Summertime: Get your holiday planned easily [checklist]

Do you know it? You thought of your sunglasses, your favourite jeans, the water pistol, the aeroplane ticket and your toothbrush remained at home. There is so much you’d like to take with you and there is so much you’ll have to think of – sometimes it is no wonder we forget something. This mustn’t be like this. You will start your holiday without any stress with our packing list.

Planning the holiday soon enough

Some of the preparations shouldn’t be postponed. Proof how long your passport and your identity card are valid. If they aren’t valid anymore, you should immediately apply for a new passport or ID. Up to four weeks might pass until such a passport is finished.

You should also find out which vaccination you might need for your holiday soon enough by means of talking to your doctor.

Do also check the entry requirements. Some countries outside of the EEUU ask for determinate documents or a visa. To apply for it might take some weeks of months and it should be one of the first things to be done. You will get the right address for such an information at the country information of the Federal Foreign Office. There you will find out more about the entry regulations and about the specific details to think of when entering a determinate country.

You are travelling abroad? Maybe into a country with a different currency? Then you should get some information about how to get some money inside of the country. If you don’t, you might need to pay much more than if you did. The credit card isn’t the only payment option. There are much more possibilities of getting money abroad for less or even for free. Talk to your personal bank advisor soon. You might need to change some money before you enter a plane, in order to have some when you arrive.

A health insurance for abroad should also be booked soon. Talk to your inland health insurance if the place you’re travelling to is covered. If not, get an affordable health insurance soon. This is often valid for a whole year. And maybe you should also book a travel cancellation insurance.

And if you are still preparing your vacation, you should maybe ask a friendly neighbour to care for your flowers and to bring the post inside. You might also need to let the keys of your house and your car there.

Packing the suitcase with a system

Only a few days before the holiday it is time to pack! You should collect together the most important things on a normal working day already in order to be able to get something that might be missing.
Choose the luggage at first. How long are you staying abroad? Is a backpack tour or a beach holiday what you’re packing for? How are you getting to the place you’re travelling to, when you arrived at the airport? If you are planning a beach holiday and going with a plane, a classic suitcase is the most practical way to transport your clothes. Smaller utensils like a toothbrush, cosmetics and hygiene articles are easy to be transported in a separated toiletbag. Reisenthel offers a resistant and space saving toiletbag which will keep your items together and which presents them ready to be used when the bag is hanged with a hook. Put your shampoo and showering gel into small test-bottles. You will save space and weight that way. If you plan a backpack tour it is suggestable as well to use smaller bottles. Shoes will find a place in the practical Urbana shoes bag by Simplicitas.

Packing list for your travelling suitcase:

• holiday-adapted clothes
• pyjama
• hygiene articles (toothbrush, razor, showering gel…)
• cosmetic articles
• travelling pharmaceutics (medicaments, bandages...)
• jewellery
• sun protection (sun cream, cap, sunglasses)
• underwear and socks
• bathing clothes
• bathing scarves and towels
• shoes
• maybe a (rain)jacket
• bed linen

Do also use a luggage tag in order to get your suitcase back in case it gets lost. Write your address and the place you’re staying on it. Odin offers a very elegant stainless steel luggage tag, Moleskine produces the classic variant.

Pack things you need more often in a separated handbag. reisenthel offers such bags in different sizes and shapes, which resist the exertions of travelling. What do you think of the der airbeltbag for example? The solid, polished closure at the front of the bag is an original closure of an aeroplane belt. Laptops, photo cameras and tablet PCs are allowed to be taken with you on a flight of most of the airlines. The boardingbag will keep your electric devices safely, offering even a lot of space for more travelling items. The allowed weight of your suitcase and handbag differs from airline to airline. You can find it out calling the airline.

Handbag packing list:

• photo camera
• smartphone and laptop or tablet-PC
• charger
• entertainment items (book, MP3-playerm etc.)
• travelling documents (flight tickets, booking confirmations for the hotel, passport, etc.)
• personal documents (ID, health insurance and driving license)
• credit card and cash money
• food

All of the important documents are near with the TripBook by Remember.

It is expensive to dine in restaurants every day, especially while you’re travelling. Practical lunch boxes enable to take snacks and drinks with you. Self-made meals are the most tasty ones still!

Checklist for your holiday

Here is an overview of all of the holiday preparations, so you won‘t forget a thing:

• check the validity of your ID and passport
• check entry requirements
• get a health insurance for abroad
• book a travel cancellation insurance
• check if you need to get a vaccination
• inform the neighbour
• pack the suitcase / the backpack
• pack the handbag
• keep your travelling documents together
• start your holiday relaxed

Have a nice holiday!