When you travel, it’s inevitable that there will be a few hiccups. Now, times that by at least five or ten if you’re traveling internationally! There are just a few unknowns that will pop up. What we’ve found is that by being organized, it’s easier to deal with the hiccups that come up along the way.
Here are a few of our favorite tips:
- Print out your documents. Make a spreadsheet of everywhere you will be staying, key phone numbers, addresses, and any any vital information. Especially, if you’re traveling somewhere with sketchy cell coverage, or another country where you are limited on your data coverage, printing this information can be a lifesaver!
- Backup your devices. Before you head out of town, do a quick backup of your computer, tablets, phones, etc. This makes life a little less worrisome if something gets lost, stolen, or damaged!
- Charge your devices (and backup chargers)! You never know what the outlet situation is in various airports, and especially if you have a long trip ahead, charge your devices to full well in advance of your trip. This also includes cameras and video cameras (devices you might not use on a daily basis.)
- Call your bank. If you’re heading out of the country, ALWAYS call your bank ahead of time so that you aren’t dealing with a locked down debit card when you’re trying to get the local currency!
- Call your cell phone company. If heading out of the country, decide what kind of international plan you will need and make sure you know how and when you’ll be charged. For example, we discovered that we can pay $10/day for cell/data. This is great for a day-by-day decision. However, before we left the country, we had to turn our cellular data “off” so that when we turned our phones on in a foreign country, we didn’t accidentally get charged for the day. Ask lots of questions when you’re calling your cell phone company!
- Do a brain dump. Regardless of how long I plan ahead, the day before travel is always hectic. I love to make lists of last minute things I need to grab the morning of, any tasks I need to do, errands to run, etc. The more I can get down on paper, the more simple my mind can be!
- Empty my inbox. This has to do with work, but so much of my work goes wherever I go, so if I can get my inbox down to a manageable number, this allows me to be in the moment and enjoy my vacation. It gives me the peace of mind that I know what is on my plate and what can be done in the future. I also make to-do lists for stuff that I can/need to do when I get home. Again, this frees my mind of the stuff that “has” to happen before I leave.
- Tell people you’re going to be gone. Now, I’m not saying broadcast this to the world, but I like to put in big, red letters in my email signature, something about how I’ll be out of the office or have limited access to email during my upcoming time range. This alerts my network that if we need to talk by phone, or wrap up a project, to call me before I leave. Then, when my out of office email turns on, it’s not a shock to anyone and it gives me some freedom to relax and be away.
- Arrive on early. Our recent trip to Greece was perfect proof of this. We arrived with PLENTY of time to check our luggage, but Air Canada had canceled a flight and so two of the three clerks were fielding irate customers who needed to be rebooked. This led to us literally standing in line without moving for over 30 minutes! If we hadn’t gotten there early, we would have been stressing BIG TIME over if our bags could get checked. Then, we went through the TSA Pre line (thinking security should be easy – come on, we’re experienced travelers), but the angsty TSA folks didn’t like the baggie of granola bars and snacks we had in our packs for our 24 travel ahead. We got stuck with the stereotypical government employee who hates her job and was going slow just to irritate us even more, and so instead of security going only 5-10 minutes, it was at least double that. Again, we had plenty of time to get to our gate. Both of these situations were things we could not have planned on, but because we had allowed buffer, we were okay.