How to Prepare a Travel Checklist?
One of the most important aspects of traveling is to prepare a checklist and keep it handy. It may consist of things from ‘must haves’ to ‘hardly necessary’ ones. When traveling alone or with family, a variety of things may need to be taken along. While traveling abroad, the checklist would be an extensive one, as it will involve a lot of paperwork as well. Adventure travel to leisure travel, a checklist is a must. And one must always remember that the contents of your baggage for various trips will be very different, depending on where you are headed to, who you are traveling with, how you are traveling, etc.
Why is a checklist so important?
Planning a trip and turning it into a perfect one are two separate things. A checklist ensures that the latter does take place. A perfect trip could be spoilt if you forgot something back home, such as a digital camera. How wretched would you feel if you realized you forgot your favorite hat on your trip to a beach, or forgot your passports home, only to realize the same at the airport? Many elements exist which can make a perfect trip fall apart, and a checklist ensures that such elements are eradicated, so that you don’t forget anything behind which you may later regret or miss. Thus, here are a few tips on how to prepare a travel checklist.
1. Travel checklist for a leisure trip
A leisure trip is one which a person undertakes along with his family or loved ones, to explore a new region and its culture or just for relaxation. Packing for such a trip is easiest of all but requires a lot of paperwork, which needs to be handled carefully. Things that come first are the necessary items, which consist of airline tickets, passports, visas, vaccination certificates, currency (domestic and foreign), hotel confirmations, itinerary, travelers checks, emergency phone numbers, first aid kit, medication, etc. These are extremely critical. The secondary items on a checklist for a leisure trip involve extra clothing, cosmetics, sports equipment, binoculars, entertainment gadgets like iPods and MP3s, etc. Both necessary and secondary items must feature on your checklist and on the basis of the capacity of luggage you can carry, you must eliminate some items from them later on.
2. Travel checklist for an adventure checklist
It could be slightly tricky when packing and preparing a checklist for an adventure trip. Unlike a leisure trip, at an adventure trip your checklist must feature those elements or things you will require for living comfortably, because one does not stay in hotels during camping expeditions. Apart from the paper work, your checklist should consist of things that you don’t usually require in your day-to-day life, but will definitely need during camping or trekking.
The primary items on your checklist will consist of airline tickets, passports, visas, vaccination certificates, currency (domestic and foreign), a complete and extensive first aid kit, survival kit consisting of Swiss knife, compass, ropes, maps, torches, match boxes, scissors, sleeping bags, haversacks and backpacks with tightly sewn straps, good tough shoes, insect repellent creams, protein bars, water bottles, etc. The secondary items on your checklist will include extra clothing, electronic gadgets, junk food and chocolates, extra pair of footwear, etc. The key to going for an adventure trip is to travel light, so the smaller the checklist, the better it is.
