Essential things to know before you start packing for your vacation

Planning a vacation is the most critical part of holidays. It takes a lot of research and discussions to finally plan a vacation. It also takes many days for doing the right research and talk to as many people as possible to get the best advice for your vacation. But once you have planned your vacation, national or international, the next big thing is packing.

If you have never planned an international trip before or never had to pack your own luggage and travel gear, then here are the things you can include in your travel gear to make sure that you are fully equipped with all your travel essentials.

• For pre-departure essentials
  Your passport, Visa and photo IDs should be in place if you are going on an international trip. Depending on the country you are going to, you might also need to check your health and vaccination documents. Keep all your medical insurance information in place and emergency contact information in case you get into some kind of trouble while travelling. Currency exchange also needs to be in place before you depart to save your time and effort while travelling.
• Checklist for home
  If it is a long travel, then you should think of your home checklist apart from your luggage and travel gear essentials. Stop the newspaper and other deliveries if your home is going to be empty behind you. Make sure you have checked all areas in your house for potential fire hazards and unplug all appliances.
• Personal items
  For the right luggage and travel gear, you need to check your personal items, and toiletries should be in place. If you are going to a place that doesn’t require you to carry your toiletries as you can easily find them there, you can skip packing them as that will help you pack faster and travel light. However, if you have to exclusively use some personal items that you cannot find in other countries or places, you must carry them.
• Electronics
  While packing your electronics, try and pack them in your carry-on luggage instead of check-in as that will help you keep them safe and away from any damage while your check-in luggage is being moved from one section to another in the airport. To avoid any hazards, carry your power banks and chargers in your carry-on luggage as it isn’t safe to pack them in your check-in luggage.
• Clothing
  No matter the length your trip, the lighter you pack the better. Most of us overpack under the pretext the we might need all the things we are packing. That makes our luggage and travel gear unnecessarily heavy, which becomes troublesome when you have multiple stops. You will then have to unpack and pack many things at every stop. It also troublesome when you shop from different places as you fall short of space to carry what you have shopped for. Most of us tend to overpack clothes. Depending on the place(s) you are going to, carry only as much as you will wear throughout the trip. Try to carry less night wear if you don’t want to compromise on your day outfits.
• Medication
  Unless there are some essential and prescribed medicines that you have to carry, avoid carrying the ones that can easily be found in other places. Most places you will go to will have all the essential medicines that tourists would require. However, if you are not sure about the place you are going to, packing little extra will do no harm.