Planning a trip can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience, as the anticipation of new adventures often comes with the responsibility of ensuring everything goes smoothly. To make the most of your journey and minimize potential stress, it's essential to prepare thoroughly before you set off. From organizing your travel documents to packing the right essentials, there are key steps that every traveler should take to ensure a seamless and enjoyable trip. In today's podcast, we will outline the 10 most crucial things you need to do to prepare for your journey, providing practical tips and insights that will help you embark on your adventure with confidence and peace of mind. I'm Scott. And I'm Melissa. And
we're the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth.
If you've listened to our recent episodes, you'll know that we're right in the middle of preparing for a big trip. When you are traveling to three different countries, the amount of coordination and preparation only triples. So today, we wanted to take you inside that planning and give you some practical tips that you can use while planning your next trip. So
Scott, that's true. I think that the more involved the trip is, like the more places you're going, the more transportation, like there's just more things to make sure and double check. So I think that's a good point. You know, if it's going to this one place and I'm staying at this one hotel the whole time, yeah, you want to double check everything, but it's a little less to do. And I think the other thing thinking about this is that we have referenced this several times, but your aunts are going with us. And so just like thinking through, I guess some of the questions that they're asking that we may not always think about. And then just as we're, you know, going through and doing these things too, I think it's just kind of been like top of mind to say, Hey, people might want to need to know about some of this stuff. Yeah. Like earlier we
Yeah. Like earlier we were talking about insurance and you said, oh yeah, we've had that. We got it back when we went to Aruba and Curacao. Right. But for somebody else who's just going and this is their first trip and maybe they don't have insurance already, then they've got to factor that in as well.
Yeah, that's true. So we typically do like a yearly travel policy, because by the time you pay for one trip, it's like, oh, well, if we're going to take multiple trips, then we'll do that. But that's definitely true. So if you love checklists like I do, we've compiled this into a printable one. And so I'm going to link it at the very top of the show notes. So go grab that and it does help you get prepared to leave for your next trip. And honestly, I think that if you like start preparing enough and ahead of time to it's like not nearly as stressful, right? Especially if you have like all your normal stuff going on. So just like give yourself some time. So and of course, depending on how long you're going and how far in advance you plan the trip and stuff like that, but just give yourself some time. And I would also say for the packing part to like packing can be stressful. And we're going to go into a few details. But I think the further in advance you do, it can be like a lot more fun.
Well, let's talk about the 10 things that you can do to prepare for a trip. And like Melissa said, don't worry, you don't have to take notes. We're going to produce a checklist that you can use in your preparations. And then, you know, you can always print it out, flip it over and add your own things on there as
well. Yeah, for sure. So number one, in the last few weeks leading up to your trip, and of course, again, this depends on how long you've in advance you've planned it, but make sure that you have created some kind of detailed itinerary. And so that just helps you think through, okay, what are we going to be doing every day, which will help you pack your daily sightseeing or tours, your dining and working in some time just to relax or, you know, have some downtime and stuff
too. Yeah. And I kind of cringed when I first saw this one when we were writing down these, you know, this list or whatever, because I'm the kind of person where I don't want to plan every single minute of my day on a trip.
Yeah. So here's the other thing, too. A lot of times we will book trips and we'll have the airfare done and we'll have the hotels or the accommodations done. Because that's kind of like your foundation, right? You want to make sure that you know where you're going to stay and you know how you're going to get there for the most part and then you kind of like do more research and figure out okay what are we going to do and stuff like that and so if you you may not have all those things in right and so then as you're kind of getting more prepared then looking at okay asking for and looking at like specific restaurant recommendations. Oh, we haven't booked a tour for this
day. It could be as simple as stating that you wanted to do a food tour or something like that. You don't have to know which one. You don't have to have it planned out in that much detail. Although there are some reasons to book some of these ahead of time because they do sell out. And so you don't want to miss out. But give yourself a little flexibility to ask that question that we so enjoy asking when we go somewhere new is what do you recommend that we do?
Yeah, that's true. But have just kind of an idea. OK, this day, for example, we want to go snorkeling, let's say. And you did a really good job of this when we did our trip to Curacao, is you had researched a lot of the places that you could snorkel. Now, obviously, we couldn't do all of them. But we at least knew, okay, today we're going to snorkel or whatever. And like, here are some places that we can go instead of just waking up and being like, what are we going to do? You know, we have some options there. But you're right. Like there are some things that with the tours, if you haven't booked them, really start digging in and looking at that. And I like to do it that way, just because that gives us a little bit more time to research some of those things. So for example, we have a tour guide in Cairo, Egypt. And so she's going to help us with a lot of those. The safari is planned out, but in South Africa, we have a little bit more leeway, right? We have some people that you know that are going to come along. And so now we really need to finalize those plans for the wine region, for these tours. We've looked at some things, kind of looking at the days and putting those on. So a couple of different tools that you can use to do that. So one of those is TripIt. TripIt makes it easier. You connect up your email address and as those reservations come into that email address. So just making sure that that's the one that you use, that you sync it up with that. And then it will show you, you know, all those things that you have booked. And you can go and put stuff in manually. The nice thing about this is then you can share that with people as well. And then I think more recently, we've done it more detailed in Google Sheets. My sister has always used Google Sheets to like, you know, keep track of stuff. And the good thing about doing it in Google Sheets is that, of course, you can collaborate with people and share that with people. But then you have those things to look back at. She and I, when she was here recently, she and I were looking at a couple of things and I was like, do you have any idea? Like, what was the place we stayed in on Idra, Greece? And she literally could go back to that Google Sheet. So that's just a good way to like keep up with that stuff if you have places you want to recommend to people as well. So we do a lot of that.
Yeah. And if you need an example of that, if you go out on our website, we have a bunch of our itineraries available. And so you can snap up one of those itineraries and use that. It's nice because it's editable. And so you can go and change it to be anything you want It's to. nice because it's editable. And so you can go and change it to be anything you want to. It's just these are prepared itineraries for certain locations.
Yeah, I give you a good idea of like, yeah, places to stay and different things that we mentioned like in Curacao and things like that as well. But I highly would recommend before we move off of the detailed itineraries is that you have somebody back at home that you send that to, especially like where you plan to stay. Like, so just in case they can't, you know, for some reason, and they can't get in touch with you, you know, I mean, obviously like, oh, well, they can just call me, they can just text me, they at least could get in touch with the hotel or something. Just like worst case
scenario. Can I say one more last thing on the itinerary in doing that planning? I have been watching some friends of ours and others who have traveled to Santorini recently. And we didn't do any planning for Santorini other than making sure that we had a hotel and we could get from the airport to that hotel. And we missed out on so much stuff because I think we were aware that's where the sunsets happen. But we didn't do any research about all of the other things that are on that island. And so the last few days I've been seeing some of these posts and I'm like, we need to go back to Santorini. Well, the second thing that we would talk about is at least two weeks before pack smart and don't wait until the last minute. Now, I'll be honest with you. This is a great idea, but it's probably one that we're not the best at.
And again, I think it goes back to the trip that you're taking. So like literally when you travel for your work, you're just like, okay, whatever, like I know what I'm going to need. And you don't, you don't really overpack, right? And I think that it's going to come down to one of the suggestions I have, because you know, I'm going to go to work and I'm, or I'm going to go to these meetings or I'm going to go to this conference or that kind of thing. And so you kind of know what you're going to need. But I think when you're traveling to somewhere new for vacation, or it's something that you haven't done before, you tend to think, oh, I'm gonna like, I don't know, like what I'll bathe into someone I need. Oh, I might need all these dresses. Oh, I might need all these shoes. And you just like, put it all in. And then are you really gonna use all those things like multiple times? So here's here would be my suggestion is start by making a packing list and looking at day by day thinking about okay, what are what are we going to do? And what's the weather going to be like? What activities are we going to do? Right? Are we going to need, I can't tell you how many times we've bought water shoes or Teva type things, right? Because we're like, oh, we didn't, you know, think through this and we really did need them. And then also local customs and requirements. Like, so for example, if you're going to Europe or South America or somewhere where you're going to visit some of these churches that we've talked about, like they expect you to have your shoulders covered, your knees covered, right? So tank tops and short shorts aren't going to, aren't going to cut it. So you're going to need some of those things as well. So list everything out that you like by the day and kind of what you're going to need and just like think through that, right? And so then that also gives you time if you honestly don't have those things and it's something that you need to purchase or borrow from somebody or whatever you can you can go through that like you know snorkel snorkel gear or just whatever that kind of stuff and then the other thing is list out everything that you use on a daily basis that you might not think about packing. So like think through like you need to pack your chargers and like what toiletries you use and how are you going to pack those things and you might not think about because you just have them there handy like so like listing those things out and thinking about okay I've got to pack them or I need to get travel sizes of them or I need to get something to put those If in. you're going for photography or places where you won't you need to get travel sizes of them or I need to get something to put those If in. you're going for photography or places where you need to use your phone a lot during the day and you won't be able to charge it, like do you need backup batteries for your camera, backup memory cards? Do you need power banks for your phone and stuff like that? So just be thinking about those things and just write them down and make it more of like a checklist as well.
And I did something this time for this trip that I've never done is we're a month out from leaving and I actually got my bag and I packed all the things that I was aware from a clothing perspective that I need to take. And so it gave me an idea of, you know, what I can possibly take with us because we have to worry about two things. We have to A, fit into a certain size bag. And then B, we have to make sure that meets a certain weight requirement. And you so, packing know, those things ahead of time gives me an idea of where maybe I need to change something up.
Yeah. I would also say a couple of other things that I think helps a lot with packing is, are you going to wear this article of clothing like more than once? If you're not like, if you're not going to wear that more than once then unless it's for like a special occasion like a wedding or something i would reconsider taking that like have something that you can wear more than once yeah you always say take a capsule wardrobe yeah so because i mean
always say take a capsule wardrobe yeah
i mean yes you want to like not feel like you wear the same thing all the time but having things that mix and match. And then the other thing I would say is limit the number of pairs of shoes that you take. Shoes take up a lot of weight and they take up a lot of space. And I mean, I get it. I have a lot of shoes too, and I love them. But like think through what is the most comfortable? What is it the things that you're going to need? And I think that will just help you to not have so much stuff. And again, especially if you're moving around a lot and having to repack and pack a lot.
Melissa was helping me by unpacking my bag from my trip to Ohio last week or the other week. And she opened it up and she saw the four pairs of tennis shoes that I had inside there. And she just laughed. I don't normally travel like that. But when I do, I pack them in. And then the last thing I would just say is
say is just like making sure that you have room for, you know, medicines or supplements, any travel documents that you need. And like, purses or crossbody bags, laptops, chargers, just any of that stuff. And then where you're gonna, you know, where you're gonna put it to keep it handy, like when you're on the plane and thinking about just, you know, like kind of how you're going to pack it so it's easy accessible, because that's the worst thing is trying to get something from the overhead bin or something like that. It's hard to do. So just thinking through the packing in advance makes it more enjoyable and makes you end up with not just like all this random stuff that you're like, dang, why did I bring all this?
All right, well, let's move on. The next thing on the list is travel insurance.
Yeah, so you alluded to the fact that we have a policy that we bought for an entire year because we do travel a good bit. So as far as travel insurance, just think through the kind of insurance that you will need. And so, for example, what you're going to want to look at is does it cover things like medical and medical evacuation, trip cancellations, if you have to cancel it entirely, and it's not within the window that you can cancel it, how much does it cover? You know, how much will you get back, etc. But then also things like flight delays and cancellations. So your flight gets canceled on the way back and you need to, you have to stay and you need to book a hotel. Is that going to be covered or is it going to be out of your own pocket? And then of course, lost luggage.
So this was something that we talked to Abby about a few weeks ago when she was talking about the different cards, the credit cards and the benefits, the travel benefits from them. And so, you know, first of all, don't read through there and see what is included in the card that you're using to purchase the travel. And then don't duplicate that necessarily. So you might be able to just say, oh, I need medical and medical evacuation because all these other things are taken care of by my credit card, my lost luggage, my delayed flight, all of these things. So read through there and know what your card, the benefits that you get from your card, and then go and search for a policy that meets your needs beyond that.
Yeah, that's a good point. And like making sure that you book that card. And she said, even if you're using points and miles or something like that, paying the taxes right on that card counts as that. But just understanding what is covered and then what you would need. Yeah, beyond that, I think that's a great tip.
So this next one is actually taking quite a bit of time over the last couple of weeks, which is preparing the travel documents. Yeah. So this is
is not going to apply if you're not traveling internationally, but if you are traveling internationally, like I could think always know in the back of your mind when your passport is going to expire. But, you know, well in advance, gather your passport. Look to see if you need to apply for a visa. So a couple of tips about that is that we look to see if you're going to need to apply for a visa. And this is not the credit card. This is a travel visa that allows you entry into another country. the credit card. This is a travel visa that allows you entry into another country. So we also had an instance with this when we went into Aruba and then to Curacao. And a lot of these visas are now e-visas. So here would be our tip is go to the government website, travel.state.gov. Of course, this is the U.S. travel website. And then click on there's a tab that says international travel and to see which countries you need a visa for. And then here's the other thing. And then they'll have a link to the official website, because unfortunately, if you just go and Google, OK, somebody told you, oh, I need visa to get into Aruba, that one and the Curacao, they don't cost anything, but you do have to apply for it. And you just Google that you may not end up at the official site. Because unfortunately, not just there, but like all over the world, people stand up copycat sites and scam sites and stuff like that. And so you just want to make sure that you're going to the actual site. And then you're not putting in passport information and your personal information and paying money. And it's not even the real thing. And then somebody's got your information. So that would be the first thing I would say. That's why I would go to a site like that is that they will tell you exactly what you need and then it will take you to the actual site. And we've seen a number of sites where they're not scammy in the fact that they're
seen a number of sites where they're not scammy in the fact that they're going to do something malicious with your data. It's just they're going to fill out information that you easily could fill out and they're going to charge you for it. And so, you know, where you might need to go and type five things into a form, they're going to charge you $40 to fill out that form for you.
And so we're going to charge you $40 to fill out that form for Yeah. Yeah. you. And so we're going to come back to that in a second because I do think that that has its place and I'm going to tell you why. But this website that travel.state.gov will also tell you how many pages you need blank in your passport. So for example, if you need one blank page or you need two consecutive blank pages so that you know that you need to have that available on that visa pages in your passport.
I wouldn't count on the fact that nobody stamps passports anymore. There are definitely places that you'll go into and they're not going to stamp your passport. But then there are other places that do. not going to stamp your passport. But then there are other places that do. And the ones that really worry you are the ones that just, you know, randomly open up to a page, see it's blank and put one stamp in it. And then all of a sudden you get to a place like we're going to Kenya and you have to have two pages, two consecutive pages. I think most likely they're going to put like one of those sticker visas in there when we get there, that they'll print it out, put it in your passport. Like I've got a bunch of those in my old passport. And so, you know, in that case, now you've got a situation where you don't have enough blank pages in your passport. And, you know, I don't know if they refuse you entry into the country, but they definitely could because the requirements state that you have to have two blank pages. And
the website says that they will. So you just don't want to have that happen. And so just making sure. The other thing that I would say is that also don't think that you're good just because your passport is not expired. So that's why I said look at that. Look at that travel.state.gov website because it will also tell you for that country how much more validity in your passport that you need. And a lot of them you have to have six months still left when you leave. I mean sometimes it's less than that but then sometimes like a couple of them I read, it said, you know, this one might be three months. But then from there, if you're traveling to a country that you need six months, then you can't do that. Let's say if you're traveling through Europe or something like that. So just be aware a lot of them that I have read as I because the places that we're going at six months. And so a lot of them, I was just kind of like looking around and saying, Oh, so six months is kind of thing. So here would be my rule of thumb. As soon as you get your new passport, put a date on your calendar like nine months ahead of time to go ahead and have that renewed. I mean, yes, that doesn't seem like that's like, well, yeah, I'm having to pay for a new passport. Even though, you know, I have this much left on it, but it is the way it is and they're not going to let you enter. But it is the way it is and they're not going to let you
is the way it is and they're not going to let you enter. I seem to remember a time early on where I had to go and have my passport rush renewed. Like I had to go into downtown Atlanta somewhere, I think, and get them to, you know, kind of same day renew my passport because I didn't have enough time before it expired.
my passport because I didn't have enough time before it expired. I actually feel like that there's a story that your mom tells, and because she did work for the airlines, that you guys had to fly to another city that could do it before you left to go to Germany. I don't know if that's accurate, but I think that that is the story that I'm familiar with. Okay. We had to go to New York,
I'm familiar with. Okay. We had to go to New York, but I'm thinking that there was a time after you and I were married where it was a situation where I had a passport. It wasn't expired, but there just wasn't enough time
you and
left inside the passport. And, you know, the requirement was you had to be valid for six months or so after you go into the country. Yeah. And that's a good
point. And I said nine months. But if you live near a passport office, you can literally make an appointment and go there and get it the same day. If you don't want to relinquish your passport, you don't have time, something like that. So but I did want to tell you about a couple of other apps because Scott is right. If you can do these visas yourself, that will save you the money, right? Because some of them are free. Some of them are paid. Some of them are in more detail than others. And so you don't want to pay for something that would have taken you 10 minutes to do. Like the Aruba Curacao
the Aruba Curacao ones. I mean, literally it took five, 10 minutes max, but there were sites out there charging $40 to fill that information out. Right.
So we are having to apply for two for this one for trip, Egypt and one for Kenya. I got the Kenya one done. The I kept this website, is good. thinking, well, But then it had like this X in this weird which would place, make me start completely over. And so that happened two times. And because this safari has like all these different places we're staying, I had to type that in every single time. So I got it done, but I'm not going to lie. It was probably, I was pushing about two hours on that. So it just depends on what your time is worth. Now, then I'm like, okay, I need to do this Egypt one. I went and saw, okay, yes, we need to do this Egypt one. There was a couple of things on there that I just could not, I couldn't get it to take the address in the right And I didn't know way. how to answer some of the questions there that I just could I couldn't get it not, to take the address in the right way. And I didn't know how to answer some of the questions. So I had read about recently a couple of other services. One of them is called Atlas. It's A-T-L-Y-S. It is an app. I don't know if you're outside the U.S. if you can use it because it does like there's some things it's like for U.S. So you just have to see. And so that is actually the one I put in the information about the Egypt because I was just finally like, I have no idea what to do. I think it was like $35. It depends on the country. They do do some guarantees about, you know, how long it takes and stuff like that. So hopefully that we will have that back or be close to having that back when this episode airs. If not, I'll try to update that after and I'll put in the show notes. Hey, here's the story. This is how it worked. I recommend this. I don't recommend this. It wasn't super expensive. I think it was going to end up being like $35 a piece. But like if you end up spending so much time and are just like, I can't, you know, I can't figure this out. I don't have time to deal with this. There are services. The other one that I have seen recommended is called rushmypassport.com. They do also do passports, but they also do the visa requirements and you can go in and put in the stuff. And again, those are paid services, but they may be useful and helpful depending on how much time you have. Whether you're exploring new cities, relaxing on a beach or taking a cruise, you can avoid expensive data charges or unreliable Wi-Fi with a GigSky eSIM. Easily get affordable high-speed data in over 190 countries. No physical SIM card required. They even have cruise and land packages, so you're connected both on and off the ship without having to pay for two different plans. Download the GigSky app, activate your eSIM, and you're ready to explore. All
All right, let's talk about money. What do we need to prepare in terms of money when going to a new country?
I think it's always a good idea to notify your bank and your credit cards of your travel dates and destinations. Now, there's some credit cards that it's not a big deal, but I'd say especially for debit cards, it usually is a bigger
deal. And that's a good point is, yes, your debit card is a visa, but we do not in any way recommend that you use your debit card when traveling internationally. If something happens and then all of a sudden that's your bank account and it gets wiped out, that is huge. And so we would not recommend to use your debit card for, you know, in country or while traveling. Instead, you know, use a credit card and you've got some protections there on those credit cards. Not to mention, you're going to pay international fees if you use that debit card. Whereas if you use a specific travel card, usually the banks don't charge you those fees. Yeah. And what I would
I would say, make sure that you have a travel card that has no international fees. I think that's super important. The other thing that I would say is if you like to use an American Express, I would also take a travel visa card with you. We've just found that American Express is not used a lot of places internationally. Discover also. So you're probably going to want to have a travel visa card. And I would also recommend that you have some kind of backup card. Like, so have a card that you plan to use for everything and then have a card to use just in case that you don't keep with that. Right. So let's say, you know, that card is lost or stolen or something that you have another one somewhere that you have access to.
Yeah, I can remember many years ago when I worked for a company, they gave us a diner's card and tried using a diner's card around the world. Quite a challenge. OK, a couple of other tips about money is
of other tips about money is that we always recommend just getting cash out in the local currency at the ATM once you get there. And the airport is a fine place to do that. It's often cheaper. You get a better exchange rate. And it's just it's fairly convenient to do that. And always get that out in the local currency, obviously, but don't have it like convert as well. And same thing when you use your credit cards when you're traveling internationally, have it run in that local currency. A lot of times they'll ask, oh, do you want it in whatever or US dollars? You get a better exchange rate typically. We've only had two places, which was the same trip, Aruba and Curacao, which for whatever reason they couldn't run it. It was always in US dollars. But typically you just have it run into that local currency. The other thing that you might want to check on before you go is the exchange rate. Just so that you have an idea about what things are going to cost. And I like to think of it as like, I don't know, something that's going to be typical. So $10 is like how much in that currency or $100, just depending on what you're doing, is how much in that currency, right? So just so you have an idea, so you're not always having to like look it up. Exactly. You kind of know it. And a good place to look at that is an app called XE. And it will just, it's an easy way to like be able to do that currency exchange. And then I also like to have alerts on my credit card. So it'll pop up like a little, like a push notification or something like that, or send me an email, however you like to get them. Just so you know, like, okay, if a charge went through that's over a certain amount, just it's an extra security precaution when you're traveling. It's probably not a bad thing to do all the time, but just an extra peace of mind when you're traveling. All
right. Well, let's talk about arranging transportation. You know, when you get there, one of the most stressful things is you've gotten off the airport. Now you're going out and you're trying to figure out how to get to your hotel or some destination. And so, you know, it's very helpful often to arrange transportation ahead of time. Now, some places you go, they'll have Uber or Uber-like services. But the problem is that you can't necessarily count on that unless you've done this research ahead of time. And so, for example, when we went to Slovakia, they didn't have Uber, but they had a local version of Uber. And so if we had planned on, we'll just use Uber once we get there, we would have been in trouble, especially if you run into a situation where your phone doesn't work in this new location.
Yeah, if you haven't sorted that yet. We've run into that in Ireland as well, right, where they use some kind of certain app, and that one is easily fixable, I think. Like a simple Google search and asking people, right, you're going to get some forums that come up or some kind of blog post that's going to come up if you say, you know, how, like what travel app or what is, what is like the Uber and such and such a country because we have, you're right, we have run into that several times. So just kind of knowing and if that's what you're going to use, like go ahead and maybe like create an account and putting in your information and that kind of thing.
Yeah. And something else that we learned recently is that some countries require an international driver's license. So just recently we were in Greece. And if you look it up, Greece does require an international driver's license. So had I gotten pulled over, there could be an issue there. You know, I've never run into this, so I don't know what the issue might be. However, just spend the $20 and get that international driver's license if you're going somewhere to another country and you're going to be driving.
Yeah. And so what's really great about this is that same website that I mentioned earlier, that travel.state.gov, I found it on that. So if you keep on going down below, like how many pages you need and all those other things that we talked about under travel and transportation, it will spell that out. So that's super handy. But yeah, you just get a passport photo, another passport photo done, or I think they do them at the AAA office. There's a form you fill out, you pay $20. So you and I are going to do that because it just would be, you know, handy to have and, you know, good to have that. But yeah, check to see. Yeah, check to see if that is a requirement as well. Some of the other things that you might think, not think about, I mean, so obviously, if you're going to rent a car, go ahead and book that. That's another one that I feel like that you and I go ahead and do like when we book the flights and we book the hotel. I'm like, did you rent a car? That's typically what I something that I have you do. But some
yeah, check to see.
other things too, is that like, so for example, when we went on a trip recently, we typically drive to the airport, but we didn't have a car there. And so I needed to book transportation. Once we got back home, I needed to have somebody come bring us home because you've had the instance, you've talked about this on some of our Amelia Island content. You can't late at night necessarily rely, you know, on the Uber. Plus we had six people, two of them were kids. We had to make sure that we had a car big enough. So just arranging some of those things to and from the airport if you don't want to park at the airport. And here's the other thing I would say. You have used airport parking services in Atlanta where you would need to reserve a spot, right, for it to count towards your loyalty status, right? You had to go online and make a like a parking reservation. So just thinking through some of those things, you know, how am I going to get to these different places? What apps am I going to need in advance? We'll just take a lot of that stress off. Well, let's keep
Well, let's keep moving. The number seven, check the health and safety requirements of the location you're traveling to before you go. You know, look for any health advisories or safety precautions for your destination. And, you know, it's always a good idea to pack a basic first aid kit, you know, something for like traveler's diarrhea, some kind of antibiotics, things like that, band-aids that you might need in case of, you know, minor injury or illness while you're traveling.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of those, depending on where you are, if you're in a city and you can get those easily, those are easily picked up. You know, in London, in Greece, you're going to pass a pharmacy on every corner, kind of like sometimes we joke about here. We've had nice people fix up Will's scraped knee, you know, in one of the pharmacies in Madrid before. But just having those, like, especially if you are going to be in a remote place. And then also...
Well, it doesn't even have to be remote. I can tell you, I've been in countries like in South America, and I needed something. And you go in and you say, I need this. And they hand you something that you've never seen It before. you go in and you I need say, And they this. hand you something that you've never seen before. It's not in English. And now you got to try to decide, is that what you really need? Yeah, that's a good
a good point. Because we also, I think we went into a pharmacy in the Galapagos Islands and it was like, oh, I'm not really sure. That's, yeah, that's a good point. So having things that you're familiar with, especially for heartburn, upset stomach, things like that. And then even on a bigger scale, like if you're going somewhere like we are, like, are you going to need to take malaria medicine? Do you need to have an antibiotic in case that traveler's diarrhea gets really bad? Are there vaccines that are required for that country or a country that you're traveling to after you leave that country? So there's lots of resources that you can check for that country or a country that you're traveling to after you leave that country. So there's lots of resources that you can check for that, that travel.state.gov, the CDC website will tell you that. You can, you know, check with your local health department, you can go to like a passport health type thing and talk to them, talk to your doctor as well. But those resources are there and you can just see like what are requirements, what is recommended as well. But that's something I would say probably at least a month in advance, you need to be getting those. And, you know, if you need vaccines, if you need to, you know, get some of those prescriptions filled as
well. And let's just say that if you need to have a particular vaccine when you're traveling, there are a lot of different places that you can do that. You can go to your doctor and some doctors can do that for you. You can go to a travel clinic like Passport Health or somewhere like that. Or often you can go to your own local health department And many of them will have the vaccines that you need for travel. And so, you know, I think we kind of learned this lesson this time. We went through the more formal through Passport Health. And I'll be honest with you guys, we walked out of there with a $1,200 bill. It was not cheap to go there. Yeah, it
was. Yeah, it was expensive. And so I think that we probably could have done a little bit better. But I mean, that's why we tell you about these things. And sometimes when you travel or getting ready to travel, it's like, okay, lesson learned. We maybe should have researched some other options because literally she was a nurse, but she's looking on the CDC health website too. And we already knew we had done our research. We already knew which ones were going to be required for us. So, you know, just kind of look around and maybe see what your best option is.
Yeah. And I had asked my doctor first. So that's where I started. I started by asking my doctor and they said, oh, no, you need to go to one of these places. But in hindsight, I think our aunts, they had found out that any of the vaccines they needed, they could just go to their local health department. So and I think it was a fraction of what we ended up paying for ours. So I would just recommend that that you check into that as an option before you go to one of these other places. Yeah. And if you have like a Teladoc service or something like
have like a Teladoc service or something like that, you can probably get those prescriptions because it wasn't the prescriptions. I mean, even though it was convenient and she just handed them to us and she did all that, it wasn't the biggest part of that cost. So the next one is something that we've
one is something that we've talked about a number of different times, and that's downloading an offline version of the map from your travel app. So, you know, using like Google Maps, which... Or
Apple Maps. Yeah. I think you can download offline of Apple Maps
Yeah. I think you can download offline of Apple Maps now. Used to you couldn't. Google Maps was the only one that did that. Now, listen, probably 80% of the time Google Maps works fine. It's just those few times I've had where it's had me driving in circles that just drives me nuts. However, having that data offline and searchable for when you find yourself in a situation for whatever reason, you can't get cellular service at the moment, but you'll still be able to search those directions or look up information about a particular direction if you're storing that offline. Yeah. So, I
mean, this is especially good if you are doing some kind of road trip. You're going to a place that might be more remote. So, for example, when we were in Greece, we went to a couple of beaches that were kind of far away on the island of Crete. And so not knowing what the service was going to be like. So having those downloaded, definitely download those at home ahead of time while you're on your Wi-Fi. So just spend some time and thinking through, okay, what am I going to need? It's easy to like select that area. And then also I think for like cities and stuff too,, just in case you end up without any any cell service. And then also kind of along with that, also some of the travel apps, too. Right. We highly recommend. So if you're flying a certain airline, download their app, enter in the information, like have all that good to go. Right. Hotel apps that trip it currency app. I'm just trying to think, of course, the Google app, any of those for the transportation. Yeah. And I've learned that you can actually download Google Translate to a
for the transportation. Yeah. And I've learned that you can actually download Google Translate to a local language as well. And you can have that downloaded to your phone. So if you're in an area and you don't have service, but you need Translate, you can use Google Translate offline.
Yeah. So, I mean, I know that you might come up with one that you end up needing, but just thinking through those. Another great one, like if you're going on a cruise, most of the cruise lines have some kind of app that has like a lot of great information. Even if you don't have data on the ship, you get to use the functionality of their app. you get to use the functionality of their app. So downloading that kind of stuff, too. So downloading that kind of stuff too. And then along with that, since we've been talking about like needing data so much, is think about what you're going to do about your data for your cell phone. So are you going to like buy a plan that your cell phone provider, you know, like a daily plan or like T-Mobile has a monthly plan? Are you going to purchase that? Or are you going to use like an eSIM provider?
And so one of the things that we've found is even with some of those international plans, they still don't give you the fastest data. And so you're still restricted, even though you may have access to data.
Yeah, and they can, depending on which one you have, they can get expensive. And then once you've used up so much of that data, then you're stuck with some really slow. Yeah. To the point where your apps won't load and things like
To the point where your apps won't load and things like that. Which can be
can be really, really frustrating if you are accustomed to relying on that or you'd planned on relying on that. So we are going to have a whole episode dedicated to using eSIMs from GigSky coming really soon. And plus, this is who we're going to be using when we travel to Africa. So again, check the show notes and we will give some updates. Be sure to follow us on social media as we share some of that experience as well.
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All right, well, let's move on to number nine. And this is, you know, really before you get ready to leave, some of the things you need to do to prepare your home. And that's just things as simple as arranging for pet care, pausing your mail delivery. You know, we like to use the United States Postal Service app. Yes, they do have one. And, you know, it's actually pretty good. You can stop and start your mail delivery right there from the app. And we've had good results from that.
Yeah, it's actually probably like one of the easiest things. It literally takes 30 And seconds. so that is good results from it's that. actually Yeah, probably like one of the easiest It literally things. takes 30 seconds. And so that is super easy to do. If you're not going to have anybody at home, set up timers for your lights. If you have an alarm system, like, you know, have that to where you can check that and turn it, you know, turn it on, turn it off. And then also we would say let a neighbor know that, hey, you know, we're going to be gone. Can you just keep an eye out? Here's how to get in touch with us, you know, just in case as
well. And so recently we've been keeping our dogs at home and hiring someone to come in and help with them. Or we've had family come in. Heck, we even had Colin and Meg from Did You Pack Snacks podcast came one time and stayed with our dogs while we were traveling. And, you know, it's a huge stress relief because the dogs are here. They're somewhere that they're comfortable and they're familiar with. And then you've got somebody looking after them that you know. And so, you know, we've just found that to be really helpful. But we've also used a service where we paid somebody to come to our house. The dog stayed here and they would come a couple of times a day and feed them and walk them and all of those things as well.
Yeah, we actually use Rover to do that, to kind of fill in some of the gaps too. The other thing that I would say is making sure that you pay your any bills that are going to be due while you're gone. Put them on auto pay just so that you don't have to worry about that. And you can just enjoy your trip and enjoy your vacation and not be like, oh, I got to pay this bill real
quick. And so finally, number 10 is double check your reservations and get packed. So, you know, we've done this before. Unfortunately, we've gotten somewhere and I thought someone else was making a hotel reservation and they thought that I was making it and we got to the hotel and there was no reservation. And so that's happened before. And so I would just say double check all those things. Using our spreadsheet or the template for our itinerary is great because you can even write in there the confirmation numbers and then you can start with the date where you check in and then the date where you check out because sometimes you get messed up and off a day and all of a sudden you're thinking you have a hotel reservation through the entirety of your stay and you could be a day off on that.
Yeah. And remember, if you're traveling like overnight, you know, that that first night you'll be on the plane, for example, and that just kind of helps you think through some of those things and avoid surprises. And then finally, just pack for your trip. The other thing that I like to do is like I've packed everything else and then I still make another little list of the things I need to pack like the day of or, you know, especially if you have like an early flight, okay, I need to put in these, you know, few little things not to forget.
Getting ready for a trip doesn't have to be stressful if you take care of a few things ahead of time. By following these 10 simple steps, you'll set yourself up for a smooth and enjoyable journey. Whether it's making sure you have all of your documents in order, packing the right gear, or learning a bit about your destination, these preparations will help you feel confident and ready to dive into your adventure. What are some of the things that you have on your travel preparation list? Send me an email at scott at sunshinetravelers.com and let me know. We are always inspired by notes and stories from you. We hope you enjoyed this episode and found some inspiration to help you with your travel journeys. If you could take a moment to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform, it would be greatly appreciated. Your five-star reviews help us get discovered by others and possibly featured on your favorite platform. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to our podcast to get notified of new episodes as they are released. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Remember, that is Travelers with one L. Most importantly, please share it with your friends to help them catch the travel bug. You never know, they may become your greatest travel companion.
