Travel checklist: You must remember this before you leave home

Travel checklist: Remember this before you travel is written by Ida Dreboldt Kofoed-Hansen.

Travel checklist

When the holidays are just around the corner, the focus is often on getting the right things packed in the suitcase – remembering tickets and passports and arranging transport to the airport. But there are some things that are good to have sorted out before you leave home, especially if the holiday lasts for a long time.

Here is our travel checklist of things you need to know before departure.

Check refrigeratoret

A fridge full of moldy food is not a fun surprise to come home to. So make sure to throw out the food that gets too old while you're away - or give it to your neighbor.

You can also bake that banana cake you've been meaning to make and take it to the airport. It is sustainable and then you avoid food waste.

If you want to be really checked, it is a good idea to buy easy food for the freezer, so that you have something ready for the day you come home from your trip.

You don't always have the nerve to shop on the way home from holiday.

empty the trashcan

There is nothing worse than coming home to the smell of musty garbage and a kitchen teeming with banana flies.

So make sure you write on your travel checklist that you have to empty the bins before you leave on your trip. Bio-waste and residual waste in particular are important to empty, as it smells bad after many days in a bin.

Next item on your travel checklist: Pay yours bills

Check if you have any bills with payment dates while you're away.

If there are, make sure you get them paid or posted. You clearly won't get it done while you're away, and there's no reason to come home to a reminder fee.

Once you have ticked it off your travel checklist, you also have a better overview of what you have available - and less hassle to get home to.

Take care of your plants

If you have animals, you probably remember to find someone to look after them while you're on holiday - but does the same apply to your plants?

Make sure you find someone to take care of your plants so they don't die while you're away. After all, you can eventually pay your neighbor with the banana cake you were supposed to bake anyway.

Cancel appointments

If you have fixed appointments for cleaning, babysitting or other things, make sure they know you're away. Then they won't come to visit in vain - it's good style.

The same applies to newspaper subscriptions - remember to pause it and you'll also save money.

Put a timer on yours lily and a cross on your travel checklist

If you have the opportunity, put a timer on some of your outdoor and indoor lights and set them to light up for a few hours in the evening.

You can also use lamps with solar cells.

In this way, the house looks more lived-in, and you reduce the risk of burglary.

Extra key

Leave a spare key with a good friend, neighbor or family member so that someone can enter your home if necessary.

If a neighbor calls and says they see smoke or a suspicious car is parked, it's nice to always have someone to come in and check if everything is as it should be.

It is therefore an important point on your travel checklist, which will give you peace of mind when you are travelling.

Turn off streamsn

The next item on the travel checklist is about red standby lights.

Turn off all your electrical appliances - except the absolutely necessary. It saves power and reduces the risk of something shorting out while you're away.

You often forget that your router for the Internet uses an incredible amount of power - and does no one any good while you are away. So remove the plugs from the contacts, save money and avoid short circuits.

It is good for the environment and your electricity bill.

Turn off the heat

Depending on how long you are away and what time of year you travel, you will need to set your thermostat.

There is no reason for the whole house to be heated if it is empty. 

If you are going on a longer holiday, you can easily turn the heat all the way down, as long as the house is frost-free. If the holiday is a slightly shorter one of this kind, then simply turn down to a low temperature; you will quickly heat it up again when you get home.

It's good for the wallet.

Set the alarm clock

Although many preparations can be made well in advance, there is always something that needs to be done on the day of departure.

So make sure you get up in good time. Set two alarms, preferably both on your mobile and an old-fashioned alarm clock, so you are sure to get up.

It would simply be a shame to be late because you overslept.

Last tick on your travel checklist

Last but not least: Make sure all doors and windows are closed and locked before leaving the house. Go for a walk and check it all out - then you will not be sitting on holiday and will be in doubt as to whether you forgot to close the window in the bedroom.

Now the last thing is crossed off your travel checklist, so you can set off safely.

Good trip!

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