How to Prepare For Your Holiday Without the Last Minute Stress

Avoid unwanted travel stresses and look forward to your getaway with our useful guide.

Holidays, aren’t they just the best thing in the world? The perfect time to relax, escape reality and enjoy the things you like doing. Once you’re at your destination it’s all fun and chill, but getting to that point can be quite a stressful experience. If you’re not prepared for your holiday, then it can become a little overwhelming and stressful in the end. We’ve put together a little step by step travel checklist to help you plan your holiday with ease and prepare in advance.

The Moment You Book Your Holiday
The first and most important thing you need to do before your holiday countdown begins is to ensure that your passport is valid for your time of travel. It sounds pretty simple, but these things go unnoticed, and you may not realize that you have only a few months left on it. Some countries require passports to be valid for different periods of time, so it’s definitely worth looking into your passport requirements. Travelling with others? Make sure they check theirs, too!

This is also a good time to check which vaccinations or medications that you may need for your chosen destination.

3-6 Months Before Your Holiday - Shopping
The fun and most exciting part about preparing for a holiday (if you do it in this time frame) is shopping! It totally gets you in an excited mood.  A tip from us would be to dig out your summer clothes and see what you have left from previous holidays, which would save you from going overboard on buying outfits and leaves more spending money for your holiday  if you want to be super organised, then you could write a list of everything you have and write a list of everything you don’t have and need, ensuring that everything is ticked off 3 months before your holiday. Things to think about buying at this stage would be clothes, shoes, suitcases and bags.

2 Months Before
Got a super early or late flight? Don’t know how you’re getting to and from the airport? Then plan ahead and take that last minute weight off your shoulders. If you’re planning to stay at the airport, then this would be a good time to book a hotel, as prices do go up the later you leave it. Many airport hotels offer stay and park packages, so if you’re driving then this is a great option that will save you money. If you’re getting a coach or train, then ensure you book this in advance too and give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, taking delays and traffic into consideration. A general rule is that for short or medium haul flights, you should arrive at least 2 hours before hand, and long haul 3 hours.

Another thing to think about 2 months before your holiday is your airport transfers at your destination. If you haven’t booked by this point, then you should definitely look into it. It’s worth contacting your accommodation as many hotels offer airport pick up services, and if not, you could ask for the number of recommended taxi companies and estimated costs.

3 Weeks Before
When it hits the 3 week point, you should take out some travel insurance and order your currency, as depending on which currency you need and how much, you may need to book online. This is the best way to order currency anyway as it’s much cheaper than purchasing at the airport. If you don’t want to carry a lot of cash, then there are other options; you could bring your credit card abroad, or order a prepaid cash card. The best option for a credit card is the Halifax Clarity Credit Card, which doesn’t charge any fees or interest for overseas spending. You can go into the Halifax store or ring up to apply, and it takes up to 10 days to arrive in the post.

Another thing to think about 3 weeks before your holiday is whether you need to bulk up on any medication. Are you going to have enough medication to last whilst you’re away and for a few days after you’re back? Also, if you take medication at the same time every day, then it may get confusing if you enter a new time zone, so the best tip is to set alarms on your phone for the new time that you would need to take it (for example, if you take a pill at 9pm in England, but 9pm is 11pm in Greece, then you would set the alarm for 11pm each time).

2 Weeks Before
This is a good point to double check everything on your booking and get all of your documentation together. Print out your confirmations for any parking, hotels, flights, visas, insurance etc. and have them all placed into one wallet. Write down any important numbers that you’ll need when away, like emergency contact numbers should you lose something, and make a note of your passport number.

Make sure you double check your luggage allowance and buy a cheap pair of luggage scales that will save you freaking out at the airport if you’ve gone over. This can be bought in pound shops, as can other useful items such as painkillers, padlocks, eye masks for the flight and a first aid kit. These can be the first things you pack away in luggage, and make sure to pack some in your hand luggage too, to prepare for unwanted annoyances such as headaches from dehydration.

This is also the perfect time to buy all of your last minute bits - make sure you stock up on sun cream, hand-luggage toiletries or travel sized liquid containers and purchase a clear plastic bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm. What about other extras? Is it worth buying some Imodium in case of holiday tummy troubles? Are mosquitos going to be a problem? Then buy some repellent. All these little things you may need will probably be super expensive abroad, so it’s best to buy in advance.

1 Week Before
It’s time to start packing for your holiday, and our biggest piece of advice for this part is to pack light. Lugging around a heavy suitcase full of unnecessary items is going to be a pain in the backside, plus you won’t have any room for souvenirs. Try to cut back, and if there’s anything extra you’ll need, then you can always purchase it whilst you’re away.

You’ll need to start planning the last minute stuff at this point too, like what to pack in your hand luggage. Will you need some snacks for the flight? Anything to keep you entertained like a good book or music? It’s the little things you think about that make such a big difference to your travel experience.

When you do start packing, our tip is to roll clothes up - it takes up a lot less room.

A Few Days Before
You have almost reached holiday mode, so now is the best time to start finishing off any work tasks, setting an out of office reply, leaving yourself a nice clean home to get back to and maybe buying some bread and milk for when you get back, depending on how long you’re away (make sure they will be in date). If you have enough holiday allowance, then it’s definitely worth taking an extra day or two off to get your hand luggage, documents and luggage together, ensure you have weighed your suitcase and treat yourself to some pre-holiday pampering.

Then you’re pretty much ready to go.

Day of Departure - Relax!
The day you travel is the day that holiday mode begins. You’ve prepared all the little but significant things, have a lighter suitcase and a lot less stress. If any problems do happen like delays or super long queues, then try not to let it stress you out. React in a positive way and remember, you’re one step closer to reaching your holiday destination! Enjoy a meal at the airport with a nice refreshing beverage, do a little shopping and make the most of your holiday mode.

Stick to our little guide and the only things you’ll need to worry about is what to get up to on your holiday! Speaking of holiday, have you booked one for this year yet? If not then there’s still time - why not browse our best holiday packages for some inspiration.