{"id":178,"date":"2012-08-14T00:10:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T14:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sugarpopblue.com.au\/blog\/?p=178"},"modified":"2014-11-02T16:55:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-02T05:55:55","slug":"departure-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sugarpopblue.com.au\/blog\/departure-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"12. A Departure Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re anything like me, the excitement of a holiday either hits you hard at the very last minute, as leave work on a Friday afternoon at 6pm before you board a 10pm flight &#8212; or you spend six months counting down to it, crossing off the calendar days, triple-checking the weather forecast, picking out movies on the in-flight entertainment program in advance. There is no happy medium, no sliding comfortably into the warm knowledge of an upcoming trip. It&#8217;s butterflies-in-the-belly one way or the other. It&#8217;s silly, really, to get so worked up over a holiday, but I can&#8217;t help it. I have the travel bug bad.<\/p>\n<p>I find the only way to combat the mind-churning, heart-pounding, sleepless nights, is to do a brain-dump, and make a checklist. With just a few weeks to go, these are a few things that I need to tick off &#8211; perhaps you should add these to your list as well?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Safety first<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Photocopy passport in case it gets lost\/stolen.<\/li>\n<li>Take down addresses for Australian embassies.<\/li>\n<li>Register on <a href=\"http:\/\/smartraveller.gov.au\" title=\"Smart Traveller\" target=\"_blank\">smartraveller.gov.au<\/a> &#8211; in case of natural disaster or a political emergency, the Australian government will know your whereabouts and make every effort to return you home safely!<\/li>\n<li>Pick up extra prescriptions and first aid supplies from chemist &#8211; I always take an additional month of birth control in case my luggage is lost, and antibiotic eyedrops &#8216;just in case&#8217; as my eyes are prone to redness and dryness. If you have recurring medical needs make sure you take enough meds to cover you in case of emergency!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Do I have everything I need for my trip?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Apply for an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mynrma.com.au\/travel\/services\/international-driving-permit.htm\" title=\"International Drivers Permit\" target=\"_blank\">NRMA International Drivers Permit<\/a> &#8211; you won&#8217;t be able to hire a car\/scooter\/motorbike without one.<\/li>\n<li>Buy and engrave a padlock for one of Paris&#8217; bridges.<\/li>\n<li>Add friend&#8217;s addresses into iPhone so I can send them postcards. It&#8217;s old-fashioned, but I still consider these to be the most personal and affordable souvenirs &#8211; better than yet another fridge magnet.<\/li>\n<li>Dump music on iPod or iPhone.<\/li>\n<li>Write up list of things to pack &#8211; so we can check it off before leaving each hotel and make sure we don&#8217;t leave anything behind!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Does everyone back home have all the information they need while I&#8217;m gone?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organise house-sitter, and write up appliance manual and plant watering instructions for them.<\/li>\n<li>Print three copies of the itinerary &#8211; one for each of our parents, and one for ourselves.<\/li>\n<li>Record overseas voicemail on phone (and turn off services so I&#8217;m not surprised with a  massive bill on my return).<\/li>\n<li>Set up auto-payment of bills.<\/li>\n<li>If you have a desk job like I do, write up handover notes for work, and setup &#8216;out of office&#8217; on email.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Plus a few things to make the holiday as comfortable as possible<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Login to airline website and reserve best seats on plane.<\/li>\n<li>Brush up on my foreign languages.<\/li>\n<li>Get all those necessary treatments done &#8211; hair lopped off into the perfect low-key travel &#8216;do; eyebrows waxed for sunglasses-ready weather; nails shellac-ed for an immaculate and chip-less six weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And one more for the road &#8211; time to empty the fridge\/pantry of all consumables likely to go bad while I&#8217;m away. Perfect excuse for a farewell party! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This checklist will put your mind at ease and make your trip a more successful one. Make sure you tick these original hints and tips off before you leave! <a href=\"https:\/\/sugarpopblue.com.au\/blog\/departure-checklist\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-tips","tag-checklist"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Departure Checklist that will Guarantee a Stressless Holiday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This checklist will put your mind at ease and make your trip a more successful one. 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