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:
- Set up an apartment/house sublet
- Learn a few words of the local language of your first destination
- Sign up for frequent flier programs
- Set up autopay for your bills
- Make some mini “traveler’s business cards” to hand out to contacts on the road
- Secure your medications
- Learn how to sew a button
- Stop your mail
- Get a no-fee travel credit card
- Unlock your cell phone or buy an international plan
- Re-research your destinations
- Try to reduce what you plan to pack by 50%
- Scan your passport and save it to your cloud
- Reconfirm your flights
- Make a daily budget
- Finalize your visas
- Connect with friends in at your destinations, tell them you’re coming
- Reconnect with friends where you live before you leave
- Study the Center for Disease Control’s travelers page
- Subscribe to a few travel blogs
- Get travel insurance
- Send your itinerary and contact information on the road to close friends and family
- Stock up on travel books
- Sign up for volunteer programs
- Book some (but not all) accommodations
- Sell your stuff
- Get comfortable with your camera by taking pictures at home
- Read an atlas
- Join a few travel communities (couchsurfing, etc)
- Be a tourist in your hometown, visit a local tourist trap
- Renew your passport
- Day dream with travel photography
- Make a promise to yourself
- Plan out how you’ll document your trip
- Find out what’s going on where you’re going
- Find some free activities at destination
- Spend more time with your pet
- Have a city picnic
- Apply for work permits or find remote work
- Familiarize yourself with your itinerary (like the back of your hand)
- Visualize yourself on the road
- Make lists
- Reassess your luggage situation
- Make an inventory
- Buy a lot of ziplocs
- Talk to well-traveled people
- Spend more time with your traveling companion
- Work on your patience and tolerance for being uncomfortable
- Buy a rechargeable power bank
- Buy a travel towel
- Take a deep breath
- Start doing yoga
- Consider a Kindle
- Get organized
- Make sure your tickets match your passport (same first, middle and last name)
- Browse travel forums and message boards
- Upload all of your music and tv shows to your cloud so you can access them on the road.
- Plan for long layovers
- Outfit yourself
- Prebook a few tours
- Join Flickr – it’s a free place to store your pictures
- Eat at ethnic restaurants
- Quit smoking (now!)
- Give your travel a purpose
- List out your favorite Unesco World Heritage sites
- Ride a local bus
- Know your Luggage Limits
- Get/Stay fit
- Listen to regional and traditional music from around the world
- Watch lots of travel related movies
- Contemplate travel quotes
- Donate some time and money to a worthy cause
- Shop at a local farmers market
- People-watch
- Eat streetfood
- Wash your laundry by hand once or twice
- Forget to shave for a few days
- Give up sugar, coffee, chocolate or all three
- Walk to the supermarket
- Lie on the grass and stare at the sky for an hour in a park
- Wash your hands constantly
- Buy a bigger camera memory card
- Read or subscribe to an international newspaper
- Stretch
- Start a vitamin supplement program
- Attend a local religious service for a religion you don’t practice
- Be adventurous in your day-to-day life
- Get a travel mascot!
- Talk to your parents, tell them you love them
- Buy some new shirts and underwear
- Talk to a stranger
- Embrace analog entertainment (ie, hiking, running, reading books)
- Get a handkerchief
- Learn to ride a motorcycle
- Learn to drive a stick-shift
- Ride a bike in traffic/ up a steep hill/ long-distance
- Upgrade your cloud account or sign up for more free accounts with DropBox, Google, etc
- Compile all your contact info in one place
- Let go
- Cancel your cable tv and any magazine or newspaper subscriptions
- Celebrate!
