A list of the most important things that must be done before your vacation. Checklist: what to do before going to the sea

Farewell, beloved city! We're going to sea tomorrow! And so that nothing overshadows your vacation on the azure and turquoise shores, you need to properly prepare for the trip. We offer you a checklist of the most urgent matters that should not be neglected before your seaside vacation. So, all that remains before departure...

Two to three months

First of all, check whether the passports of you and your intended companions are expired. When applying for a visa, many consulates require that the passport be valid for another two to three months on the day of your return. By the way, if a visa is required for your trip, you need to start preparing documents for it no later than a couple of months before departure.

As soon as you find out the date of departure to the sunny beaches, pay for insurance and take care of your reservation. The latter will not only save you from unnecessary hassle on vacation, but will also help you save a lot. It is worth booking: a hotel room, plane tickets, train tickets, as well as tickets to the theatre, concert, etc.

One month

By the beginning of your vacation, try to complete all projects and meet the agreed deadlines. This will allow you to easily disconnect from everyday worries while on vacation, gain strength and health.

About a couple of weeks before departure, check that you have all the essentials and wardrobe you will need at sea.

If you are missing something, hurry up and buy the things you need. You shouldn’t put this off until last, so that in the hustle and bustle you don’t forget something important - for example, a first aid kit, an adapter for charging your phone, a GoodLine tourist SIM card, which will provide you with economical and high-quality mobile communications.

A week

Now it’s time to put in order the shoes, clothes, and accessories that you will take on the road. It's time to send some things for repair, dry cleaning, and wash and iron others.

Review your plans for the near future - do any of them overlap with the period of your upcoming vacation? If possible, reschedule them until you return from vacation, or cancel them.

Three days

Don't forget to pay all utility bills and tax services, pay off fines, etc. Remember that the slightest debt can cause a delay or cancellation of a trip abroad.

Download a navigator, online translator, online banking and other programs that will be useful during beach holiday abroad.

Take care of your pets and plants during your absence. Cats, dogs, hamsters and even fish can be placed in specialized hotels for animals or you can ask friends to look after them.

Every year during the summer holidays, many people pack up their bags and set out on an adventure. They travel alone, in groups or as whole families to warm sea, green forest or mountain coolness in order to relax and gain fresh impressions. But in order for your vacation to be calm and comfortable, you need to properly prepare for it. This article will show you how to do this.

At least two days in advance

  1. Make sure someone picks up your mail. Kind of crowded mailbox immediately indicates that you are away and can attract intruders.
  2. Place your pet with friends or at a shelter.
  3. Pay your bills to avoid late fees while you're away.
  4. Check the toiletries, equipment, clothes, gadgets you are going to take with you. Repair them or buy new things if necessary.
  5. Make sure you're entertained on the plane, train or bus. Prepare books or magazines, download interesting content to your mobile device.
  6. Check and top up.
  7. Let family or friends know about your travel itinerary. If you doubt the need for this, then watch the movie “127 Hours”.
  8. Consider how you will get to the airport or train station. In some cities this is not so easy.

One day before

  1. Throw away perishable foods from the refrigerator, as well as any fruits and vegetables that have a limited shelf life.
  2. If your home has an alarm system, then inform the security service of your departure.
  3. Leave the keys to your home to a trusted person, relatives or neighbors. This can be useful in case of emergencies or, for example, when it is necessary to water.
  4. Change bed sheets. There's nothing better than coming home to fresh sheets!
  5. Print your boarding pass.
  6. Write down or print your destination address.
  7. Check the weather forecast at your arrival point.
  8. Confirm your hotel reservations.
  9. Find and install, if necessary, on your mobile gadget applications that may be useful to you (maps, messenger, guidebook, translator, and so on).
  10. Make electronic copies of your ID, ticket, insurance and other important documents and place them in online storage.
  11. Activate an autoresponder in your email.
  12. Fully charge your smartphone, laptop, GPS and others electronic devices that you take with you.
  13. Provide for yourself the required amount cash in banknotes of various denominations.
  14. Call your bank and let them know you're traveling.
  15. Pack all the necessary things in a suitcase or backpack.

On the departure day

  1. Add up the most important documents, tickets, money and gadgets in a small handbag that will always be with you.
  2. Make sure all doors and windows close securely.
  3. Remove trash and other waste that could go bad.
  4. Wash all the dishes and tidy up the kitchen.
  5. Turn off the lights everywhere.
  6. Unplug electronic devices and appliances.
  7. Water the flowers.
  8. Close all blinds and curtains.
  9. Once again, make sure that your hand luggage There are no prohibited items or substances.
  10. Check availability of tickets, documents and the exact date departures.

What to take with you

Of course, everyone determines the set of necessary things and clothing for themselves, based on their personal needs. But we want to draw your attention to a few things that people most often forget at home.

  • Personal hygiene items: disposable shampoo, soap, shaving equipment, Toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, towel.
  • A small first aid kit, which must contain a plaster for calluses, a painkiller, Activated carbon, and medical supplies prescribed to you by your doctor.
  • Route, maps, guide.
  • Smartphone charger.
  • Book or magazine.
  • Pen or pencil and paper notepad.
  • Headphones.
  • and sunscreen cream.

We hope that these tips will help you successfully prepare for your trip and spend it in such a way that you end up with only the most positive memories.

Have you already gone on vacation?

What should you do before traveling to Europe?

1. Make sure your passport is valid

If you're planning on traveling this summer, now is the time to find your passport and make sure it's not expired. Remember that according to the laws of many countries, a tourist's passport must be valid for at least six months (in some countries - only three months) before they will grant entry into their country. And it doesn't matter how many days you're going to spend there; you will be denied entry if your passport expires in less than six months.

2. Light luggage or what you don’t need to take with you

One of the main mottos of a traveler is to travel lightly. Believe me, this option will make your trip much easier. No need to pack huge suitcases big amount unnecessary things, especially when you are going to leave for just a few days. Hit the brakes in time!

Advantages of traveling light:

  • don't pay for luggage,
  • no need to be at the airport several hours before the flight,
  • no need to stand in long lines for luggage,
  • you will never lose your suitcase,
  • you do not need to pay for luggage transportation by transport.

All you need to take is a large clothes bag with other small items that can be stored in convenient pockets. Remember that you will probably find a place where you can wash your clothes, and that is why you should take them to large quantities it makes no sense. Well, of course, unless you want to show off your wardrobe to the locals.

3. Bring an extra bag

If you intend to go shopping, then take another bag with you, but thinner and lighter. Thus, on the way back, you can check your suitcase, that is, a large bag, as luggage, and take an additional bag with you as your hand luggage.

TIP: If you are buying expensive items, you should take the bag with them as carry-on luggage, and check anything minor as checked luggage.


4. How to sleep on a plane or get used to the routine

Agree, it is quite difficult to immediately get used to a new time zone. To adjust your biorhythm to new way, it is necessary to begin the process long before the flight. Set your watch to the new time right away in your country. If this does not affect your regime in any way yet, then psychologically you will definitely be ready for it. Try to sleep and wake up for several days in accordance with the schedule or time zone that is accepted in the country you are going to visit. If the plane departs at night, try to overcome sleep upon arrival. Stay awake whenever possible at least until 10 pm local time.

5. Call the bank

Alert your bank that you are going to another country. You can even name the route and time of your stay abroad. For security reasons, the bank may temporarily block your credit card.

NOTE: To block a card, it is better to call the bank yourself. Very often service online support on the bank’s website does not respond or does not provide such services virtually.


6. Make payments in local currency

Foreign stores quite often offer you to pay for the goods with your credit card with your country's currency. Never do this! If similar form payment is very convenient, then for this convenience you will need to pay huge interest, or rather, for converting currency into local currency. Added to this type of “fraud” is the daily currency exchange rate. It turns out that the item you purchased costs you exorbitant prices. So, remember that you must pay for a product or service in the currency that is accepted in the country where you are!

7. Download Google Maps and Google Translate apps

In a foreign country, you very often find yourself in a situation where you simply don’t understand what the other person is asking you about. And even if you visit very often different countries, this does not guarantee minimum knowledge foreign languages. If you can somehow cope with English, then in China you will definitely not get out of an uncomfortable situation. In this case, you need to connect to a technological innovation like Google Translate. This application can be downloaded for free and has the ability to translate into 90 languages ​​at once. The program is integrated with the Word Lens application, which allows the traveler to translate any printed text using the phone’s camera, including road signs, signs in museums, and menus in restaurants. ... And all this without an Internet connection. Well and Google Maps will become faithful assistant for orientation in the area.


A trip abroad is not only a pleasant event, but also quite troublesome. Even if your stay abroad is only a few days, you will need to take a lot of things with you. You will need personal hygiene items, medicines, photocopies of documents and much more. But you need to start collecting with documents.

Make photocopies!

Any briefing before traveling abroad begins with the advice to make photocopies of all documents, namely:

  • foreign passport;
  • health insurance;
  • return tickets;
  • tourist voucher (if you are going on vacation on a tour package);
  • hotel reservations.

Photocopies must be placed in a separate file and placed in the hotel safe immediately upon arrival. If there is no safe in your room, look at the reception - there will probably be one there. Every time you leave your room, take photocopies with you, not original documents.

It’s better not to limit yourself to just paper copies. Before your trip, scan your documents and send the scans to your email address. email. They can also be uploaded to some cloud service. Electronic copies are additional insurance in case paper copies are lost.

Cash and plastic cards

Since we are going to another city abroad, we are sure to take care of our financial security. You need to take with you both cash currency (dollars or euros) and plastic cards.

The situation with cash is simple. You only need to take euros if you are traveling to eurozone countries. In most other countries, including the resorts of Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, it is better to take dollars. In many parts of the world, the dollar exchange rate is more favorable than the euro exchange rate.

Take Russian rubles to limited quantities– they will mainly be needed when returning to your homeland, when you need to pay for a taxi or other services. IN Lately The ruble exchange rate in foreign banks and exchange offices is unfavorable, so it is more advisable to purchase foreign currency at home.

An important nuance: when going abroad, make sure that you have enough small bills in your wallets. They can be used to pay for small services, for example, for a taxi ride or buying souvenirs. Local residents may not have change for large banknotes.

Each instruction before the trip requires you to take bank plastic cards with you. You must have at least two of them, preferably different payment systems. The money on the cards must be divided approximately equally.

Also keep in mind that:

  • In many European countries, shops and restaurants do not accept the simplest and cheapest cards, such as Visa Electron. To travel abroad, it is better to get a more expensive card, at a level not lower than Visa Classic;
  • In the USA, Great Britain and other highly developed countries, more and more restaurants and retail establishments are switching to payment with chip cards. There is no need to do this on purpose, but keep in mind that in such establishments you will not be able to pay with a regular card. So let’s say it again: have some cash on hand!;
  • If you lose your card, it must be blocked immediately. And to do this, find out in advance from the bank that issued the card the telephone number of the customer support service in international format. If you have trouble remembering PIN codes for cards, write them down in your phone or diary. Try to keep these entries discreet and as unnoticeable as possible. This will reduce the likelihood that someone else will see them.

Don't forget about the first aid kit

You are going to travel abroad: what medications should you take with you? At a minimum, anti-diarrhea medicine, painkillers and bandages. In addition, take a pack of aspirin, iodine and a bandage. You must also have a valid medical insurance, preferably in the amount of at least 50 thousand US dollars.

If you take any medications on a regular basis, be sure to take them with you. Remember: in Europe, America and many Middle Eastern countries, medicine is very expensive, and most medicines, even the simplest ones, are sold only with a prescription.

A first aid kit may be needed not only abroad, but also at home, for example, during a country picnic. So if you decide with friends, don't forget about medications.

Don't stand out from the crowd!

Now let's give useful tips before traveling abroad, which relate to safety. The main one is as follows: try not to stand out from the crowd.

IN major cities In Italy, France and Spain, it is the visitors who suffer the most from pickpockets and street scammers. Fraudsters instantly identify them by dozens of signs - a card in their hands, a camera on their shoulder, etc. It’s always much easier to deceive a tourist than a native resident who is familiar with local realities. So, when abroad, try, if possible, not to stand out from the crowd of people. And for this:

  • Don’t walk everywhere with a camera in your hands and a backpack over your shoulders. It’s better to leave your backpack in your room, and take out your camera only when you really want to take a photo of the place you like;
  • Wear modest and discreet casual clothes for your trip to blend in with the crowd;
  • look at the map on the street as little as possible and don’t walk, as they say, “with open mouth" Experienced scammers can identify a visitor by just one expression on his face.

A few words should be said about the “wirings” themselves. Basically, they go according to the following scheme: a friendly-looking person comes up to you on the street and starts patting you on the shoulder and asking where you came from. Sometimes these strangers offer you a city tour, an apartment for rent, etc. Usually, “friendly” communication ends with the discreet taking of your wallet or the removal of your watch. And the people offering free excursion, suddenly they begin to demand a substantial amount for it.

So try to avoid contact with strangers on the streets, especially near famous landmarks. And if you really need a tour or a rental apartment, contact the appropriate agency.

Let's find out emergency phone numbers!

What to take with you on a trip to another city to feel more confident? An ordinary piece of paper from a diary, on which the telephone numbers and address of the Russian (Ukrainian, Belarusian, etc.) embassy in the country of your stay will be written. Also be sure to find out the telephone numbers of local emergency services - police and ambulance. We sincerely hope that you will not need them. However, you should have appropriate contacts in case of an emergency (for example, passport theft).

Household items

Now we will give advice on how to prepare for a trip to everyday life. Tourists often complain that hotels abroad do not have some household items - hair dryers, irons, etc. In some hotels these things can be taken at the reception, but for a fee. So if you are planning to stay at a hotel on long time and it is important for you to have a well-groomed appearance and neat clothes, it may make sense to take a small camp iron, hair dryer, etc.

Even the most expensive European hotels do not have toothpaste in the bathrooms. Of course, it can also be purchased directly on the spot. But then get ready to pay at least twice as much for pasta as we do. So it’s better to take this hygiene item with you. In addition to toothpaste and toothbrush, bring:

  • antiperspirant deodorant;
  • comb;
  • several packs of wet wipes;
  • a change of underwear, several pairs of socks. Men should not forget the razor.

Our instructions before traveling abroad have come to their logical end. We sincerely hope that all recommendations will be useful to you. And in order not to forget anything, use our service to create a list of things for a trip abroad. Have a pleasant travel experience!