aside time for at least one hangout when I'm there.

Nastro says that even if you're not going to a city where a friend lives, you and your friends can use work trips as an excuse to meet up - it "gives you a reason to be in this place with them." A couple of years ago, one of her friends was at a conference in New Orleans, and Nastro decided to fly in from Charleston to see her. Her friend lived in Boston, so it was a perfect middle ground, and it "turned into such a great reconnection for us," Nastro says.

5. Use Your Work Travel as a Launching Pad

Similarly to trying to find the best deals on lodging when you're extending a work trip, Nastro also recommends seeing where else you could jet off to from wherever you've landed for business. She was working in Miami when she saw a great flight deal to Guatemala through Going. It was only $200 or $250 roundtrip, so she jumped on it and was able to spend a weekend in Antigua. She jam-packed her days, trying out restaurants and taking a tour of a coffee farm, so that it felt as vacation-like as possible.

But sometimes, it's important to listen to what you really need at that moment. "In theory, it would be great to tack on another day to a work trip, but I think for a lot of us, if things at work are getting chaotic, the timing might not be right - and as much as you might want to explore this new place, it might just not be the right time," Nastro says. "Sometimes the best trips are the trips that you actually do plan a little further out and not try to make happen because you feel like you need to."

So whether you want to turn your next work trip into a full-on vacation or keep it strictly business, that's up to you. But I'll continue making my work travel as enjoyable as possible.

Hence then, the article about how to plan a workcation during your next business trip was published today ( Tuesday 07/04/2026 - 09:21 PM ) and is available on popsugar ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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