10 Ultimate International Travel Checklist Before You Go

Last Updated on March 10, 2021 by Editorial Staff

You might have booked your flight tickets and made all the necessary reservations, but are you all ready to kick start your next vacation? Wait and think once again!

There are tons of things you will need to take care of before you head off for your next vacation. While there are a few things that are ok to be slipped through the cards, there are others that have to be taken care of.

Mentioned below is the list of those things that people often skip or forgot before they leave their homes for vacation.

List of Important International Travel Checklist

1. Alert your Credit Card Company and bank

This is one of the most important and the very first thing you need to do before you even start packing. You need to call your bank and let them know that you would be traveling and there can be some international charges.

2. Contact your network service provider

You also need to prep up your phone when you are traveling. You can contact your service provider to check if they have good plans for you when you are traveling. If you are traveling to a different country, you can still use the Wi-Fi services there to update your feeds on social media.

If you are planning to stay aboard for more than a few weeks, you can talk to the locals and try and get a SIM card for cellular access. There can be situations where you also need to unlock the phone to use a SIM from a different country.

3. Confirm all reservations

Most of us plan for holidays well in advance. If you have made your booking well in advance, it is good to call and confirm all the reservations made. This has to be done a few days before you start on your travel so that any last minute changes can be handled by you.

Be it a hotel reservation or a reservation you made for an amusement park, make sure to call and confirm on the same. It is also important to check on the weather before you make any plans.

4. Make bill payments whose due dates are during your trip

It is important you pay off all your bills that are due before you leave for the trip. You can as well schedule automatic payments for recurring payments as you do not want to incur any late fees.

5. Check the weather of your destination to pack properly

This is one of the important things to check on before you start packing. You can now check the weather in any part of the world with just one click. Knowing the weather will help you decide on the activities – you can plan something indoors if you see that the forecast shows rain or snow. Likewise, knowing the weather will also help you pack properly for the trip.

If you are traveling to a different part of the world, it might be summer there when it is cold in your region. So, do take out time to check out the weather forecast and pack your bags accordingly. If you are allergic to something, it is also good to carry those medications along with you.

6. Share your itinerary with your friend or family

It is important you share your travel itinerary with someone you trust as it is important in emergency situations. It can be your close friend or a family member, but make sure you let them know where you are headed to and leave behind the contact details of the hotels where you will be staying in.

Let someone or multiple people whom you trust know where you are as they would be able to locate you when the need arises.

7. Clean your wallet by removing unnecessary items

Many do skip this step, but cleaning your wallet before your next holiday is quite important. If you are a frequent traveler, you can as well have foreign currency, reward cards or those extra credit cards you choose to carry. Instead, carry those that would be useful in the country or the place you would be traveling to.

8. Alert your neighbor for your mail delivery

It is wise to put a hold on the mail when you are planning to go on a holiday as you really do not want everyone to know that you are away. Well, they can easily make out by the pile of newspapers that lie near your door.

In cases when you are expecting a mail, it is good to put a word to our neighbor about it. But, again you can place a request at the USPS website to hold your mail. You really do not want to come home and see an overloaded mail box.

9. Bring your outdoor items in home

If you have placed furniture or other home décor items outside, you need to place them indoors. Also, make sure all the electronics are unplugged and turned off. This way you not only save money, but also save on energy.

You can also ask your neighbor to keep an eye on things that cannot be moved indoors. It is also important you leave someone in charge of mowing the lawn and to shovel your driveway.

10. Eat, throw out or give away and clean your fridge

Most of us have the habit of stocking food in our refrigerators and most of which are perishable items. You need to throw away or give away any such perishable food items from the fridge like fruits or vegetables that might get rotten when you are away. If you feel that there is food that can be useful, politely ask your friend or a neighbor if they would be interested to use it.

The above mentioned are just some of those important tasks you need to take care of before you step out for your next memorable holiday. Well, do remember to lock all the rooms and the house door properly before you head out.