After successfully completing hundreds of assignments to ensure “total peace of mind” for 1Call’s Clients when they are away from home, we have compiled the best Travel Preparation ideas practised by these regular travellers.
While no single Client does everything proposed in this post, and those to follow, here are our observations of current best practice, an amalgamation of the most effective preparations by the most experienced travellers.
The foundation of current best practice is a series of documents and check-lists, which carry-forward from one trip to the next, and progressively incorporate improvements and changed circumstances as they become known. These documents and check-lists are equally effective for a weekend away locally or several weeks overseas with multiple destinations. Without being too prescriptive in the “how”, we recommend the creation of a permanent “Travel Preparations” folder, either online or hard-copy, containing the following “word” documents and check-lists which are continuously updated:-
- Check-list – What to do before we go away on holiday or business travel.
This lists everything from A to Z – Australia Post mail redirected to Zumba classes cancelled. To get you started, we will include our suggested Check-list with next week’s post. Start with ours, but progressively make it your own.
- Document – Information for those at home.
This document contains info relevant to your upcoming trip, such as:-
- Contact details for close-by family, friends and neighbours who can be contacted in case of emergency while you’re away.
- Your travel itinerary and contact details while away, including time differences for each major international stop, to avoid 2.00am phone calls.
- House key availability and security company codes for those authorised to enter your home. We recommend individual temporary codes for each person who may need to go inside.
- Vehicle key availability for whoever is going to start your vehicle to ensure the battery remains charged.
- Lists of tasks that need to be taken care of in your absence, with sub-headings for pets, garden, pool, vehicles etc. This list needs to be separated into the responsibilities assigned to each “volunteer”, along with the timing and frequency of “must do” activities such as pets’ medication. Based on Clients’ stories of disasters created by shared volunteer responsibilities, our recommendation is to have all your needs taken care of by one professional service provider.
- Packing Check-list
This Check-list includes all the obvious items to take with you – passports and photocopies to carry separately, medication and doctor’s prescriptions, leads to charge telephones,camera, laptop, ipad, GPS.
A more detailed post to follow will expand on this, and provide a starter document for you to download.
- Document – What can be done while we are away.
This is the document that lists all those tasks that are best done while your home is unoccupied:-
Pest treatments
Floor resurfacing and carpet cleaning
Painting
Retiling the bathroom or ensuite
Vehicle accident repairs and servicing
Dry cleaning work uniforms
Repairing kids’ school shoes
Each of these projects may require a separate backup sheet, with tradesmen names etc, but the first job is to create the document to list the tasks as you think of them.
Summary
While these documents and check-lists seem like a lot of work, and they do require some thought and work initially, once done they effectively remove all stress and worry from the time you are away – time for enjoyment and peace of mind, not concerning yourself about what may or may not be happening at home.
If any of our readers have some travel tips they wish to share, we’d be delighted to incorporate them into a future post.