Travel plans are more than booking hotel rooms, airfare, airport-to-hotel-and-back shuttles and the likes. Even your all-in-one travel agent might find it difficult to do some things for you – say, pack your toothbrush.
So, don’t feel comfortable if you have nailed the infamous travelling triad of fare, lodging, and car rental bills, there could be other travel worries waiting for you at the other end of the pond.
You trip might have its own special theme. You could be on business, on vacation, travelling for work, visiting, or on a medical trip.
If you want to have a worry-free trip, make sure you consider checking these crucial to-dos before hitting the cabin.
1. Manage your existing subscriptions
If you are subscribed to existing deliveries and/or services such as newspapers, postal mails and others, remember to put the ones you might not be needing on hold once your trip is booked. You can also pay in advance for unusual services that you need like landscaping or pool cleaning, so that you don’t meet a mess to cleanup when you return.
Online stop order services are now provided by most service providers and the most common are newspapers and mail posting. You might want to consider doing this in time as one or two business day’s notice are required for most stop orders
2. Map out your first day schedule in detail
The first day of the trip from your doorstep to your hotel bed could be an all-round nightmare if you don’t thoroughly plan ahead.
Since you’re arriving in a city you might have never been to, you might want to try your best to get conversant with the airport layout. From where you haul your luggage to your hotel shuttle, you won’t want to wander around in circles around searching for the exit.
Your first day also holds the unpleasant package of a jet lag, so try not to take alcohol or caffeinated beverages. Have a bottle of water with you and sleeping pills to rest through long haul flights. And when you’re finally in your hotel room or lodging, it’ll be wise not to watch movies into the night or day – depending on your arrival time. Sleep will be the best option to cool off, get your inner clock adjusted to the new timezone, and get prepared for your adventure.
3. Take good care of your home, even though it’s not where you’re travelling to
You still have to return, right? So try as much to keep everywhere neat. Wash your sheets, do dishes and cover places that are likely to get dusty or covered with soot – whatever the case. Keeping automatic airfreshers working could be a good idea – you’d want to be greeted by a fresh smell when you return. Also remember to clean out the trash and clear out perishable food items from your refrigerator.
4. Remember to do a health-check
Your health is important and you might be exposed to a number of health risks in a territory you know nothing of. If you have pills and prescriptions, make sure you remember to pack them, and find out if there’s a hospital or medical unit or clinic that can supply you more at your location in case you run out.
Also, make a thorough check for possible outbreaks in the area you’re travelling to. If there are likely to be recorded cases of other ailments in the region, try to get vaccinated before you leave. You can also get mosquito nets to avoid exposure to malaria. Make sure you get sufficient travel advice before you are on the move.
5. Be cash ready
Your travel might be domestic or overseas, in any case, take note.
If you’re travelling within the country and you’re not a big fan of packing cash around, check for your bank’s ATM points around the city you’re travelling to and make the functional ones that would be close to you. Functional – take note. If there are none available you might either brace yourself for charges of using another bank’s ATM point or just visit your bank and pack the cash.
Travelling abroad is a different matter. Using your ATM will be the most cost-effective move to make because oversees withdrawal policies could burn a hole in your account.
First of all, you have to make a formal notification to your bank or credit card company that you’re travelling outside the country, so they don’t block you out thinking someone else is pulling the strings from far away. Your account could also be blocked on terms of fraud if used overseas without notification.
You might also want to make your first withdrawal in the airport. Check the website to know if there are working ATMs at the airport.
6. Get an apartment or lodging that is suitable for your travel duration
According to the kind of city you travel to, your lodging could cause a financial storm if you don’t plan ahead and find out how long you might be staying. If it’s a long term trip, maybe for work, you might want to get a modest self-catering apartment where you don’t need to pay on nightly basis. If your work place provides a house, then you’re in luck – but find out if it’ll suit you too.
7. Set up an automated e-mail reply and change your home-phone’s voice message
Do not forget to notify those that might try to reach you, especially through your work email or home phone number, that you are away for a while – you don’t necessarily need to say where.
8. Plan your return home
Usually, this should begin from the point of entry into your new city. Right from the airport, work out the place and know your way around so that your walk from your shuttle to the terminal will not be difficult.
You might also want to make out a special accessible place to keep things you need for your return trip, like your cab or toll fares, and all the documents that might be required at your home airport so you don’t have to unpack at the airport just for clearance.
Finally, your trip can be all you make it out to be with the right planning and preparation in place. A frustrating trip born out of the lack of planning can soil all the fun you might have had. So clear your drawing board, engage your calendar and begin to pin those schedules down.