How many of you deal with people in different time zones? If you do, how do you deal with it?

I've found organising stuff can be a pain sometimes, and things that only really need a couple of back and forth emails can take days to sort out as you only ever catch people right at the end of their working day, and by the time they've answered you, its time for bed.

The other rather irritating thing is short notice meetings / conferences - I live in the UK, and was given 48 hours for a private showing of a product in Sweden. If they'd given me a couple of weeks notice I could have went (had the money, and the time), but at 48 hours notice (and around the same time as another major event in the town) all the sensibly priced flights and accomodation were taken.

I wish companies would consider their contacts and perhaps offer slightly advance notice to people that live in other countries.

How have you found things in an international market lately?