When you are surrounded by perfectly presented, irresistibly tempting food every moment of your working day it must be difficult to become overexcited about the type of fare you are offered on planes, or even in some hotels. Refreshingly though, Beverley Aspinall, managing director of Fortnum & Mason, is far too polite to say as much.

Sitting in a beautiful oak-panelled room in her office on the fifth floor of Fortnum's landmark building on the block between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street in London's Mayfair, it is easy to imagine that Ms Aspinall, who has been MD of the iconic store since 2005, when she joined from Peter Jones in Chelsea, part of the John Lewis empire, would be reluctant to leave the shop for any reason. Business trips overseas do, however, take her away quite often, she says.

Yes, the building is beautiful but it is not original, she points out. Fortnum & Mason may have been founded in 1707 but it was not in this building, which did not see the light of day until around the turn of the last century, though admittedly the original may well have been on this site or very nearby.

One of the company's founders, Hugh Mason, worked as a footman in Queen Anne's household in the early 18th century and started his business by selling candles made from the waste wax left over from the palace candles, which he was allowed to keep.

To Beverley Aspinall, however, this is all little more than a backdrop to the main business of the day, selling groceries, together with afternoon tea, luxury goods and, increasingly, proper lunches and dinners, to some of the most discerning, not to mention well heeled, customers in the world.

To coincide with Fortnum's 300th anniversary this year, Ms Aspinall is in the middle of overseeing the final stages of a £24m refurbishment, codenamed "Project Piccadilly", which, from October, will see a number of new restaurants added to the established favourites. She is also busy keeping tabs on the company's various interests abroad.

"Most of my long-haul business trips are to either Japan or the United States, though I have to go to Russia sometimes as well," she says. "To be honest I find travelling to Japan a bit of a trial – it's quite a long way, a long time to sit on a plane".

So how does she cope with the flights and what are her top survival tips? "I hate having to go straight from the airport to a meeting when I arrive. I always try to build in some time to relax and recover in a foreign country before I have to get down to work," she says. "Even if there's very little time, which can happen, I'll at least try to make time for a swim in the hotel pool, or better still, in the sea if there's a beach nearby."

And which airlines does she favour? "British Airways is good but I really like travelling with Virgin Atlantic, I love their lounge at Heathrow airport. I like trying different airlines, though. I'm trying some of the all-business-class or first class airlines when I travel to New York at the moment. I flew with Max Jet not long ago and I'll try EOS and Silverjet as well – they seem very good value."

One of her big wishes is to see more long-haul routes served by airlines flying from Stansted, she says. The Essex airport is particularly convenient for her home is Suffolk, where she lives with her husband and two teenage children. She does use it for flights within Europe whenever she can, although she does also have a home in central London too, so Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports are not too inaccessible.

What does she look for when choosing a hotel for a business trip? "When I'm travelling to cities in far-flung destinations I tend to go for one of the big hotel chains. That way I know exactly what I'm going to get," she says. "I do tend to choose five-star hotels because I know I'll get a good night's sleep. There will be bathrobes in the room, so I can just put one of those on, call room service for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich or a burger and relax as I prepare myself for business.

"Some even offer a pillow menu, so you can choose the kind of pillow you want. I also want a hair drier which is easy to locate and not tucked away in some drawer, and a good-sized full-length mirror.

"In Europe, I'm very happy to choose smaller, maybe three-star hotels, provided they are in a good location. There's no point in staying in one part of a city if all your business is going to be in another. Sitting in traffic jams travelling across town is simply a waste of time". And for someone as focused as Beverley Aspinall, time is something you definitely do not waste.