Holiday countdown

When counting down for a holiday any day is a good day, especially for us the other day when a package arrived. It was our Avalon cruise pack, a folder containing our boarding passes, luggage tags and itinerary for our Rhine River cruise. This is when you know it is time to start the holiday countdown.

There is a lot of planning to do on a big trip like our European Christmas Discovery, so we thought we’d share some holiday countdown tips.

By now your flights, accommodation, travel insurance and housesitter would be booked but as the time draws nearer to your departure we advise you reconfirm all details.  This would include check in time and confirm if the hotel includes transfers. If not, now is time to arrange transfers or think about how you’ll get to the departure airport, and from the arrival airport to the hotel with your luggage and how to occupy your time during an airport layover. Also double check which airport your flight arrives at, sounds silly but the many large cities having more than one airport, so you need to be sure.Countdown time is when to begin thinking about purchasing travel safe toiletries and packing. I start collecting department store samples of my favourite products.  It is also a great time to do a test pack, to check all the items you are planning on taking fit into your case and meets the weight restrictions. We are travelling to Europe for 6 weeks in winter and once we arrive will be travelling by train. So big reasons for us to not only make sure everything fits, but that we can comfortably carry the cases up the many flights of stairs at the train stations.

We are also preparing a list for the housesitter, our itinerary, emergency numbers, closest shops, instructions for use of our appliances, wifi password, etc. In case of an emergency we are also leaving copies of all our travel documents with family, as well as having an electronic copy for us, both in our smart phone and in the cloud. It is also advised if you are travelling independently and not with an organised tour, to register your travel plans with your country embassy, high commission or consulate.

It is also a great time to have a dental check up and a visit to the Doctor to ensure you have a current prescription for any medications and also to get a letter from your Doctor advising about any medications you are carrying.

One week before do a spring clean so the house is ready for the house sitter and do all washing ready for packing.

A few days before we leave we’ll be doing last minute shopping for pet food, home essentials and a treat for the housesitter.  Check the weather conditions at destination, pack, do online check-in, print boarding passes and reconfirm your plans to get to the airport. It is also a great idea to make a plan with family on how frequently you will contact them. Speaking of contact, by now you should have contacted your bank to advise you will be travelling and your cards will be accessed overseas.

The final thing on your holiday countdown is the day of departure, or night before if leaving early, pack final items and recheck the flight time. Make sure you have the address of your hotel written clearly in the language of the country you are visiting, so you can give the taxi driver if your hotel has not included transfers and have the details of your travel insurance with you.

It goes without saying have a great time. But please respect the local customs and laws, dress and act appropriately when visiting cultural, historical and sacred sites and ask permission before taking photos of people.

Not long for us to perfect the mandatory selfie now. We just have to decide, do we get on the band wagon and pack the selfie stick?

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