101 Things To Do Before Your Trip

An interesting post caught my eye yesterday by Nico Crisafulli, a contributor for AirTreks. In it, he highlights a number of useful tasks that might need to take place before leaving on an extended trip. As we are 2 months away from our own 3 month journey throughout Southeast Asia, we're deep into our own todo lists of securing home and cat care, airfare watching, budgeting, and itinerary planning.

Nico's run-down includes some of the more obvious action items, such as;

  • Autopay your bills

  • Get your visas

  • Book some (but not all) accommodations


I was pleased to see some that didn't seem quite as obvious that we're already doing;

  • Get in the habit of washing your hands

  • Organize your life

  • Talk to strangers


However, there are a number of new (to us) ideas that have now made it onto our already expanding queue;

  • Wash your laundry by hand once or twice

  • Copy your passport and save it online

  • ..and my personal favorite, Increase your capacity for frustration


I'll also note that another non-obvious idea, "Get a travel mascot!" was inspired by Adam Groffman, who was one of our first Vagabonding Case Studies, now exploring the Middle East.



1 Response to “101 Things To Do Before Your Trip”

  1. AirTreks Nico Says:
    2010-07-29 20:11

    Thanks a lot for showcasing the post, Ted. It was important for me to write since there are so many more ways to prepare for a long trip than just securing tickets.

    The advice of "learn to sew a button" was especially poignant for me because I didn't know how hard it was until one fell off a pair of my favorite traveling pants. I discovered quickly it's not as easy as it looks, leaving me craving a YouTube instructional video when I was in Southern Thailand. Should have learned that before I left!

    And everyone should wash their hands, a lot! :)

    Nico