As an anxious person, I like to feel prepared and create lists to cross off in order to calm the nerves. Below you’ll find the last minute things to cross off before you begin your journey.
flight
- Check into your flight – I recently found out most South American won’t let you in without proof of leaving. As I’m flying on a one way flight, I booked a “outbound” flight on onwardflight.com
- Verify the airport you are flying out of – okay, this may seem silly, but being from DC, there are three possible airports to fly out of, so check your flight to make sure you’re headed to the right one
- Luggage – verify the weight and size of checked and carry on bags. Hopefully you’ve packed too!
- Music and/or playlists – downloaded to your phone or computer. I’m the type of person who listens to music almost all day. Check out my latest playlist on Spotify here! As for playlists, for the past month or so, I’ve been listening to Language Transfer in order to learn some Spanish. For native English speakers, it begins with making connections with words that are the same (or very close) in English and Spanish, so right away you get a confidence boost feeling like you know some Spanish.
finances
- Notify your bank/credit cards – tell your bank/credit cards about your travels so your account isn’t frozen!
- This shouldn’t be a last minute tip, but make sure you have a debit and/or credit to use for your travels that doesn’t charge exuberant fees.
carry on
- Passport
- Travel documents
- Airline ticket (or saved on phone)
- Phone (plus charger!)
- Kindle/computer/any other electronics (and chargers)
- Medications as needed
- Travel sized liquids
- Scarf/sweater for covering up
- Change of clothing or anything else you wouldn’t want to be without should your checked luggage be lost
- Verify you know how to get from the airport to your first place of accommodation – don’t count on the internet working at the airport when you land, so have your first night accommodations address written out and how to get there (whether that be bus, taxi, etc)
Hopefully you already have these couple things covered but if not…
- Get your hands on travel insurance! With a quick google search, you’ll see numerous options, but I went with World Nomads
- Stop mail/subscriptions or have them sent to family
Resfeber. That Swedish word says it all. With my flight taking off tomorrow afternoon, the excitement and the anxiety of the unknown are starting to set in (even though the whole thing doesn’t quite seem real yet).
What else do you cross off before you take off?
