What to do BEFORE you leave ....

Check your flight departure time to make sure the airline haven't changed it on you and failed to let you know.

If you have newspaper delivery, put it on vacation hold as well :)

Tell your credit union or bank you will be using your debit card in what specific countries wtihin what specific dates. Increase the withdrawl limit too.

I reconfirm hotel/B&B reservations at destination a week or two before I leave home.

Check your passport status at least three months before your trip, not just before you go.

And do check your flight schedule periodically, as suggested above, in case there has been a change

We turn our water heater down to "vacation" setting rather than shut off the water supply. Turning the washer hoses off is a good idea. some people like to unplug the TV and other appliances ( not the fridge or freezer!)

Arrange for petcare well in advance. If you have houseplants, you may need to ask a neighbor to come in and water them.

Empty the garbage before leaving, especially in the kitchen where you might have thrown away food scraps. If necessary, see if a friend or neighbor will take your bins down to the curb and then put them away again.

And if it happens to be election season, put a sign on your door that says "No canvassing, no fliers," or something along those lines. You don't want a bunch of "Vote for Me!" leaflets littering your front porch.

Below is a few off of my checklist not already mentioned. I have never suspended cell phone or cable services for a 14-21 day trip as it seems somewhat unnecessary, but I suppose I could understand that for longer stints. Same for shutting off the water. Doesn't get cold enough where I am and I don't leave long enough for a trip for it to be a significant concern. EDIT: I don't why, but have never thought of turning down the water heater when gone as suggested, and will definitely do it from now on.

□ Water plants and mow lawn before leaving home and arrange for someone to care for them while you're away
□ Dial your thermostat up or down to match the temperature of the season
□ Stop all home-delivery services (mail, newspaper, and so on) or arrange to have items picked up by someone
□ Lock all windows and doors securely and remove any keys hidden outside the house
□ Tell someone that you'll be away and how they can reach you in an emergency
□ Set message at work and auto-reply to let your business contacts know you are out of town
□ Close blinds and curtains
□ Store food in your freezer to prevent having to run to the grocery store as soon as you return home
□ Remove perishable items from your refrigerator
□ Empty all waste baskets & run the garbage disposal to eliminate the possibility of unpleasant odors
□ Wash the dishes
□ Update any personal identification so that it contains current information and a photograph
□ Pick up cash
□ Make photo copies/photos of cards
□ Fill out and send in your tax return form if you will be out of town at the deadline
□ Fill out an absentee voter form if you will be out of town at election time
□ Pay the bills
□ Wash clothes
□ Break in new shoes

Also, if you're on any prescription meds, make sure you have a supply that will last until at least a couple of days after your return, such that you don't run out while overseas and you don't have to run to the pharmacy for a refill the second you get back home.

Send a family member or close friend a copy of your complete itinerary with contact information.

This isn't exactly following your request, but here goes.

3 IDP is for all countries. You don't need separate ones.

How long are you going to be gone? Some of these will not be needed unless you are going to be gone a long time. Examples of things we don't do for our 4+ week trips are numbers:

4 (because there's almost nothing in them before we leave),
6 (because it's such a bother to turn it back on due to the various water-related appliances that have to recover from that),
7 (because we are in the desert and don't have anything to maintain),
9 (because we have things recorded while we are gone),
10 (because we use the phones in Europe),
13 (because we never do that when we're home).

1 You can have mail held only for 30 days, unless you have them box it up and send it to someone for you. The former is free, the latter has a charge.

6 We don't turn off the water. We do lower the temperature on the hot water heater and turn the water re-circulation system to once a day. We leave the water softener running as well as the water purifier. We should, but rarely remember to, turn off the water to the washer.

8 Don't forget the ATM/Debit card companies.

14 Leave on any night lights you may have on when you are home. Ours have light sensors and come on when it's dark and turn off when it's light. We always have some other lights on timers, but the timing does get messed up if there is a long (rare for us) power outage.

12 We are lucky in that the Sheriff will send a deputy to check on the house while we are gone. If you have a local law enforcement agency that does anything like that, use them, but be sure to tell them about anyone who might also be coming by and anyone who has a key in case of an emergency.

11 Your neighbors also need to know if someone, including law enforcement, is coming by to check on things and what their vehicle is.

10 And that brings me to the lack of cell phone service. Whoever you have help you out needs to know how to contact you in an emergency. Email isn't as immediate, but would be a decent alternative if you don't want to have a phone.

Ultimately, we try to make the place look like as much like it does when we are home as possible with the least amount of effort on our parts, and not like anything has been done special because we are gone. It is a long list to check off to look "normal."

Make copies of your ID and passport and pack in separate places in case the originals get lost. It will make them easy to replace if you need to.
If traveling with kids during the school year, be sure to visit the school to arrange for lessons to take along and let the school know they will be gone so not to return to find truancy charges and a court date.
If divorced and traveling with a minor child, be sure to have notarized documents giving the other parent's permission for the child to travel with you. Even if the parent agrees orally, you will need this.

Put valuable jewelry, etc in a safety deposit box at the bank.
Purchase travel insurance including medical insurance. Accidents and sickness can happen suddenly and your health insurance at home and Medicare will not pay international providers.
Buy the latest RS travel guide for where you are going and read it, make a preliminary itinerary and learn to use local transport
Obtain your Eurail passes and make advance reservations for restaurants, trains, etc
Buy extra prescription meds and make sure you have a copy of the actual prescription in case you need it and also to show any officials who want to know what it is and if you really are supposed to have it.
Get a home security system and tell them that you will be away.
Give your itinerary and info on where you will stay and when to expect you home with at least 2 trustworthy friends and relatives in case you go missing or they need to contact you about an emergency.
Set timers to turn lights on and off while you are gone so the house will look occupied.

Relax and remember to enjoy your trip.

I have a friend who comes by to water the plants and I ask her to do a walk thru, especially in the basement where the hot water heater is located. She knows which plumber we use in case there is an issue.

I have my list ranked by what to do 30 days out, 2 weeks out, 1 week out, 24 hours out.

I get Euro/Pounds if I don't have any left from a prior trip. I am one that likes to have enough local currency in my pocket to get me thru the 1st 24 hours.

Pull apart the guide book so you can just take the segments you need.

Assemble documents and finalize itinerary. I print out an itinerary including Flight numbers and place it in my document envelope along with hotel confirmations, various reservations for tours, etc. plus schedules for guided walks, special museum exhibits, etc. My boarding passes will go in here. Check to make sure there is a pen, stickies and paper clips in the document envelope. I keep a list of hotels near the SLC airport in there in case my last flight home is delayed due to weather.

Fill and pack the 3-1-1 bag.

Stage clothing and other items in spare room. Check over bag/zippers/ID tag. Place 1st hotel info in suitcase in case the bag winds up being checked.

Test pack 2 weeks out. Weigh bag. Pare down if needed.

Make up a cheat sheet of passwords and security questions (really you would think I could remember them, but locked myself out of my bill pay last fall on a long trip because I goofed up.). I try not to access my financial stuff online in Europe, but sometimes you have to.

Prepay all the bills you can if they are not on some kind of auto-pay.

1) Mail . . . I give a key to a trusted neighbor or relative & ask they take the mail from the mailbox & put it in the box I leave inside the door.

2) If a trusted neighbor has a teen who will mow your yard once a week, hire the teen to do it.

Take pictures of:
•. (Fronts & backs of) the credit & debit cards you will carry
• (F & B of) ID . . . state-issued ID, green card
• your main page of your passport
• the addresses & phone #'s of the US embassies in the countries you will be in
• legal paperwork for medical power of attorney & advance directive.
• Emergency contact back home w/phone #.
• list of meds w/dose & directions to use
• medical history (surgeries, recent procedures, major current & past diagnoses
Take the pics & put them on a USB. Keep the USB in a secure area (money belt) & leave the paper behind.

If my next trip to Europe will be in the year 2020, I guess I have enough time to do most of the preparation tasks that were recommended here. ;-)

1. I e-mail myself/cloud store my document copies (passport, DL, CC's) that way they are accessable anywhere. I also leave a copy at work (the hospital) so in the event I needed a copy they could fax it to wherever I was.
2. A long time ago when I studdied abroad they recommended that we carry an extra set of passport pictures. The theory was that if your passport was stolen that was one less thing to worry about. I am not sure if that applied then or still applies.
3. Don't tell your nosy neighbor that you are leaving, she will keep a closer eye on your house trying to figure out if you are gone.
4. Don't be like me and forget to clean/empty the kitty litter and turn the AC off
   

• Write down the international phone#'s to your credit & debit cards
  (found in the back of each card) and last 4 digits of each card in
  case you lose them or have any issues abroad.

• Write down all your hotel phone #'s & addresses.

• Don't forget to buy electrical adapters to charge your camera
  battery, phone, etc...

• depending on where you will be traveling, make sure your passport will not expire for at least 6 months from date of your trip.

• I don't turn water main because I want the sprinklers to work but I
  do turn off water faucets to washing machine.

• Pack light & enjoy your trip!

I send/email my kids a copy of our itinerary.

As a security measure we do not suspend mail or paper delivery. I have a trusted house-sitter to check mail, bring in the paper, walk the dog, feed the cat, water plants, etc. As far as I know, cell phone service and cable tv do not pro-rate service (at least ours doesn't). Plus, I like to have these things available right when I get home.

We set the AC and heat to be on at certain times (have a digital thermostat with internet accessibility, so we can turn on/off from wherever we are).

Get rid of fresh produce, take out the trash, run the garbage disposal.

Make sure neighbor has security code/garage door code/key/phone numbers of close relatives that can make emergency decisions.

And because I'm a planner, make sure a close relative (adult children/sibling/parent) has the financial resources to make a last minute trip to Europe in case you need them in an emergency.

Pack super light and have fun!!!

Agree with Julie about not suspending mail -- rather not have my not-at-home status on file with the post office, but we have a mail slot that puts all mail inside AND a pet-sitter who comes by twice a day to pick up anything that might be left outside. For cell phone we used vacation hold which cost us $10 per line for a month instead of our usual monthly fees -- quite a nice savings!

I think the mail thing depends on your situation. I'm in a very small town, so yes, I tell the Postmaster I'll be gone even though I have a Post Office Box. She is eminently trustworthy. I also go by City Hall and tell the City Clerk and leave a note for the part-time City Marshall. We now have a Sheriff's Deputy living next door so we tell him and his dispatcher-wife if everyone is gone. Really, that level of notification depends on your situation. I might do it differently if I lived in a larger town.

Pam, you are so right -- one drawback to living in a major metropolitan area is that agencies like the post office are bigger and impersonal, with frequent turnover of employees. On the other hand, when I want foreign currency for a trip I can walk into the BofA SF headquarters building and get it in minutes.

Maybe the best thing to do before leaving is get extra rest so you're healthy to begin with. I lost several days to jet lag and feeling sick at the beginning of my first trip because of rushing to clean an apartment by moveout date and pack up our belongings for 3 months of storage -- now I give myself a deadline several days before flight date so the last day is stress-free.

I travel solo, so I choose to register my trip with the US State Department (https://step.state.gov/step/). Might as well let all parts of the Federal Government know where I am overseas (yes, I inform the Post Office). You can choose to get alerts ahead of time from the consulate of your destination - this was quite helpful on my trip to SE Asia (they were having major protests in Thailand when I visited).

Get immunizations if you're traveling to a place that requires them. If you have medications that are time sensitive, start adjusting to the time change at least a week ahead of time.

I think someone mentioned paying bills ahead - but make sure if you pay electronically there's plenty of cash in your account.

Before you leave home be sure to put new shoestrings in your shoes.

Email yourself a copy of your itinerary. Send a second, third, fourth email to yourself, detailing each leg of your trip with (important) details such as hotel name (in each city), address, phone number, reservation number, arrival and departure dates. If your paper copy of your itinerary is lost, you can just use your laptop to retrieve all that information.

Always remember to access your email in a safe way when on a trip. Be wary of using your laptop in a cafe where someone may be hacking into your email from the next booth or looking over your shoulder to watch you enter a password.

jr,

My police dept has a form for me to fill out if I want an extra patrol around my house while I am gone.

Aside from the obvious questions, the form asks if anyone will have a key, if any lights are on timers & which ones, how many cars will be in driveway along w/model & make, etc.. I live in a relatively small city.

Edit: Keep Your Home Safe While on Vacation -- 9 Essential tips

10 Things to do Before You Travel

These articles may have some tips that have not been made (as if you need any more).

I condo sat for friends last week........they were out of town to Costa Rica and I needed to be in Chicago for an event Sunday thru Wed......they left me a minimal list of "chores".....including bringing in the empty garbage and recycling cans, watering the plants........what they failed to prepare me for was the arrival of the housekeeper on Monday....... I would not have left a counter full of dirty dishes if I knew.........shame face