Just popping in to say that I hope you're enjoying your trip so far, thursdaysd!

Thanks yk! Trip has been mixed - updates at twitter.com/mytimetotravel, blog is way behind at mytimetotravel.wordpress.com

The voice of experience. Get your house/pet sitter's email. I have a T-Mobile phone and it's always worked in Europe so I didn't bother with any other form of communication. Trouble was, I've changed my plan to pre-paid minutes. They didn't work in Europe. I had no way of knowing if the pet sitter needed me. She didn't but I wish I could have emailed her. I know how much she loves her computer.

Coffee drinkers, clean the coffee maker and throw out the used coffee grounds!

LOL ... As a coffee drinker I forgot that ...ONCE! Never have again!

Put the newspaper delivery on hold. Get rid of all the junk emails. Leave a copy of your itinerairy with a friend or relative.

Have someone check your cell phone for messages periodically if you're not taking it with you. Many providers delete unheard messages after two weeks. I returned home to learn I had two voicemails that were deleted. If you're not going to be checking your email regularly, have someone check it for anything that needs attention.

The cat goes to my parents house and the indoor plants can just suffer. I do generally tell a neighbor that I'll be gone and give them my parent's contact info incase something comes up.

One trick my grandparents have is to put a thermostat controlled light in their front window when they leave for the winter. If the temperature in the house drops below a certain point, the light (with a colored bulb) turns on so the neighbors know to call my dad as there's something wrong with the furnace. This has saved them more than once over the years from frozen pipes. If you're going to be gone for an extended time over the winter this may be a good set up for you.

I like the idea of two sealed packets of information, one for manageable emergency and one for death. It would be good to have a list of all account numbers and bank info for my parents to go through if I didn't come back.

What a cool (literally!) idea on the pipes, Iowa_Redhead!

As for the death packet, you should have that set up anyhow, for any heirs that need to come and sort through your stuff. When I worked at a CPA office, we would often counsel our clients that having one place where everything was (like a safe, or safety deposit box) with account numbers, passwords, safe deposit box keys, insurance policies, will, DNR orders, etc., was a blessing for anyone you've left behind. They are grieving - they don't need to do a scavenger hunt for important information as well.

This is needed for times of incapacitation, as well. Say you get in an accident and are in a coma? Do you have a health care surrogate, someone to make medical decisions? Someone who has access to your bank account to pay the medical bills? If you have no spouse or your spouse is also injured, this is important stuff. Sorry, getting off soapbox now.

GreenDragon, feel free with the soapbox, it's one I've stood on myself! I haven't done it yet for myself because... well, because it doesn't sound like fun. If I make a packet like that, I need to give it to my parents and/or tell them where it is and that would just not be fun. No parent wants to have their kid say "here's the info you'll need if I end up dead or in a coma". Realistic or not, it just seems kind of awful.


For anyone else contemplating making up a packet of misc. info incase something happens to you (on a trip or not), remember to include screen shots of how to get to various webpages for logins and passwords, passwords to get into your computer, email and voicemail, where you've stashed extra keys for the house and/or car, etc. What do the pets get fed, who is the vet, who should take care of them if something happens to you (and spouse/partner if relevant). What bills are paid automatically and from what accounts, what bills need to be paid, etc. Do you have a will filed with a lawyer?

You might want to consider putting in a quick letter to the effect of "if I die or am incapacitated, ________ has my authorization to access my financial and medical records and to make decisions for my care as laid out in the attached living will or last will and testament". Of course then you need a living will (incase of coma/incapacitation) or last will (for death). Also, if you have anything of value (sentimental or monetary) please take a picture and write on it who that item is to go to. Don't make your family members squabble over who gets the diamonds and who gets the pearls.

I would also include a quick run down of your final wishes (burial vs cremation, music choices, who needs to be contacted, etc.) Sometimes it takes a little while to get ahold of a will if there is one. My grandparents have given my dad a sealed copy of their wills incase something happens to them at a time when we can't get into a safety deposit box for a few days, we can make necessary decisions immediately.

I'll probably end up putting one copy of everything in a large sealed envelope and putting one at my house and one at my parents house. For anyone worried about people being nosy, there are security envelopes that pretty well have to be cut to be opened or shred as you pull open the adhesive.


Okay, off of my soap box and back to the original checklist topic.


Before you leave town, check your bank accounts and make sure that you have access to more funds than you think you'll need. If something goes funky and you end up spending an extra night or two out of town, do you have money for a room and food?

Make sure you have your passport. It sounds obvious, but it's amazing how many people get so focused on remembering their swimsuit or to get their sweater out of the laundry, that they forget their passport. To combat this, I use a list and stash everything in a box or on a certain shelf that I want to pack. The passport is right with the camera charger, box of wet wipes, little kleenex, and a stack of clothes.

Yup, everything Iowa_Redhead said. Can you tell we're both accountants??

I hadn't thought about the 'who gets what' aspect, because I'm an only child - I get it all However, it is a very good point. My husband's got a sister and a half-brother. When his parents pass, you better believe there will be a squabble - his sister's very bipolar, half-brother withdrawn and has ignored the family for 20 years. But 200 acres of land and a great big farmhouse in Maine is going to bring him out of the woodwork, I'm thinking.