List of things to do before leaving for a trip?
 

Anyone have a good list of things that should be done before leaving for a long international trip? (call my credit card company to let them know I'll be making a lot of charges out of town, call my alarm co. etc)
Thanks!

Photocopy the identification pages of your passport, fronts and backs of credit cards & important identifications (health insurance cards etc.) Bring copies with you and carry separate from the actual documents in case stolen, you have some recourse. Ironically the telephone number to contact your credit card company is printed on the card...lot of good that does you if the card is gone! Also leave copies of these documents with a friend or relative at home in case of emergency. Also, arrange for mail to be held at the post office, stop delivery of newspapers, inform your neighbors so they can keep an eye on your property and report anything strange. Arrange for pet care or boarding if necessary. Get all prescriptions filled so you don't run out while away...

When you make copies of your credit card, block out the expiration date and the 3 digit number on the strip above your signature. When I called my credit card company the last time I left the country, they told me to do that. The rep says those numbers are the identifiers. Without them, nobody else can use your card numbers.

All good suggestions above. One additional, depending on whether or not you have made up an itinerary is to print that out (including names of hotels, dates you will be there, and the hotel local phone number and give that to various trusted friends or at least those people who may be keeping an eye on the house (if you are using a kennel for pets give them one also).
And rather than YOU feeling like you have to call back every now and then to make sure things are "OK" instruct the people with the itinerary to call you only if something goes wrong.

I guess this thread is turning into the list, so I'll add -call your bank & alert them you'll be making ATM withdrawals abroad. Make sure the card is connected to a checking account AND you have enough money in the checking account (people have reported problems with ATM withdrawals from savings accounts). If your PIN number is more 4 digits, consider shortening it.

Unless someone is staying in your home turn off the water--the hot water line in our kitchen burst for no obvious reason--better to be safe than saturated. Enjoy your trip! :-)

Make sure your toe nails are trimmed!

Sounds silly, but.....on our first trip to Europe in 1997, my head was so full of information and things to do that I forgot this simple task and had a miserable (feet wise) first day. Peace.

Robyn

If you shut off the water to your house( and I do after we had a flood)...you should shut off your hot water heater also.

I unplug our garage door opener...that way there is no way for the door to accidentally open.

Another simple thing: make a list with the names and addresses of those to whom you'll send postcards, packages, etc. Don't lug your full address book.

The last couple of trips, I printed computer labels for each person (we send lots of postcards to family while we're travelling) and just peeled them off and stuck them to the postcards. A small thing, but in the rush of writing the cards and wanting to drop them in a post box, it helped. (Plus, I exactly who had - or had not - already received a card.)

(The posters above have hit all the really important stuff.)

Have fun,
Gayle

I am a very very organized person and I sought advice from this board on a similar issue before I left for Paris.

Here is the one thing I didn't do that I wished I had: If you are flying into a large airport, ask the airline what terminal you will be flying into and out of. In Paris, for example, the RER line leaves from one terminal, but you have to ride a bus to the station from another terminal. They didn't tell us what terminal we were in when we arrived and I didn't see any signs. (I know I could have asked as I deplaned, but my mind was elsewhere.) THEN, when we were on the RER returning to CDG I realized that there were two CDG stops, depending on what teriminal you needed, and I didn't know which one. I had failed as a hyper-organized person!

Also, FYI, someone said on this board that it is illegal to make a color copy of a passport.

change voice mail greeting
and auto reply on computer at the office.

Stop newspaper deliveries.

Send yourself and a good friend an email (perhaps from your office to your home email) not just itinerary info, but also
credit card numbers, bank account info, etc. Leave off the last digit if this worries you and send the last digits in a separate email. You can access the info if you need it from an internet outlet while traveling. And, know how to call your bank or credit card companies from abroad. Toll-free customer service phone numbers within the US (if that's where you live) can't be accessed from abroad.

I always type new ID cards for the luggage tags, including not only our name and home address but name and address of our first hotel, with the dates we'll be there.

In case the bags are lost, we can be found. Luckily, we've never needed this, but you never know...

Byrd

Change your bed linens. Nothing feels better than coming home to your own good bed!

Re the luggage tags, I always put my work address on them rather than the home address. Someone suggested this to me years ago and I have done it ever since. (It doesn't alert people to the fact that your home could be unoccupied and available for burglarizing or whatever.)