Smart moves to practice for vacations and trips
Who doesn’t like to travel? Most people do. Event though if you don’t have a travel bug in you, one of these days you’ll have to be going somewhere far from home.
Before every trip or vacation, I take I have a ritual I practice to get me into travel mode.
Here are my top action items to work thru first:
1. Check out the weather. I use my cellphone app. This helps think thru the outfits to bring with me. On my last trip, I underestimated the fact that it was supposed to rain in Baltimore, and only had one pair of pumps, that were not suited for the rain weather. I ended up not having to buy a new pair of shoes, but I confess, I was real, real close!!!
2. Accommodations – where are you staying? How are you getting there? Make sure to check in and confirm your reservations.
3. I can’t go anywhere without my phone and my laptop. Determine what kind of cell phone connection and data plan you have. If you are traveling domestically, then for most it shouldn’t be a problem (and I assume you have unlimited minutes & text messages). So double check your Data availability.
For international trips: I use Verizon and their international calling plan is a bit pricey. In the past, I’ve rented hotspots with unlimited wi-fi when traveling in Europe, which was great for calling. I also learned the hard way about not using public wi-fi, while abroad, as they are not secure. Since, then I’ve been a big fan of www.Cloak.com which allows me to create my own virtual private network, anywhere I go.
4. Money – last, but not least. Chose what form of payments to use for various expenses, cash and or credit cards. If I am traveling for business, then all expenses are going on the business credit card. If I am traveling for pleasure, then I either use the funds we saved in our “travel” account, or we designate a credit card for all charges. I am generally not a “Cash” person, I keep very little cash on me, however for the long trips or international trips I make sure I have enough cash on hand.
For international travel: I have a few credit cards that don’t have foreign transaction fees. Chose one that has the best rates. Also, please don’t forget to notify card company and your bank, if you going to use debit cards for upcoming travel to make sure they don’t block the card when I go to use it.
Got any cool travel tips for me?
