By When you are getting ready to go away on holiday, it might seem like there are a thousand and one things you need to do. When attempting to tackle this colossus of a task, it is quite easy for some of the little things to slip between the cracks and be forgotten. Here are some of them; things you are likely to forget while preparing to travel.
Make Sure Your Passport is in Date
Everything is organised, you have all the reservations printed out and neatly stored inside a folder, but when you get to the check-in desk, you are informed that your passport is out of date. It can be a gut-wrenching feeling that will completely throw all plans awry.
An easy way to combat this is simply to check the dates on all passports when you are planning to book the holiday. Provided it isn’t for a last-minute getaway, you are sure to have plenty of time even for an express order on a new passport. Remember that if you are applying for a visa, you might need a few blank pages for it to be attached to.
Check Your Luggage
Baggage allowances change all the time. Your snazzy carry-on suitcase might have fitted perfectly when you flew six months ago but it may not fit now. Your generous 22kg bag allowance for your checked luggage may seem like a dream until the pair of boots you could not leave behind pushes your suitcase over the limit.
Check online to see what the current allowances are and make sure you stick to them. Likewise, it is now incredibly easy to get your hands on a digital scale to check to see how much your suitcases weigh before check-in. Don’t get caught out by the pricy fines imposed on overweight bags or some carry on which had to be checked because it was too heavy. It is not worth it.
Cancel Any Deliveries
If you have items regularly delivered to your house, speak to the distributors and make sure they are cancelled for the time you are away. Newspapers are just going to cause more mess for you to clear up behind your front door and you are not going to read any out of date news when you come home.
Likewise, any milk left on the doorstep by the milkman is going to go sour. This is especially true if it is summer and the milk is likely to go rotten quickly. A quick phone call is all that it takes!
Tell Your Bank
Banks are notorious for freezing cards and accounts if they detect any “suspicious” activity on them. The reality could be that you have not had your details stolen and have instead found yourself unable to pay for your petit déjeuner in the Parisian café across the street from your hotel.
A phone call to the bank to inform of the dates and locations of your travel is all that it takes to avoid these complications. You don’t want to get stuck somewhere without access to your money and with poor phone signal or high international calling charges preventing you from sorting it out.
Decide What to Do with the Car
When you are trying to work out how you are going to get to the airport, there are a number of different possibilities which can present themselves. You could, of course, get a taxi or a shuttle bus but this could be either too expensive or just not practical if the airport you are flying from is a long drive away. Therefore, your best option might be for you to take your own car.
This is a much easier option than it used to be. Instead of having to fight for a space in an airport carpark, you can now pre-book a space. For example, Bristol Airport parking can be organised through bristolparking.com. You can choose to park and then get a shuttle bus to the terminal or you can drive straight there and arrange for the car to be picked up. Save some money and stress by pre-booking your parking at Bristol Airport to start your holiday the right way.
These are just five of the things you could forget to do while preparing for your holiday. When you are planning, it is extremely important that you think about everything that needs to get done before you go away. Make a list of all the tasks you need to complete and make sure every single one of them gets ticked off. Not only will this help you to remember everything that needs doing, but it will also allow you to relax even more on your holiday. You can sit back and know that everything back home has safely been taken care of. What more could anyone ask for?
