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101 Things To Do Before Your Trip


I don’t want to stress you out or add to your already huge travel to-do list, but today I’ve compiled 101 things to get done before you leave for your big trip. Read through, check and see if you’ve forgotten anything, and if you have, add them to your own list. Some of these are more philosophical, most are practical, but take it from this traveler—all of the stuff on this list will help you have a happy, healthy, trouble-free trip.

These are listed in no particular order and they’re intentionally brief and open to interpretation so that you can decide on your own how to use them.

So here they are, 101 important things to do in the months, weeks and days before your around the world trip:

  1. Set up an apartment/house sublet
  2. Learn a few words of the local language of your first destination
  3. Sign up for frequent flier programs
  4. Set up autopay for your bills
  5. Make some mini “traveler’s business cards” to hand out to contacts on the road
  6. Secure your medications
  7. Learn how to sew a button
  8. Stop your mail
  9. Get a no-fee travel credit card
  10. Unlock your cell phone or buy an international plan
  11. Re-research your destinations
  12. Try to reduce what you plan to pack by 50%
  13. Scan your passport and save it to your cloud
  14. Reconfirm your flights
  15. Make a daily budget
  16. Finalize your visas
  17. Connect with friends in at your destinations, tell them you’re coming
  18. Reconnect with friends where you live before you leave
  19. Study the Center for Disease Control’s travelers page
  20. Subscribe to a few travel blogs
  21. Get travel insurance
  22. Send your itinerary and contact information on the road to close friends and family
  23. Stock up on travel books
  24. Sign up for volunteer programs
  25. Book some (but not all) accommodations
  26. Sell your stuff
  27. Get comfortable with your camera by taking pictures at home
  28. Read an atlas
  29. Join a few travel communities (couchsurfing, etc)
  30. Be a tourist in your hometown, visit a local tourist trap
  31. Renew your passport
  32. Day dream with travel photography
  33. Make a promise to yourself
  34. Plan out how you’ll document your trip
  35. Find out what’s going on where you’re going
  36. Find some free activities at destination
  37. Spend more time with your pet
  38. Have a city picnic
  39. Apply for work permits or find remote work
  40. Familiarize yourself with your itinerary (like the back of your hand)
  41. Visualize yourself on the road
  42. Make lists
  43. Reassess your luggage situation
  44. Make an inventory
  45. Buy a lot of ziplocs
  46. Talk to well-traveled people
  47. Spend more time with your traveling companion
  48. Work on your patience and tolerance for being uncomfortable
  49. Buy a rechargeable power bank
  50. Buy a travel towel
  51. Take a deep breath
  52. Start doing yoga
  53. Consider a Kindle
  54. Get organized
  55. Make sure your tickets match your passport (same first, middle and last name)
  56. Browse travel forums and message boards
  57. Upload all of your music and tv shows to your cloud so you can access them on the road.
  58. Plan for long layovers
  59. Outfit yourself
  60. Prebook a few tours
  61. Join Flickr – it’s a free place to store your pictures
  62. Eat at ethnic restaurants
  63. Quit smoking (now!)
  64. Give your travel a purpose
  65. List out your favorite Unesco World Heritage sites
  66. Ride a local bus
  67. Know your Luggage Limits
  68. Get/Stay fit
  69. Listen to regional and traditional music from around the world
  70. Watch lots of travel related movies
  71. Contemplate travel quotes
  72. Donate some time and money to a worthy cause
  73. Shop at a local farmers market
  74. People-watch
  75. Eat streetfood
  76. Wash your laundry by hand once or twice
  77. Forget to shave for a few days
  78. Give up sugar, coffee, chocolate or all three
  79. Walk to the supermarket
  80. Lie on the grass and stare at the sky for an hour in a park
  81. Wash your hands constantly
  82. Buy a bigger camera memory card
  83. Read or subscribe to an international newspaper
  84. Stretch
  85. Start a vitamin supplement program
  86. Attend a local religious service for a religion you don’t practice
  87. Be adventurous in your day-to-day life
  88. Get a travel mascot!
  89. Talk to your parents, tell them you love them
  90. Buy some new shirts and underwear
  91. Talk to a stranger
  92. Embrace analog entertainment (ie, hiking, running, reading books)
  93. Get a handkerchief
  94. Learn to ride a motorcycle
  95. Learn to drive a stick-shift
  96. Ride a bike in traffic/ up a steep hill/ long-distance
  97. Upgrade your cloud account or sign up for more free accounts with DropBox, Google, etc
  98. Compile all your contact info in one place
  99. Let go
  100. Cancel your cable tv and any magazine or newspaper subscriptions
  101. Celebrate!

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