Smart Travel Checklist: How to Prepare Before a Trip
What could be worse than forgetting important things before a trip? Sometimes, for some travelers, this could mean adventure but most of the time this is an inconvenience.
So how do you ensure not to forget anything before your trip? Below are smart and simple tips that can make your life easy as a traveler, whether you are traveling on a budget or luxury.
A month before:
1. Get a visa if required
2. Book a hotel
3. Create a travel itinerary
A week before:
1. Notify your insurance company
2. Call your bank or credit card provider
3. Download city maps
4. Familiarize yourself with the subway and public transport system
5. Study local laws and regulations
6. Research festivals and events on while you are there
7. Start packing your suitcase
A day before:
1. Write down emergency numbers of the embassy, contact numbers of family members and even work phone numbers
2. Check weather conditions and updates
3. Upload copies of your documents to the cloud or save in your emails such as identification, passport and ticket itinerary
4. Call hotel for transfer arrangement
5. Ready your travel adapter plug and electronic chargers
6. Charge your phone and camera
7. Exchange foreign currency
Before leaving, check you have:
1. Tickets (keep electronic and printed copies)
2. Passport (insert paper bill in your passport holder in case of emergency)
3. House keys
4. Local cash money
5. Phone
It’s always better to be ready than be sorry. Prepare a travel checklist and make sure to check them all before leaving home.
Happy travels! 🙂
March 21, 2017 @ 5:40 pm
I think it is definitely a smart idea to do your research ahead of time. It’s better to be prepared before you leave.
March 21, 2017 @ 7:50 pm
We are preparing to do some traveling so really glad I came across your post. Will keep and refer back to it to make sure we have everything in order. So far looks like we are doing okay getting ready for our trip.
March 21, 2017 @ 8:27 pm
I’ve been pretty good at remember to notify my banks that I will be traveling. I’ve never had my cards shut off and that would be my biggest fear.
March 21, 2017 @ 8:28 pm
We are preparing for a trip now and you brought up some things I didn’t think about doing. Thanks for sharing.
March 21, 2017 @ 8:42 pm
This is a great checklist. If you don’t have your ducks in a row before your trip, you’re setting yourself up for misery.
March 21, 2017 @ 8:59 pm
My friend is going to Mexico in a few months, so I’ll need to show this to her. We just never go anywhere haha!
March 21, 2017 @ 9:02 pm
YES always have the emergency embassy number handy in event of an emergency. Also register your trip with your govt site so that if a natural disaster happens they can locate you.
March 21, 2017 @ 9:50 pm
This is a great checklist! We travel quite a bit and I know we always forget something. I need a checklist like this just so that I don’t forget anything.
March 22, 2017 @ 12:24 am
This is a great list for vacations. I have to make lists of things to do and bring before we vacation. It’s important for us or we forget things.
March 22, 2017 @ 2:37 am
So many amazing tips. Seriously I would have forgot a lot of these things and they are IMPORTANT such as contacting the bank and insurance company! Thank you!
March 22, 2017 @ 3:26 am
That is an excellent resource for preparing for a trip. It’s always better to get everything in order before you get rolling.
March 22, 2017 @ 5:43 am
Great checklist! This can help a lot for travelling preperations! You’ll never forget a item you need!
March 22, 2017 @ 6:34 am
It is so important to be prepared for trips. This is a really useful checklist for preparing!
March 22, 2017 @ 6:50 am
This is a great timeline! I knew someone that planned an entire trip and didn’t realize they needed a visa until the night before!!! DOH!
March 22, 2017 @ 10:12 am
These are excellent tips. I always make a checklist to make sure we won’t forget anything.
March 22, 2017 @ 10:12 am
I like that you have broken it down by timeline. I often find myself scrambling at the last minute trying to prepare everything.
March 22, 2017 @ 10:43 am
I love how your checklist is also broken down by timeline so you aren’t swamped with to do’s right before your trip. Such a thoughtful and complete list…now I want to hop on a plane and GO!
March 22, 2017 @ 11:10 am
This is great info. I need to print this out to help me organize before we travel.
March 22, 2017 @ 11:35 am
My husband and I travel a lot .. and I’m so glad I ran across your post! I never make lists .. and that’s probably why I’m always forgetting things. Next time I’m going to print this off and surprise him with my organization!
March 22, 2017 @ 11:39 am
This is a very informative post. I love how you broke down your tips as far back as a month before the trip. I will print this and pin it on my reminder board at home. We’re going on a trip in July and this article was really helpful in our planning.
March 22, 2017 @ 12:36 pm
Sunglasses are definitely necessary!
March 22, 2017 @ 1:03 pm
This is a great list, I am all for being prepared! We do a lot of traveling in the summer, and with my family of 5 a lot of the planning still falls onto my shoulders. Staying organized is key!
March 22, 2017 @ 1:40 pm
Thanks for sharing this useful checklist! I am not traveling soon but will bookmark this post for future travel.
March 22, 2017 @ 2:10 pm
These are great tips, I’m really glad to knpw these before we travel this week.
March 22, 2017 @ 2:28 pm
I love traveling, especially during the summer when my children are out of school. Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips!
March 22, 2017 @ 5:52 pm
This is such a great post. I love the checklist. I travel a lot and always forget something. I am saving this for sure.
March 22, 2017 @ 9:03 pm
This is very helpful especially to those who loves travel. Such a great idea to post like this. I’m so proud to the one who wrote about this.
March 23, 2017 @ 1:23 am
What a great list! You have to make sure you’re always prepared. Wouldn’t be fun if you forgot something for a trip.
March 23, 2017 @ 2:35 am
I remember a few years ago that the passports were taking forever to get to applicants in 2008. We were told to get them well in advance. I prefer to do it as soon as arrangements are being planned. It is always handy to have a passport readily available anyhow since they are good for a long time.
March 23, 2017 @ 4:22 am
This is a great list of things to do prior to traveling. You definitely don’t want forget something important, especially when you’re traveling outside the country.
March 23, 2017 @ 8:29 am
This is a really great list! I hate when I forget something! This is very helpful.
March 23, 2017 @ 2:26 pm
This list is incredible! I have never been out of the United States, so this will really help if I ever do.
March 23, 2017 @ 10:02 pm
I’m so hapoy to see these tips, we are going to travel next month, I will sure to follow these tips.
March 24, 2017 @ 4:10 pm
Be a well-prepared traveler, whether you are planning a holiday with your family or a trip for business.
March 24, 2017 @ 7:48 pm
Correct! Happy travel.. 🙂
March 27, 2017 @ 2:25 am
This post has come at a perfect time! I am about to travel next week and I have not started to pack yet. These are great suggestions, thank you for sharing!
March 28, 2017 @ 4:40 am
Downloading city maps is important because we can’t always rely on our phones. Might not have data or GPS!
March 28, 2017 @ 8:45 am
This is a great list. As I look to travel internation in 2018, I’m going to bookmark this list as a reminder to be safe than sorry. – yolonda
March 29, 2017 @ 3:58 am
Never really thought about notifying the bank until my wife and I went on an impromptu trip to NYC a year and a half ago and got locked out of our account because it was suddenly being used there.