Once you’ve decided where you’re going and how you’re getting there you need to take care of lots of little details:
- Do you need a passport…is yours current? How many empty pages do you need for each country you plan to visit?
- Do you need a visa…should you get it before your leave or in the airport upon arrival?
- Call your bank…you probably want to use your ATM card to get local currency as you reach each destination (We forgot to call once and couldn’t get anything from the ATM – oops!)
- Call your credit card company…they will need to know where you are traveling and how long you will be gone…make sure there are no foreign transaction fees associated with your card
- Stop the mail and the newspaper deliveries
- Put some sort of “away message” on your landline (if you still have one) and your cell phone
- Check with your cell phone provider for international calling plans
- Make sure you know how to use your cell phone for wifi use without incurring lots of extra charges
- Change your house thermostats and water heater setting
- Arrange for a pet sitter
- Put your passport in the hotel safe and remember to take it out (We got half way to the Sydney airport when we realized our passports were in the safe at the hotel desk – a really big oops!!! We had to go back to the hotel and we almost missed our plane)
Tip: If you travel often consider getting a Global Entry Number and/or TSA precheck – they save lots of time
so…
