10 Travel Preparation Tips for Your Summer Holiday

27th June 2018

I absolutely love planning a holiday abroad, and then once a trip is booked I love getting organised and writing lists upon lists of what to take and things I need to do.

10 Travel Preparation Tips for Your Summer Holiday

I also love packing for a holiday; I think it’s the excitement of knowing you’re going away soon and imagining yourself lying on the beach in your bikini with a cocktail in hand. If you haven’t booked anywhere yet, you can get some great hotel deals here.

But it’s so easy to forget something simple or forget to do something that can end up causing you lots of stress and not having the chilled holiday you had planned.

If you take a little time to plan some bits ahead of time, you can relax knowing you’re all sorted and it can make your trip even more enjoyable.

So here are 10 travel preparation tips for your summer holiday:

1. Organise and check your travel documents

Make sure all of your travel documents are organised and kept together somewhere safe, and check that your passport is in date, well ahead of time. It’s such a simple mistake to make and easy to presume you have ages left on it, but it’s one that can completely ruin your holiday, or at least have you hot-footing it to Peterborough for the day.

Some countries have restrictions as to how long you have to have left on it to be able to enter the country – for example the USA and Turkey both require at least six months left on your passport when you enter the country. To check regulations for the country you are visiting go to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.

Also, if you are going somewhere in a European Economic Area or Switzerland then apply for a European Health Card (or EHIC) – this gives you the right to access state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay. You can get your free EHIC here. Update: Since leaving the EU we can now get a GHIC card once your EHIC has run out or if you are getting one for the first time: Get a GHIC here.

Make photocopies of all of your travel documents too and leave one copy at home just in case.

You can sign up for travel updates by email for your destination here, as well as follow them on Twitter and Facebook for updates too.

2. Get your currency

It’s best to get some foreign currency in advance if you can, rather than buying it at your destination, and that way you can shop around a bit to find the best rates too, which are usually online. Have a look on MoneySavingExpert’s TravelMoneyMax to find the best rates. It can also be useful to get a credit card suitable for overseas travel in case you get stuck, but make sure you use one that doesn’t charge you to use it overseas.

Don’t forget to let your bank know that you are going abroad too, so they can put a note on your file and are then less likely to contact you about dodgy happenings on your account, or even stop transactions from happening at all.

3. Plan your healthcare

It’s so important to keep your family safe and healthy whilst travelling. Make sure you find out well in advance if there are any vaccinations you might need for your travels, and plan them in accordingly. You can find out if the country you are going to currently requires them here.

If you are on any medication, make sure you have enough to last your trip, and keep it all in its packaging with the instructions in case there are any problems.

10 Travel Preparation Tips for Your Summer Holiday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Check your luggage allowance

It can be so stressful to find out at the airport that you have gone over your luggage allowance, and have to pay a load of money that you hadn’t budgeted for. Get a luggage scale to weigh your packed suitcase ahead of time, or just use your bathroom scales if you don’t have one to check you are within the limits. Also double-check what your allowance actually is for checked-in and hand luggage so that you don’t accidentally go over.

If you do decide that you need a bigger luggage allowance then it is best to pre-book it online before you go. It varies so much between airlines so check their individual policies to find out how they do things.

5. Get Travel insurance

There’s really no excuse for not having travel insurance for your trip; it’s so so important in case anything happens. Cover will protect you from so many things that could go wrong on a holiday, such as flight delays, lost baggage, and accidents (the EHIC is definitely worth having but there’s a lot it doesn’t cover), and will potentially stop your holiday from being completely ruined. Also make sure you get cover for any extra activities you might be doing, as they may not be included with standard cover. Click here to get a quote for travel insurance that is right for you.

6. Make lots of lists!

You don’t want to forget anything really important, and planning ahead can help make packing and travelling so much easier and less stressful. Write a list ahead of time with everything you need to pack, with a separate section for hand luggage and checked luggage, as well as a list for everything you need to remember to do, such as find someone to look after your pet, check passports and book a wax! It’ll help you feel so much more organised and less likely to forget anything.

7. Sort your technology

Make sure you have at least a couple of universal adaptors with you (it’s such a pain just having one that you have to swap for everything!) so you can use your electronics (and more importantly – straighteners!!) whilst you’re abroad.

Even though I love to hold an actual book in my hand, I do prefer using my Kindle or just the Kindle app on my phone when I’m going abroad so that I don’t have to carry a few heavy books with me. Make sure you download a few good holiday reads to enjoy before you go.

Take a portable battery pack with you for your phone so that you always have charge and can find your way around an unfamiliar place, as well as find out any info you might need, and also so you can still take lots of selfies and still post to Instagram whilst you are out and about!

Check what happens with your data roaming overseas and whether you have anything included (some now do include it in your data package which is brilliant). You really don’t want to come back to massive charges that you weren’t expecting.

10 Travel Preparation Tips for Your Summer Holiday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Getting to the airport

Make sure you plan how you are getting to the airport in advance, and leave plenty of time to get there, accounting for any delays. It is a good idea to book any taxis, or car parking spaces in advance, including for when you get to your destination, both to save money and so you’re not left stranded in a strange place where you don’t speak the language.

9. Packing

Remember that you can’t carry big bottles of liquids in your hand luggage, so get some travel-sized products or decant your usual ones into travel bottles under 100ml if you’re not checking them in (but check with your particular airline as some are more strict than others). Get a clear resealable toiletries bag, that is around 20x20cm in size to keep your toiletries for your hand luggage in.

Have all of your travel documents together in a wallet and make sure they are easily accessible in your hand luggage for when you need to grab them out.

It can get really cold on aeroplanes so have a pair of socks in your hand luggage, as well as a large thin scarf that you can use as a blanket as well as sun protection when you are there. It can also be good to have an easy-to-throw-on outfit in your hand luggage if it’s going to be a lot hotter where you’re going, and don’t forget to have your sunglasses on you!

10. Book any beauty treatments

It might not be as important as the others, but looking after yourself can make you feel so much more confident on holiday. You’ll likely be baring much more of your body than you usually do, and it can be a bit scary if you’re not feeling your best.

Arrange for a haircut and anything else like a wax, manicure and eyebrow threading ahead of time so that you can fit them even when you have lots of to do. And if you like to fake tan like me, make sure you make time for it a day or two before you go. I know I feel so much better with a bit of a tan; my skin looks so much better and I just look a lot healthier, so it’s worth the time and faff it takes so I can feel good about myself. It’s crazy how much better I feel when I’m plucked, shaved, tanned, and manicured up and it’s even more important to me that I feel good and can relax on holiday.

I hope you found these travel preparation tips useful – if you have any more then please let me know in the comments and also tell me where you’re going on holiday this year!

This is a collaborative post with Bupa Global. See my full disclosure policy here.

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