Your Essential Day-Before Travel Checklist – Day 29 of 30 Days to Packing a Better Bag

Welcome to Day 29 of 30 Days to Packing a Better Bag.

It’s the day before your big flight, your bags are packed (hopefully much lighter than before you started this series), your accommodation is booked, and you’re getting excited for your trip. What now?

It’s time to go over the final details before you leave for your trip.

From double-checking your bag weight to making sure you have a lift to the airport, these are not things you are going to want to be dealing with the day of your flight.

Never fear, we’ve created the essential day-before travel checklist to ensure your travels run as smoothly as possible. Let’s get into it!

Day-Before Travel Checklist

Ask yourself these questions: 

Safety:

• Have I left my itinerary with someone at home? There should be someone who has all the vital information in case something happens to you. This includes phone numbers and addresses for where you’ll be staying and who to call in case of an emergency.
• Have I purchased travel insurance? The last thing you want to worry about is getting sick, becoming the victim of theft, or being hospitalized while overseas. Make sure you’re covered.
• Have I registered with my home embassy and applied for all necessary visas? It’s a good idea to register with your country’s embassy before you go. This means that if something were to happen and you needed to be evacuated, the embassy would know where you are. Also, make sure you have a visa for your destination or that you can get one on arrival.
• Have I saved emergency contact details? Make sure you have the emergency contact details for your destination saved. It’s also a good idea to memorize the main emergency number. 911 in America or 999 in the UK for example. Also, have the details for your accommodation saved.
• Have I got a way to communicate with people back home? Ensure that your phone will work at your destination. Nowadays you get digital eSIMs that are easy to use. Alternatively, you can buy a cheap unlocked phone from Amazon and buy a SIM when you arrive. You might want to check out this post: How to Use Your Phone While Traveling Abroad.
• Is my home going to be secure while I am away? While you’re off on your adventure, your home may be standing empty. The perfect spot for criminals. Organize to have a trusted friend keep your keys and check on it regularly. Turn off all unnecessary appliances and put your lights on a timer.

Money:

• Have I alerted my bank and credit card company that I will be overseas? If you’ll be using any bank card overseas, find out what the penalties for using foreign ATMs are and alert your bank so it doesn’t freeze your account for fraudulent activity.
• Do I have enough foreign currency? If you rely only on taking out foreign money at an ATM on arrival or changing over your native currency when you get there, you may find a poor exchange rate or you might not be able to find an ATM. (You might want to read this post if you come back with extra foreign currency.)
• Have I set my travel budget? This is so important! Set a travel budget before you go, know how much you can spend each day on essentials, and what you can spend on excursions or souvenirs. Calculate these numbers in the local currency so you don’t have to continually calculate exchange rates while traveling.

Packing:

• Have I checked the weather for my destination? If you haven’t checked before this point, you may find yourself having to repack with completely different clothing.
• Did I get rid of all unnecessary items from my bag? Go through it one last time to get rid of anything that you might not need. It’s better than being forced to re-pack at the airport if your bag is overweight.
• Have I double-checked my packing list? Double-check every item off your packing list to ensure you have it. Bring this list with you in case something in your bag goes missing. (Use our free template to create your packing list.)
• Have I packed essentials like my ticket, accommodation information, and passport? These are the BIG ticket items that you can’t forget. Put them all in a place where you will have easy access to them when you reach the airport. If you keep your passport in a safe, make sure you grab it on your way out.
• Will I remember last-minute items? Things like chargers and toothbrushes have to be packed at the last minute, there’s no getting around this. If you think you are going to forget these last-minute items, make a note for yourself.
• Have I charged my devices? You’ll want all devices ready to go before you leave.

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It’s Time to Weigh Your Bag

This is essential before any trip! Airlines are getting increasingly strict about luggage weight limits and dimensions. We discussed this more in Day 3: Research Airlines. 

Double-check the bag weight and size limits of the airline you will be traveling with. This varies between airlines. This is especially important if you are taking smaller budget airlines within the country you are traveling to which will most likely have a smaller baggage allowance.

• Have you read this post on how much money you can save packing personal item only?

Make sure you can lift and carry your bag easily – if not you might need to take out a few items. You’ll be the one responsible for lifting your bag into the overhead compartment and carrying it around town. Make sure you can manage it.

Make sure your bag is labeled and easily identifiable. Even if you think you will be able to recognize your bag on the baggage carousel, when it’s surrounded by 20 nearly identical bags you’ll be wishing you had a brightly colored tag. Even if you’re traveling carry-on only you’ll still want to be able to identify your bag easily.

• You might want to take a look at these posts: Luggage Identification: Easy, cute ways to mark your luggage and The Best Luggage Scales for 2023.

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Confirm Your Flight Details

Your flight is the starting block for your travels and probably one of the most expensive parts of your trip, you DO NOT want to show up to the airport late.

Confirm your flight details and work out when you have to arrive at the airport. Make sure you have a lift to the airport sorted, especially if you are leaving extremely early in the morning when it may be harder to order a last-minute Uber.

Check-in online to avoid queues at the airport (and get the seats you want) and print or download your boarding pass.

Make sure you have your inflight entertainment sorted, whether that be downloading books to your Kindle, downloading movies on the Netflix app, or packing a crossword.

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Have we left anything off of this essential day-before travel checklist? What do you spend the day before your travels doing? Let us know in the comments below.

• PREVIOUS – Day 28: The Art of Repacking on the Road
• NEXT – Day 30: You’re Packed! Get It to the Airport