Travel Checklist: Your Hassle-Free Trip Preparation Guide

A travel checklist is a great tool to help you plan your trip. There's so much last-minute planning that handling preparations for long-term travel can be overwhelming if you don't start ahead of time.

But when should you start? What should you do when?

We all have different things to plan for but most planning for long-term travel will probably include some of the following tasks.

Travel Checklist: 1 year before departure

• Decide what kind of a trip you'll be taking: Ethical travel? Pilgrimage routes? Cooking schools in Europe? Travel to trace family roots? Just plain wanderlust? Unusual travel destinations?
• Check out your employment options: can you get a leave of absence or will you have to quit?
• Begin budgeting for your trip with some travel advice on money and start applying some money saving travel tips
• Decide whether you'll be keeping your living quarters if you're renting or what you'll do with your home if you own it
• Start thinking about where you'll go and checking out potential travel destinations
• Begin to tell your friends and family
• If you're planning on traveling in a single region, start looking into how to learn a language
• Decide whether it'll be solo travel for you or whether you'll want male or female travel companions for part of the way

Travel Checklist: 6 months before departure

• Get passport or check validity, renew if needed
  
• Begin planning specific itinerary and cost your trip
  
• Start reading some of the best travel books or travel interviews for inspiration and to keep you going for the next few months
• Start tightening your belt and cutting back on unnecessary expenses
  
• Look into overseas travel money matters
• Look into cheap ways to travel and make any necessary adjustments to your budget
• Decide whether you'll keep your appartment, car etc
• Join the best travel forums and start asking questions
  
• Explore options for volunteer work overseas
• Start looking into overseas jobs if you'll need to make money along the way - like teaching English abroad or becoming a travel writer, for example
• Get head shots of yourself and start working through international travel visa paperwork
• Get a medical checkup and look into other health information for travel
• Start looking into what international travel vaccinations you'll need

Travel Checklist: 4 months before departure

• Start booking your volunteer activities
• Hand in your notice to your landlord if you rent (in some places, you can wait till the last month or two before you leave)
• Order your RTW ticket
• Look at climate and the best time to visit
• Start researching your backpacking gear and the best women's travel clothing
• Decide what to do with your pets and where to board them

Travel Checklist: 2 months

• Start gathering everyone's contacts and determine the best ways of keeping in touch on the road
• Go to the dentist
• Organize overseas money transfers
• Start poring over maps and read some travel guidebook reviews to choose the best ones
• Make sure you're in good health and ready to go
• Start ordering your travel gear
• Buy your backpack (so you can practice walking in it)
• Print out your travel packing list and begin gathering what you need
• Load everything into your new backpack and start walking around with it each day
• Start breaking in your women's hiking boots by wearing them while you carry your backpack
• Research your budget travel insurance
• Order your Eurail ticket if you'll need one

Travel Checklist: 1 month

• Hand in your job resignation
• Sort out your cellphone or get calling cards to stay in touch while you're on the road
• Make sure you have a web-based email address and sign up for the various social networks you plan to use
• Buy your travel insurance
• Get a spare set of glasses
• Create a blog for your travels
• Write to potential couch surfing hosts to line up your first few weeks of lodging or find other budget hostel accommodation for your first few days
• Begin seeing your friends, one at a time

Travel Checklist: 2 weeks

• Start calling your friends to say goodbye and exchange addresses
• If your backpack is too heavy, start pulling things out

Travel Checklist: 1 week

• Avoiding malaria is important so start taking your medication if needed
  
• Photocopy your important papers

Travel Checklist: The last few days

• Look through the above list and make sure nothing has fallen through the cracks
• Finish saying your goodbyes
  
• Write about your departure preparations in your blog (but be careful about being too specific - you don't the world to know you're leaving an empty house behind for a year!)
• Take pictures of your family to show your soon-to-be new friends

Travel Checklist: On the day

• Double-check your papers and tickets
• Take care of last-minute additions and surprises
• Say a last goodbye to your closest loved ones
• Make sure you give yourself enough time to get to the airport serenely
• Stop worrying and get on that plane!

Your travel checklist should be flexible: add what you need to, delete what you don't, and make it as personal as will work for you!