Before-You-Go Checklist

Using a checklist can reduce the anxiety you may feel about forgetting to take care of something important before you leave on your retirement travels. Here are a number of useful tips to consider before you ever leave your homebase.

Keeping your US home safe

Part of the joy of travelling in retirement is not using up your allotted vacation days! For many reasons, your travels in retirement may be significantly longer than when you had a few weeks of vacation to use each year. In fact, you may find that it’s most economical to plan longer trips since the most expensive cost may be your airfare, and you’ll want to make the most of the investment in getting to Europe. 

A downside is that you might feel uncomfortable leaving your US home vacant while you’re traveling. Here are some ideas to address this issue. 

• Last fall, we asked friends and family to check on our house and hired the Community Watch to stop by every few days. That’s a decent option if you’re gone for a month. 
• If you have a home security system, you may be able to monitor your home with the camera system. 
• There are companies that will take care of your home while you’re away, such as http://whileyouareawayservices.com/ . Check your local area to see what’s available.

For longer trips, you may need to consider other options. We recently learned that some homeowners insurance plans will not cover damage due to vandalism or theft if the home has been unoccupied for the last 30 days. This summer, we’re leaving for 4 months so we’ve arranged for a house sitter to stay in our home. He’ll use our car and our golf cart so we added him to the insurance policy for both. We created an agreement, had a lawyer review it, then asked our house sitter to sign it. The main purpose is to develop a shared understanding of expectations. Situations can turn sour if all parties are not on the same page. A clear agreement can do wonders for communication.  

Copies of Your Travel Documents

In general, you need a US passport that will be valid for at least 6 months after your planned exit from Europe. Check with the US State Department to see if you need a visa or other travel documents prior to your trip for the specific countries that you plan to visit. Also, check out our blog on length of stay in European countries to learn how long you can stay with a tourist visa. 

Be sure to make photocopies of your passport and keep one copy in each piece of luggage. Also, use your phone to take pictures of your passport information page (the one with your photo and passport number). We keep a photo album on our phone with important documents, such as photos of passports, credit cards, health insurance cards, and emergency contact information. If you choose to put all of that vital info on your phone, just make sure that your phone is password protected. 

Having the Right Money and Credit Cards

First, you’ll want to notify your bank and credit cards that you are taking an overseas trip. They may want to know the dates and specific countries to which you’ll travel. Not all credit cards require this notification these days, but you don’t want to get to Europe and have your card declined. For detailed information on money for your European trip, click here for our blog. 

Packing the Right Clothes

Clothes that are made of natural fibers will tend to remain “cleaner”, meaning they won’t carry odors or feel as soiled as clothes made out of synthetic fibers. There are also convertible clothes (long-sleeved shirts and long pants that unzip) that can do double duty. We’ll provide some ideas and links below to clothing brands that we like. Also, consider how much luggage you want to carry from place to place. We use back-pack luggage from E-bags (read our blog on luggage). Some general packing guidelines that we follow are

• Three bottoms (pants, short, or skirts)
• Six tops
• 2 jackets (e.g. puff jacket for warmth that folds into a pouch and a hooded rain jacket)
• 5 underwear/bras and 3 t-shirts (men)
• Spanx-type undergarments for women to wear between underclothes and outer garments can protect your outer garments from body odors and can be easily washed each night and allow you to rewear your outer garments a few times before washing. For men, DrSkin makes long or short sleeve t-shirts as well as long bottoms for the same purpose. These types of undergarments also make great layering pieces on cold days.
• Pashmina/scarf for extra warmth or coverage in churches and other sites that don’t allow bare shoulders or arms (women)
• 1 set of workout clothes (bottom, top, socks, sports bra). If you’re an avid runner, you might want to bring an additional workout outfit so that one can be drying while you are running in the other.
• 1 tennis/walking shoe
• 2 other types of shoes (sandals, dressy heels, casual loafers, etc)
• 3-4 pairs of socks
• Swimsuit
• “Pajamas” which can be a workout t-shirt, swimwear shorts, underwear, leggings that can be worn otherwise
• Bathrobe or other lounge-wear for post-shower and enjoying lounging time before bed
• Sun hats and/or workout hats

For bottoms, we really love Kuhl convertible pants for men and women. They hold their shape after many wearings and look great as either long or short pants. Also, if you need to quickly change to long pants to enter churches or other sites, you can simply zip the bottom of the legs back on.

Hiking shoes can be great for foul weather and for days when you plan to walk a lot. We like Columbia as a comfortable and affordable brand for men and women. For days that are fair and require less walking, Allbirds is an amazingly comfortable brand. 

For t-shirts and underwear, Ex Officio uses natural fibers that are odor-resistant, breathable, and quick drying. 

Miscellaneous essentials

• Electrical outlet adapter 
• Phone,tablet, and/or laptop (hint: download books and videos to your electronic devices)
• Phone, tablet, and/or computer chargers 
• Ear-buds for your electronic devices
• Travel coffee mugs along with instant coffee, sweetener, and dry creamer to make American-style coffee. Bring a spoon.
• Lysol wipes or something similar to wipe down TV remotes, airplane trays, etc. 
• Cloth face mask that can be washed and re-worn many times
• Purell or other hand sanitizer to carry with you at all times (use frequently)
• Toiletries (but no need to bring shampoo, conditioner, soap as all accommodations usually will provide these or you can pick them up at the grocery store when staying in longer term rentals). Hair dryers are usually provided. 
• Compression socks for long flights.
• A pair of Sea bands if you have air or sea sickness.

Careful packing can reduce stress and luggage overload. Remember that everything you bring, you have to carry. We say this to ourselves every time we’re tempted to buy a souvenir or set of trendy European clothes. In addition, it’s proven to be a good strategy for helping us stick to our travel budget. If we know in advance that we want to purchase clothes in Europe, then we pack less in our bags from the US. We hope you find our checklist helpful!