Pre-Trip Peace of Mind: 8 Essentials To Do Before Your Travels

The moment of departure for a long-awaited trip should be filled with excitement, not anxiety about what you might have forgotten at home. So many travelers have experienced that sudden panic on the way to the airport – "Did I leave the curling iron plugged in?" or "Did I forget to lock the door?" This episode tackles those pre-travel worries head-on with a practical, comprehensive checklist to ensure your home remains safe while you're exploring the world.

From arranging house-sitters and managing mail collection to properly preparing your living space, we cover the eight essential tasks that should become part of your pre-travel routine. Learn why unplugging small appliances matters, how to handle subscription deliveries, and the importance of proper thermostat settings based on the season. These simple preparations not only protect your home but provide the mental freedom to fully enjoy your adventures without nagging worries about what you left behind.

As summer travel season reaches its peak, this timely guidance offers peace of mind for both weekend getaways and extended journeys. The episode also includes personal insights from my upcoming road trip to Austin, Texas, highlighting how these practices apply to trips of any distance or duration. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first solo adventure, this systematic approach to home preparation transforms what can be a stressful process into a confidence-building ritual.

Ready to embark on worry-free travels this season? Grab a pen and paper, create your personalized pre-trip checklist, and join our growing community of solo women travelers over 50 who are embracing new adventures with confidence and excitement. Share your own travel plans and connect with like-minded adventurers in our Facebook group as we celebrate the joys of discovery and exploration together!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever found yourself scrambling at the last
minute, throwing all kinds ofstuff in your bag before you
leave for a trip?
Or maybe you have an earlymorning flight and you're just
not a morning person like myselfand you forget things, and
you're maybe on your way andsuddenly it hits you oh my gosh,
I left my curling iron pluggedin or I forgot to turn the

(00:24):
lights off or lock the door, andmany of these things can
nowadays be done, you know,remotely.
But what if there's somethingyou forgot that can't be done
remotely?
Well, I'm going to talk todayabout the things that you should
be doing before you leave for atrip, and I know summer travel

(00:46):
is here for most of us here inthe Northern Hemisphere.
Many of you have already left.
This is in the US.
This is July 4th week and manypeople are already on the road
or planning to leave on the roadthis week.
So get a piece of paper and apen and let's make a little
checklist of our own of thingsthat you should do before you

(01:08):
leave your house for travel, tomake sure you are safe.
So welcome to Solo TravelAdventures.
I'm Cheryl Esch, your travelcoach and solo travel adventurer
.
So I'm actually leaving on atrip as well.
I'm taking a road trip.
I'm leaving a little later thisweek to Austin, texas, and I'll

(01:28):
be visiting a few people mysister and just having a good
time.
I haven't been to Austin in along time, so I'm really excited
.
I know it's only about a four,four and a half hour drive for
me and no big deal, but justgetting on the road is just so
fun.
But I have created in my ownmind, of course, but I did write
it down, and so I want you toalso get a pen and paper so you

(01:52):
can write this down, create yourown little checklist and maybe
you already have one and youhave other things that you have
to remember to do but these arekind of your bare minimum.
So, first of all, you want toprobably have someone check on
your house, a neighbor or afriend, having that person in
mind in case there is anemergency, and maybe they just

(02:14):
kind of check your house everyother day or so, for example.
Obviously, if an alarm goes off, you want to have somebody
probably nearby that can handlethat, and you know, especially
if you're not accessible.
Along with that number two,that person could be bringing in

(02:36):
your mail and packages.
Do not make the mistake like Ijust did and I ordered something
that a package that may comewhile I'm gone, so I'm not real
thrilled that I didn't thinkahead on that one.
But if you have somebody likean extra neighbor or somebody
who's already planning to comeand collect your mail, maybe

(02:56):
water your plants while you'regone, they can pick up your
packages as well, right, inaddition to that, that person
might be watching your pets.
Hopefully you have alreadylined that up Way in advance.
As a pet sitter myself, I dobook out pretty quickly and you

(03:18):
know you want to obviously havethat in place.
If you don't have a pet sitter,then sometimes pets need to be
put in, you know, to a kennel orsome doggy daycare kind of
place.
So obviously you want to planthat, especially around certain
uh, summertime or holidays canget a little busy, so make sure
you do that.
Um.
Number three I recommend youunplug any small appliances that

(03:43):
might be your toaster, your airfryer, things like that that
just don't need to be plugged inand a you just don't know if it
.
You know you might have a fuseor something happened.
You know electrical storm thatyou know kind of does something
to your appliance and it couldeven possibly cause a fire.

(04:05):
So I just unplug all thatbefore I leave town.
Obviously you're leaving thatrefrigerator plugged in for
yourself, right?
Number four adjust thethermostat.
Now we are in some really hotweather here already.
In Texas and I think reallyacross the US, we're feeling the

(04:29):
heat already, even though it isnot quite well.
When this goes live it will beJuly, but it's getting hot.
But you don't want your ACrunning the whole time while no
one is in the house.
Now you most likely will wantto adjust that upward a little
bit so that it's not running.

(04:50):
And sometimes, if you forget todo that, most people have smart
meters now and they can do thatremotely.
But if you don't make sure youadjust your thermostat before
you leave and if it's cold, thenyou might adjust differently,
right?
So with AC you adjust upwardsso it's not going running all

(05:11):
the time, keeping your housecold when no one's here.
And if you are in the southernhemisphere and you are dealing
with just some colder weather,you probably want to turn the
thermostat down so you're notheating your place the whole
time you're gone, all right.
Number five speaking of kind ofpackages many people have like

(05:33):
subscriptions that theysubscribe to, whether it's maybe
it's a HelloFresh or some sortof meal delivery or meat
delivery, anything like that,that is on a schedule.
You want to look at that, lookto see when your subscriptions
are due to deliver and maybepause them while you're gone.

(05:55):
Number six I would clean outyour refrigerator.
Don't leave anything,especially if you're going to be
gone extended time.
Maybe if you've only gone abouttwo or three days it should be
fine, but say you're gone a weekor more things that are kind of
getting close to thatexpiration date.

(06:15):
Make sure you take care of,particularly vegetables that
might go bad.
That is not a fun thing to comeback to smelling that
especially broccoli orcauliflower Oof, those get kind
of nasty smelling when they gobad in the fridge.
All right, so that would benumber six.
Number seven take out yourtrash.

(06:37):
Of course we don't want toleave that behind and most of
these things you probably know.
But if you have it written downit's going to be less chaotic
when you get ready to go on yourtravels.
And finally, number eight Irecommend this and most people
also sort of have maybe somesort of remote way to do this.

(06:58):
There is Alexis that can do it.
There's other of those systemswhere you can set a timer for
your lights and if you don'thave that system, which most
people actually do, you can getthe old fashioned, you know
timers I know that I grew upwith and they plug into the wall

(07:19):
and maybe have a lamp pluggedinto that timer and that just
will turn the light on at acertain time and turn it off.
But everything is sotechnically, you know, just easy
to do remotely.
But that kind of lets peopleknow that the house is not empty
, which is always a good sign.

(07:39):
They see some lights going onand off and besides, maybe your
next door neighbor or someonewho's taking care of your house.
You know, it might just be agood idea not to tell people
that you're leaving town so thatyour house is just not a target
or your place is not a targetfor thieves or people to break

(08:02):
into knowing that there's nobodythere.
So that'd be another little tipI would just kind of add in
there.
But hopefully you wrote thosedown.
You got your little check box,maybe next to each item, and I
want you to be able to walk outthat door with your suitcase,
headed to the airport with not aworry about what you have maybe
left behind or have forgottento do at your house, so this

(08:27):
will put your mind at ease andbe able to enjoy your travels.
Well, sisters, I hope youenjoyed this and you are going
on some sort of fun adventurethis summer, and I'd love to
hear about that.
You can join the Facebookcommunity group.
It's Solo Travel for Women Over50.

(08:48):
And you can just Google thatand you can get join the group.
Got to share where you're going, so other people are inspired,
and if you are also inspired bythis podcast, please share it.
Share with your friends.
I am working on trying to getto 100,000 downloads and we are

(09:10):
getting close.
I think through the summer Ishould get there, but the more
we share, the more people willlisten and the more we will get
those downloads and I'll be ableto have a nice celebration with
you all of that time.
So get out there, sisters, andhave that adventure.