Whether you’re travelling to the tropics or to a winter destination, some items will be essentials for any type of holiday, take a look at our essential holiday packing list to make it as easy as possible to prepare for your holiday.
Before you start packing
Travel essentials come in two categories, items that you need to bring with you and things you need to prepare before you leave. Don’t forget you make sure you have all your holiday hand luggage essentials! Take a look below at the top essentials you need to prepare before you start packing your case.
Flights
Make sure you’ve booked your flights before you start packing, print out copies of your flight tickets, you may be asked to show your return ticket when checking in. Flight prices tend to increase to closer you book to your departure date, it’s also best to compare flights online and book early.
Bus, trains and boats
If you’re travelling by bus, train or boat, print your tickets out and keep them in your suitcase or day bag. This gives you a printed record of your transfers and also documents that you can show to taxi drivers, to show them where you need dropping off.
Itinerary
We recommend preparing an itinerary of your trip, you can print this out so you’ve got a copy with you for wherever you go.
Travel insurance
This is very important, make sure you’re fully insured before you leave for your holiday. Taking out a fully comprehensive travel insurance policy will cover a full range of activities and keep you safe while you’re travelling.
Passport
It should go without saying, but if you’re travelling overseas, you’ll need to have a valid passport. Check that your passport is valid for at least one more year and that you’ve got enough blank pages in it to cover your entire trip. To protect your passport from damage, keep it in a passport cover while you travel.
Visas
Do you need a visa for your holiday destination? Some countries need a visa to allow you to enter, many are visa-free when it comes to travelling to specific nationalities. Check if you need a visa before you book your flight and apply online as early as possible to avoid any issues getting into your destination.
Digital copies
Scan or photograph your passport, any relevant visas, your driving license, credit cards, insurance information and any other relevant documents before your holiday, you can then save them to your email account. This way, if you lose any of your documents overseas, you’ll have a secure digital copy that only you can access.
You can also prepare a list of important phone numbers for your credit card issuer, bank and other essential contacts that you can call if you run into any issues overseas.
Hotel bookings
We recommend that you book your hotel ahead of time and print your reservations off. This will make checking into any hotel easier, as well as giving you a printed copy of the hotel’s address to show to taxi drivers.
Vaccinations
Before you pack anything, check if you need any injections before visiting your destination. You can talk to a travel doctor and get all of the appropriate vaccinations before you leave, do you don’t need to face any serious health risks during your holiday.
Allergy card
If you’ve got serious food allergies or you can’t eat certain foods due to your religion, being a vegetarian or vegan, it’s important to have a translated statement that you can show to food vendors and restaurants. For more advice about travelling with an allergy see this page.
Prescriptions
If you take any prescription medication make sure that you’ve got an up to date copy of your prescription before you leave. It’s also necessary to check the laws regarding prescription medicine in all of the countries you plan to visit to make sure that you won’t face any issues bringing your medicine through customers.
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