When you’re getting ready to travel, there are a lot of things that you have to do before you actually ever leave. Sometimes it can seem like there’s really too much to do but it’s imperative that you follow these 10 tips about the things that you should do to prepare before you travel in order to ensure that you have a safe and enjoyable journey.
1. Make Sure Someone Will Check on Your House
This is important in any case, but it’s even more so if you’re going to be gone for a long time. You don’t want mail and newspapers to pile up. By the same token, it’s important to leave a few lights on at night and make sure they’re turned off during the day. The best course of action is to get someone you trust to either house sit or at least go to your house once or twice a day and check on things. You may also want to look into a service such as Global Guardians so that there is always someone at your house protecting it from any potential theft.
2. Ensure All Bills are Paid Before You Leave
The last thing you want to do is forget to pay something and then come home to a late notice. Worse yet, coming home to find out that something has already been turned off can ruin all the fun you just had. It’s really better if you make sure that everything that will come due while you’re gone is paid before you leave, even if that means you pay a few things early.
3. Take Care of Any Outstanding Chores Beforehand
By the same token, you don’t want to leave people hanging if you promise to do something. If you know you’re going to be out of town for a while, make every effort to fulfill all of your promises before you leave. If there’s no way you can do that, at least go talk to the person in question and explain the situation to them, making arrangements to deal with it as soon as you get back.
4. Give Someone You Trust Your Itinerary
Unfortunately, the unexpected can and does happen. Make sure someone you trust knows where you will be, how you’re going to get there, and how you can be reached. If you don’t want to be bothered, leave express instructions that they will not provide this information to anyone else unless there is a true emergency.
5. Ensure That Pets are Cared For
If you have pets, it’s imperative that you think about how you’re going to handle ensuring that they get the care they need while you’re gone. There are basically three ways to handle this situation. You can choose to take them with you, you can board them at a trusted kennel, or you can have someone that you trust come to your house in order to feed, water and walk them everyday.
6. Double Check All Reservations
It’s important to double-check your hotel reservations, but you can also save a lot of money if you book other activities ahead of time. You can also use coupon codes to save money. This can help you if you want to eat at a certain restaurant or visit a particular attraction while you’re on vacation.
7. Transfer Money to a Specific Card or Account
You don’t want your entire bank account to be exposed if something should happen. Figure out how much money you will need for the trip and then transfer that amount to a prepaid card or even to a different account that you set up just for such instances. Ensure that you can add money to that account if you need to, but don’t expose your bank account by using your debit card everywhere you go.
8. Have Plenty of Cash on You
In addition to setting up a specific card or account, make sure you have enough cash on you to travel and find a place to stay, along with enough to get food in case something should go wrong with the card. Sometimes computers go down and other things happen that are unexpected. Having enough cash on hand can prevent you from being stuck with no place to go in such an instance.
9. Make Sure There are No Problems with Transportation
Whether you’re driving or flying, the last thing you want is for some transportation issue to derail all of your plans. If you’re going to drive, have the car checked out before you leave. If you’re flying, double check your tickets and make sure there aren’t any issues.
10. Leave Early
This one is especially true if you’re flying. Plan on getting to the airport at least a couple of hours before your flight is scheduled to depart. You might even want to leave earlier than that. This gives you time to go through all of the different checkpoints without missing your flight and hopefully deal with any last minute changes on the part of the airline.
Going on a trip can be a lot of fun. With that being said, it’s important that you take the responsibility to ensure that something unexpected doesn’t ruin everything you have so carefully planned. That way, you can spend time enjoying yourself instead of worrying.
