Tips and tricks for the corporate traveler: make life easier by following this corporate traveler's lead.

• Author: Colby, Nicole A. Bonham

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While portions of Alaska are understandably focused on tourist travel--shepherding a flock of summer visitors in and out of the state--corporate travel remains a quiet constant, nonetheless supplementing Alaska's transportation activity.

Nowadays, given Alaska's first-class air transport infrastructure and prime geography along the industry-heavy Pacific Rim, it's not at all unusual to find folks who accept the reality of intense business travel in exchange for living the good life in small towns like Ketchikan, Junean and Kenai. Whether traveling within the state or to far-flung points across the globe, whether a Lower 48 ex pat or lifelong Alaskan, such road warriors learn tips and tricks to make their time in the skies and airports comfortable and efficient.

For five years, I did exactly that while working for a global defense contractor--living a recipe of one part frequent foreign business travel; one part telecommuting from my home in Ketchikan; and one part shuttling between my starting point at the Mountain Point Boat Ramp along Tongass Highway south of Ketchikan and the company headquarters at the glassy, high-tech Denver Technology Center. Corporate travel to the extreme: a real-life example of "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (in my case, insert Seattle or Los Angeles or Auckland or Sydney).

For those who enjoy the thrill of waking up in winter and going to sleep 10,000 air miles later in another hemisphere and season, Alaska is uniquely favorable to the corporate traveler.

Most importantly, there are few places in the nation outside Alaska where towns of 3,000 or 7,000 are serviced with several-times-per-day large-jet service. I was reminded of this fact by a friend who works as a pharmaceutical representative and recently visited Southeast on vacation. Servicing the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest territories for his job, he based himself in Salt Lake City, given the easy access both to an airport and the great outdoors. He remarked on his visit that, although he preferred a small town and had once considered communities like Sedona or Taos, he feared the airline access issue would keep him tied to a large city--until he set foot in Ketchikan, that is, with its four-times-daily Alaska Airline flights to Seattle and parts beyond. Alaska offers corporate commuters a unique opportunity to live the rural life while remaining competitive in the global business scene.

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