Planning a trip: itinerary, packing and documents
Three lists do most of the work before a trip: what happens when, what goes in the bag, and what has to be sorted before you can leave. Each has one habit that saves trouble.
The itinerary: enter times as local times
Tickets print times as local time where each thing happens. Keep them that way, and record the time zone alongside. A flight leaving New York at 18:30 and landing in Lisbon at 07:10 the next morning looks like 12 hours 40 minutes on paper. In October, New York is on UTC−4 and Lisbon on UTC+1, so it is really 7 hours 40 minutes. Put it in a calendar with its time zones and it shows at the right hour on your phone wherever you are.
Then read the itinerary night by night rather than booking by booking. A night flight covers a night; a hotel from the 2nd to the 4th covers two. The gap that causes trouble is the night nobody noticed was never booked.
Booking references belong in the itinerary. Passport numbers and card details do not — keep those where they are protected.
Packing: count the days you have to dress for
Seven nights away is eight days of clothes. Without laundry, that is eight days of socks and underwear plus a spare pair — nine. With laundry once a week, the count stops at a week’s worth: eight pairs cover a stay of any length. Tops are more forgiving than socks, and trousers more forgiving still.
Then add what the trip itself asks for: weather (a waterproof, a warm layer, sun protection), the kind of trip (swimwear, walking boots, work clothes), the journey (liquids bag for carry-on, a power bank that usually has to be in hand luggage, a plug adapter abroad), and anyone travelling with you. Airlines and airports set the liquids and battery rules, so check yours.
Keep the list after the trip. Untick everything and it is the packing list for the way home.
Documents: work back from the day you leave
Most document problems are timing problems. A useful order, counted back from departure:
| About 3 months before | Check every passport's expiry against the date you come home. Some countries want a passport to be valid for months after you leave, and some want blank pages. Pet travel rules can take this long too. |
| About 2 months before | Check entry rules for each country — visas or electronic authorisations — with the destination's embassy or your government's travel advice. |
| About 6 weeks before | Ask a travel clinic or doctor whether vaccinations or health documents are recommended. |
| About a month before | Buy travel insurance and check what it covers; check driving permits; get enough medicine, with copies of prescriptions; carry a consent letter if a child travels without both parents. |
| The last week | Keep copies of ID and bookings apart from the originals, share your itinerary with someone at home, check your bank card and phone plan abroad, and check in online. |
On expiry dates, count whole months after you are home. Home on 5 October 2026 with a passport that expires on 1 February 2027 leaves three full months — fine for some destinations and not enough for others. That is exactly the case to check before booking.
None of this is any country's rule. Requirements differ and change, so the destination's official sources are the ones to trust.