Updated August 14, 2024
If travel is in your future, knowing how to create a pre-travel checklist will help make your preparation less stressful and more enjoyable. A pre-travel checklist sets up a framework for listing all the important and mundane tasks that need to be looked after before heading off on your adventure.
Examples of travel mishaps
On my travels, all of the following have happened to me or to one of my travelling companions. Do you have similar examples? If so, it might be time to work on that pre-travel checklist.
- Purchased travel insurance when you already had sufficient coverage through some other source?
- Couldn’t get your passport renewed in time to take advantage of a travel deal?
- Applied for a visa twice (and paid the $80 fee twice) because you couldn’t remember whether or not you’d already done so?
- Lost a fat wallet to a pickpocket?
- Had your main credit card cancelled by your financial institution two days before departure when their screening system detected a fraudulent charge?
- Failed to check in online and get bumped from your overbooked flight?
Reasons to create a pre-travel checklist
A pre-travel checklist is no guarantee against adversity creeping into your travel plans. However, chances are better that things will go smoother with some checklist-inspired pre-trip research and planning.
- A checklist reduces stress associated with juggling multiple tasks and responsibilities. It offers an organized approach to getting things done.
- A detailed list makes it less likely to leave something behind or important tasks left undone.
- Chances are better you’ll have what you need to deal with emergency situations.
- It ensures you’ll have up-to-date travel essentials with no last-minute surprises.
- Destination research that produces a list of possible sights and experiences builds excitement.
Generic lists aren’t the answer
There are plenty of downloadable checklists, but it stands to reason that no one checklist mirrors each person’s unique circumstances.
- Check the spare tyre on the RV? Good to do if you’re heading off on an RV trip.
- Need a visa? Perhaps, if you’re travelling abroad.
- Stock up on cat food and kitty litter? Fine, if you have a cat.
Generic checklists aren’t the solution, but they can be useful tools when working on your own customized version tailor made to your specific circumstances.
How to create a pre-travel checklist
List making isn’t rocket science, but it doesn’t come easily to many folks. If it did, more people would do it. I’m always surprised when I find those who travel without a packing list, but that’s another (though related) story.
But how does one create a pre-travel checklist? Where does a person start?
A customized pre-travel checklist needs to be organized in a way that works for you. Here are some ideas on how you might go about it.
- Identify your most comfortable medium for recording ideas. Lined paper? Post-it notes? A blank distraction-free document in your favourite word processing program? A list-friendly app such as Evernote? A dedicated packing and travel checklist app such as Packing Pro? A voice-recording app for capturing ideas while on the move? Maybe you’ll choose a combination. The important thing is that the medium itself doesn’t complicate things, and distract you from creating your own template and list of tasks.
- Dig out one or more of your previous lists and use it/them as a guide.
- Establish parameters. For example, your pre-travel checklist might focus on tasks other than booking travel and packing your bags. Maybe you’d like to build everything into the one checklist, or create a number of separate lists.
- For inspiration, review a few lists produced by other travellers. Take a look at Extra Pack of Peanuts’ Pre-travel Checklist: 24 Things to Do Before You Travel, U.S. Passports & International Travel’s Traveler’s Checklist, and Indie Traveller’s Backpacking Checklist: 15 Things You Shouldn’t Forget Before You Go.
- Visualize yourself travelling. Treat it as a mental rehearsal of your expectations of what lies ahead. What needs to happen to bring you to that point? Jot down ideas on what you need to do or accomplish between now and then.
- Maybe mind mapping might work for you. Check out Paul Foreman’s excellent example of a Travel Checklist Mind Map.
- I prefer to organize tasks by category. Download my annotated 14-page guide, Pre-Travel Checklist: Tasks, Tips and Tools. It has lots of ideas on what to include in your own more concise tailor-made version. Look for the SUBSCRIBE box at the end of this post.
- Travelling with another person from your household or community? Designate a specific time to get together to brainstorm what needs to be done. Might inviting someone who hasn’t travelled encourage you to think outside the box? Know someone who’s travelled extensively? Invite him or her to join in, or to review your first draft and make suggestions.
- At some point, your tasks should be organized in categories (e.g., documentation, insurance, finances, health, and residence). Maybe you’d prefer to start with categories, or jump between tasks and categories as you go along.
- Add a timeline, or assign timeframes to tasks, especially those that are time sensitive. Life Journeys in their Pre-Trip Checklist categorized tasks into time frames such as “three months ahead” and “one day ahead.”
- Assign responsibilities. Designate who will do what by when (unless you’re travelling solo).
- Figure out a system for recording when tasks are completed. Our Big Fat Travel Adventure created a three-column chart with headings for “tasks,” “completed,” and “notes” in Travel Checklist – Tasks to Do Before We Go Travelling.
- Save your pre-travel checklist for future travel adventures. You could store it in a cloud-storage app, and make amendments as you think of them while travelling.
Conclusion
Check off the tasks on your pre-travel checklist, head off on your travels and have fun. You’ve deserved it.
These related posts might be useful when creating your customized pre-travel checklist:
- Top 20 tips on how to pack light
- Stop pickpockets with an assortment of anti-pickpocket gear
- Emergency preparedness toolkit for travel: 25 proven ideas
- 10 Essentials of packing for a travel medical emergency
- 16 Tips on how to assemble a perfect travel first-aid kit
- A detailed description of long flight carry-on essentials
- 40 Proven ideas on multipurpose travel gear
- How to make a traveller’s emergency contact card in 5 easy steps
- 9 Tested reasons to carry laminated copies of your passport
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Care to pin it for later?
One of the things you might consider for travel is the Discovery Trekking Extreme Ultralite towel. It is not a microfiber towel. It is 58×34″ and under 7 oz. Very silky. The fabric contains Silver which inhibits bacterial growth, so it never gets musty smelling. It doubles as a sun-protective coverup, and sand doesn’t stick to it. Also makes a great airplane blanket.
Gr8 ideas. Thanks for sharing. Yep – prep and the right equipment is everything when it comes to camping! Took me years to perfect our checklist and I recently put that on my site to help other fellow campers. Stop by if you like. Camp more, worry less. 🙂