What do I need to do in the weeks before a trip?

Almost every trip that starts badly started badly for a scheduling reason: something with a lead time was left too late. Passports, visas and authorisations, pet paperwork, vaccinations and repeat prescriptions all take weeks and cannot be accelerated. Sorting them into when-they-must-happen, once, removes most of the stress from the fortnight before departure.

Step by step

1. At booking: check documents and buy insurance.Passport validity for every traveller against that destination's rule, whether a visa or authorisation is needed, and travel insurance bought now rather than later so the cancellation cover runs from today. Declare all medical conditions.
2. Three months out: start anything with a long lead time.Passport renewals, visa applications, vaccinations that need a course, and pet travel — which needs the longest run of all because the vaccination waiting periods are fixed. If any of these apply, this is the deadline that actually matters.
3. Two months out: book the things that sell out.Airport parking, transfers, car hire, seat reservations, kennels or a pet sitter, and any attraction with timed entry. All of these get more expensive and less available the later they are booked.
4. One month out: re-check the requirements and sort the practical things.Entry requirements again in case they have changed, repeat prescriptions ordered early, currency and cards arranged, a phone plan for abroad, and the house arrangements agreed with a neighbour or sitter.
5. Two weeks out: confirm everything and read the details.Re-read the booking conditions, confirm the accommodation and transfers, check baggage allowances for both legs, check what the airline requires at check-in, and put the emergency numbers somewhere offline.
6. One week out: check in, print, and start the food run-down.Online check-in when it opens, boarding passes downloaded offline, documents printed and filed, and stop buying fresh food. Start using up the fridge rather than throwing it away on the day.
7. Two or three days out: pack and weigh.Using the reusable packing list. Weigh every bag, rebalance rather than paying, and pack the cabin bag last so nothing essential is buried in a hold bag.
8. The day before: do the house.Bins out, fridge dealt with, laundry done, water off at the stopcock, heating set, light timers on, key to the neighbour, plants watered, meter readings photographed. This is a list, and doing it the day before rather than on the morning is the whole trick.
9. The morning: five things and out.Passports and wallet, phones and chargers, medication, the last of the perishables in the bin, lock up. Everything else should already be done. Set two alarms if it is an early flight.
10. Keep the countdown as a reusable list.Save it with the packing list. The second time you use it, it takes ten minutes to set up and you will not forget the thing you forgot last time.

Tips

• Anything involving an application, an appointment or a vet has a lead time measured in weeks. Do those first and everything else fits around them.
• Order repeat prescriptions early and say why — pharmacies cannot always dispense ahead of schedule without notice.
• Put the whole countdown in a calendar with reminders on the day each item is due. It converts a list you have to remember into a list that arrives.

Common mistakes

• Checking entry requirements only when booking — They change between booking and travelling. The check that matters is the one a month out, while there is still time to act on it.
• Leaving the house jobs to the morning of departure — It is the morning where everything else also has to happen. Water off, bins out and timers on the night before costs nothing and removes the scramble.
• Buying travel insurance the week before travelling — A large part of what you are buying is cancellation cover, which only runs from the date of purchase.

Questions people ask