What to Prepare for Travel or a Trip

In a few days, are you going for a vacation overseas? Besides being so excited, you’re trying not to let anything out of hand. So, here are what to prepare for travel or a trip:

1. Print all necessary documents
   * Flight tickets
   * Hotel vouchers
   * Train tickets (if any)
   * Confirmed tour itinerary
   * Performa invoice & payment receipt
   * Copy ID, passport, along with your emergency contact
   * Embassy contact (address, phone, website, email)
2. Research
   Do some research about everything necessary. These are the information you will want to print out:
   * Recommended money changer (contact and rates)
   * Baggage services (just in case you need to leave your baggage at the airport to leave the airport for 12 hours)
   * Shuttle bus schedule, MRT map
   * Recommended food or things to do. This is important if your time is limited so you cannot explore too long. It will be wasting of time.
   * If some entrance fee is excluded from the tour, you might need to find out how much is the fee.
   Please note: These printouts are important as you cannot always rely on your smart phone. Once the battery dies, you cannot be died too. Be prepared for the worst.
3. Calculate carefully
   If you’ll be stopping by 2 countries, and you need to change to local currency to pay something in those countries, you should be very careful to plan about where, when, and how you change the money. Count the rates not more than 7 days before you’re leaving to make sure the rates is close enough. After knowing how much money you should bring, just spare a little money. If anything goes wrong, you can always stop by the ATM. It is safer than bringing too much cash that you’d probably not use.
4. Set a vacation responder
   Go on vacation, bring your free minds and spirits, but leave your work and laptop at home. Set a vacation responder on your email and tell them you will reply on specific dates after you come back. 
5. Check the weather
   Unless you are going to the countries which have the same weather all year around, you don’t want to bring bikini to the snowy season or a fur-jacket to the sunny climate. Make sure you check to more than 2 trusted sources about the weather (temperature, climate, winds, snow, etc.)
6. Check-in baggage
   You can do ‘googling’ about how to pack smart. But what I’m saying here is that, pay attention to your check-in baggage. You might have bought the tickets months or a year ago. Save yourself on baggage extra charges by bringing the right amount of luggage according to what your tickets say.
7. Last check
   Do the last check and make sure you bring:
   * Necessary clothes
   * Medicine
   * Original passport, flight tickets, etc.
   * Emergency food (chocolate is the best)
   * Insurance card
   * Debit / credit card
   * Charged camera, mobile phone, with chargers (adaptor kit if necessary)
   * Let your family & neighbors know you’re going and when you’re expected to come back, give them your emergency contact

Hope all is set, and hopefully by knowing these what to prepare for travel or a trip, you all can go safely and have fun. However, something might just happen on the road, like no such a low rate money changer, the tour is not showing up, etc. Be calm, take a breath 10 times, just enjoy the moment, and there must be a way out. 🙂

SMILE AND ENJOY THE TRIP!