I am so excited to be leaving for a holiday in Costa Rica. As someone who has become somewhat of a homebody lately (I'll blame it on winter and working from home), I became slightly overwhelmed when I thought about all of the loose ends I would have to tie up before leaving.
First there's work to wrap up and trip planning which is all about the details like scheduling shuttles to the airport, renting a car, booking hotels, and making a budget. In my particular situation I had to coordinate dog care and make sure that my tenant had proper coverage in the event of an emergency or even a snow storm.
On the home front though, there seems to be just as tiny details to think about. Here is a concise list to help you be organized so you can travel in peace.
1. Set up an auto responder for personal email
This of course is only if you want the flexibility of being unreachable. I am looking forward to being disconnected for a short while but I suspect many do not feel that way. I do think being unplugged presents a nice personal challenge for those who get anxious at the thought alone.
2. Tell someone the details of your trip
You should let someone know your whereabouts and general itinerary just in case.
3. Make a spare key
It's always good to leave a key with a friend or family member just in the event someone needs to get into your place. In my case, I imagine my basement flooding or my furnace catching on fire and people needing to get down there to handle it.
4. Water your plants
Winters are especially dry for plants so keep them hydrated. Water them the night before you leave so they are healthy when you return.
5. Turn down your heat
There is no need to keep your house toasty when you are away. Do not turn your heat down to less than 62 degrees or so though, because your pipes could freeze and ultimately burst.
6. Remove perishables from fridge
You won't want to deal with expired food items when you return so throw out perishables before you go away.
7. Take out your trash
After you remove the perishables throw them out permanently.
8. Close your shades
This may be a bit neurotic but I always close my shades and curtains when I am away so people can't peer in. (Be careful to leave your plants some light though or they will get deeply depressed.)
9. Tidy up
There is no better feeling than coming back to your own clean house. I once came back from a trip and left my apartment in such disarray that I panicked when I first walked in thinking someone broke in!
10. Shut down your computers
I go as far as unplugging them so they too can rest.
Am I missing anything? What do you do to your homes before leaving on an extended trip?
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I would also recommend leaving a spare car key with a trusted friend, especially if you park your car on the street in a city. Learned this the hard way after my car got broken into while I was on vacation...luckily, I had given a key to a friend who could stash it in a garage for me so it didn't get snowed/rained in while waiting for my return.
depending on length of trip, I get my mail held by the post office.
Inform all services that you need to pay regularly. They should not think you are delaying your payments!
Also, inform tax authorities if you're on vacation around the time they send the forms, set up deadlines, etc.
If you are an expat, like me, you might need to inform your local police station/ municipality that you are going to be out of the country for some time.
It really depends on how long you are going to be gone! If its just for a week then all of the above are fine. But I dont know if you really need to inform tax authorities that you are vacationing!
Also; I usually leave a low-watt lamp by the living room window that can be seen through the shades. Just enough to deter a break-in.
I learned the hard way that it is also a nice thing for your neighbor to know where your main water shut off valve is; just in case of a frozen pipe! (of course I live at 10,000 feet so thats not an issue everywhere)
run your garbage disposal, and tell your landlord you're going away "in case you want to make any repairs."
Er... fallingup... I live in Switzerland, and our tax forms are due in Feb. If you inform the authorities you won't be here, they will delay the process for you till you come back. Also, if you have a monthly train pass or something, and you inform them about a vacation period, they reimburse you the money for that period :-)
A few of the reasons why I like Switzerland :-)
I live in one half of a duplex so when my upstairs neighbor is gone I bring in his mail/packages for him and set them on his back (inside) steps. It's kinda nice knowing we have a built-in person who can just pop in for feeding the cat too!
We travel a lot and have a quite elaborate checklist that we keep on dropbox so that we can each do things and check them off and the other person can see what has been done and needs doing.
I would add the following, learned over the years the hard way: if you have a fridge with an ice dispense in the door, remove the ice; if the power goes off the ice could melt and drip out to the floor. Check the fridge and drawers for perishables, throw out cut flowers. Empty wastebaskets and take out recycling. Check the dishwasher for unwashed items -- wash, or at least rinse well. Forward the landline to cell. If it is a long trip, squirt a bit of toilet bowl cleaner into toilets; if you are in a hot region, leave the toilet bowl lip up (discourages mold). Disconnect car batteries (modern car computers can drain the batteries in about 3 weeks), install club. If it is a long trip, suspend magazine delivery. Have enough frozen food on hand to have a meal on return without going to the store.
Check to make sure you have enough prescription meds for the trip, that all the chargers and electronic paraphernalia are accounted for, fresh batteries in the headphones, a snack or meal for the journey....
And if leaving before dawn, make sure to turn out all the lights!
I pet-sit in my spare time. Some of my clients/friends, I am always a little surprised by the condition they leave their houses before leaving for vacation. It looks as if they just dropped everything, ran out of the house in an emergency or they were scooped up by aliens. Dirty counter tops, clothing and shoes all over the floor, sink filled with dishes. Sometimes I can't take it, and I wind up tidying up a bit. I always hope they're not offended, but most seem grateful, if they notice.
Unplug everything. Not only does it zap electricity needlessly, if you accidentally left something - say, a straightening iron - on, bad things can happen.
Learned this from a girl I know who now unplugs everything and throws it into a bathtub.
i also ...
1. call my credit card companies and inform them of travels and potential out-of-area charges.
2. set up lights on a timer to discourage break-ins.
3. scan my passport and ids and create a locked pdf of them, then email to myself. Then if I lose them during my trip, I will have a record to get new travel identification
I always suspend mail and newspaper delivery and try your best to ensure no packages will be delivered in your absence (dead give away that no one is home if you have mail and newspapers piling up on your stoop), close blinds, put a timer on one light to go on whenever the sun goes down and off around 11, agree with giving the house a full cleaning before you leave, nothing nicer than coming home to a clean home. If you have a friend in the neighborhood give them a spare key, and if they have time just ask them to swing by once or twice while you're gone if you're going to be gone for more than a week or two. Had a family friend come home to a nasty flooded basement that started with a backed up bathroom sink that could definitely have been caught earlier if someone had stopped by.
Shut off the main water valve. Too many things can burst...hoses to washer, sinks...refrigerator....toilets can run...then entire time you are gone...
Also put a cup of bleach in each toilet and shut the lid. Keeps mold away.
Love the color and graphics of the "HOTEL" sign!
Great suggestions! I love these travel posts. Keep it up!
As someone who *just* came back from a 9 day trip to Costa Rica, I can't help but put in my 2 cents for what my boyfriend and I made sure to do...
-Basic clean up including trash, laundry (not having clean work clothes the next morning can be stressful), making the bed (we normally don't, but coming home to it was nice), and giving the bathroom a light cleaning. We're not very strict with our cleaning schedule, but I knew that after coming home from having cleaning services every day I'd hate to have a super messy apartment greeting me even if it wouldn't bother me during a normal day.
-Copying important documents such as passports, bank cards, and all insurance cards. I've heard too many horror stories to not have back ups with me and with our emergency contact.
-Call the bank to let them know we might be using our cards internationally. I didn't think to do this but I'd also recommend setting a limit as to how much money could be spent before a flag went off. It keeps me from overspending and still keeps an eye out for possible fraud.
-Left emergency contact with our building manager. I'd also recommend leaving it with the landlord if you contact them at all. We actually had some issues with the apartment while we were out and the landlord handled them directly, which meant that our building manager didn't know to contact our emergency contacts! What a nightmare... Thankfully everyone was very nice about the issues.
-Write the next rent check. We came home before our rent was due, but in case we were detained for an extra week, I wanted a rent check to be written and ready so our emergency contact could turn it in for us if things went wrong getting home.