As someone who travels frequently, I maintain a list of things to consider and pack when I will be travelling from one place to another. This turns a typically stressful process into something relatively mindless and efficient.
Through experience, anything that should be on the list gets documented there, which allows me to trust the system and gives me confidence that I have not missed anything. I can typically get ready for an international trip in about an hour with no sweat, but I usually like to stretch it over a day or two.
There are several sections and each contains specific items that I will generally summarize here:
- Downloads — ticket/boarding info, exchange rates, transit maps, foreign language phrases, weather, video, articles, contact info, etc…
- Things to pack — clothes, toiletries, gadgets, writing supplies, documents, musical instruments, travel food utensils, etc…
- International — travel credit card, towel, passport, power conversion, no sharp objects, water bottle, currencies, notify bank, etc…
- Charge the night before — phone, laptop, toothbrush, set any alarms and turn off silent mode
- Bring with you — food, phone, laptop, keys, wallet, bags
- Just before leaving — bathroom, fill water bottle, sync anything if you won't have internet, turn off appliances, close windows, take out the trash, etc…
It's important for me to keep this with all my other notes and not in a specialized app so that I don't need to remember to bring it with me.