Foreign Perspectives

If you’re hoping to get going on one of the last minute bargains that abound these days you need to be quite organised with your pre-trip preparations and one of the easiest things to do is to get a bag packed that’s ready for the type of trip that you’re likely to be taking. But what do you put in that bag?

First off are your passport and driving license. Check that both are valid for more than six months from your latest possible departure date. Take the driving license even if you’ve definitely decided NOT to drive as it’s handy for ID and you could change your mind when you get there.

Clothing is a difficult one if you don’t know for sure where you’re going but if you limit the range of holiday types that you’ll consider then it’s a whole lot easier to do. Don’t forget that sunscreen does have an expiry date and isn’t nearly so effective a year or two later (I wouldn’t worry about using it a few months after the date though).

One of the handiest things is some Annual Travel Insurance which will be much cheaper than single trip insurance if you’re going to be off on a few trips over the year and can sometimes be cheaper than even a one-off single trip insurance policy from some travel agents. It’s perfect for multiple short-breaks but if you’re planning on a longer trip watch for maximum holiday times: they can be as short as 30 days at a stretch. You can’t use this insurance if you’re off on a year long trip.

Personal items such as contacts lens solutions and womens items are down to you of course.

You could add a general guidebook to the above as some cover vast areas of land. For example, the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide Europe guides which aren’t too heavy and are handy to look up last minute spots that you might not have thought of before.

And that’s about it. Not much at all really. Put it all in a carryon bag and save on the checked luggage charges (substantial these days).

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4. Insuring your motorhome
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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.