What To Do Before You Leave for a Long Vacation
Before taking off for an extended vacation, consider the tips in this article to prepare for travel and not worry about your home while you’re away. Come back home without feeling overwhelmed and without the stress of preparing to go back to work.
By Shainur Ahsan
Preparing for a Long Vacation
Do you have a long vacation coming up? If so, you have most likely spent some time and effort in planning your travel and activities during your time off. But, did you prepare for your extended absence from your everyday tasks and activities?
By just heading off to a long vacation without proper planning could be a recipe for disaster. You may find yourself ill-equipped on your trip if something happens back at home. Also, you may become quickly overwhelmed upon your return by chores and tasks that have not been addressed during your time away. If you pair this with possible jet lag, you may feel like you need a vacation from your vacation.
Instead of risking a problem arising during your vacation or a stressful environment after you’ve just returned, consider following the tips in this article to help you prepare for your trip. These tips will go a long way towards easing you back into your regular routine after taking time for rest and relaxation.
Planning for an Absence at Work
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Beyond the obvious of informing your supervisor and getting approval for taking time off of work, you’ll need to plan on how your everyday tasks and responsibilities will be handled during your absence. Will others take your place or will things simply have to wait for your return? Asking these questions ahead of time and communicating with the people you deal with regularly about your time away will help you come up with a plan. At a minimum, consider these tips:
Delegate Your Responsibilities
Work with your supervisor to determine which activities and tasks can be taken over by your co-workers. Make a list of the active projects and put a name next to who can take over your responsibilities. Identify tasks that may not be easily transferable to your supervisor.
Set Up an Out of Office Notification for Your Work Email
Whether it’s Outlook or another email program, find out how to set up an out-of-office notification to send an automatically reply to emails you receive during your absence. You may be able to tailor you message for senders from within the company and those outside the company. Be sure to state in the message who the sender can contact in your place for the specific projects you are working on. Also state which date you will return to the office. Be sure to confirm that the message will be active on the dates you are out of the office.
Inform Key Stakeholders
Inform the key personnel on your projects about the dates of your time office. This may include personnel in the client’s office and coworkers who are not located in your same office. You do not want to surprise them with an out of office email
Making Financial Preparations for Travel
Financial planning is important prior to travel to ensure you will have access to funds during your vacation and to make sure bills are paid in your absence. Insufficient funds could lead to late fees or leave you short on cash. A few simple steps can help you to avoid many of these problems.
Place Bills on Auto-pay and Ensure Accounts are Adequately Funded
Setup auto-pay for your bills to keep them off of your mind during vacation. Ensure your accounts will have adequate funds for your bill payments as well as any additional expenses for your vacation. Contact the biller to see if they will accept advance payment if they don’t have an option for auto-pay.
Inform Your Credit Card and/or Bank of Your Travel Plans
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Call your bank and credit card company to let them know of your travel plans. You can also create travel alerts on the bank or credit card’s website. Be sure to indicate which countries you will be visiting and what date range. Its also smart to include the countries where you will have layovers in case you need to buy something in an emergency.
Withdraw Cash and Exchange Currency
It’s always a good idea to have some cash on hand for international trips when travelling as you may not know where you can get it from. If you plan on making a large cash withdrawal before you leave, consider calling the local branch ahead of your visit to let them know.
Exchanging currency in advance isn’t always necessary as there’s usually places in the airport to do so. If you do get currency in advance, you can shop around in your home country to see where you can get the best rates. Additionally, you can check if your banks exchange rate is worthwhile when using your ATM card internationally.
Preparations For Your Home
Request Your Mail to Be Held
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A hold mail request can easily be set up on the USPS website to hold your mail at the post office for a specified date range. You can choose to have the mail delivered after the period or pick it up from your local post office. This can prevent your mailbox getting full. Likewise, if you know you will be receiving a package through UPS or FedEx during your time away, you can request the package to be held at a local facility through their website or by giving them a call.
Plan Out Your Meals for Your Return
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Depending on the length of your trip and the time of your return, you may be in no position to cook when you get home. Although you can plan to eat out for the first days after your return, I generally feel better about eating at home. Meal prepping ahead of your trip will provide you with a buffer until you can get back to your regular routine. For longer trips, you’ll need to freeze your meals and remember to start thawing them upon your return.
Figure Out Who Will Care for Your Pets
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If leaving your pets behind, they will need to be cared for by friends or family or kept at a boarding facility. Be sure to make a plan well in advance and let the caretakers know of your pet’s preferences.
For fish, you can simply buy an automatic feeder or dissoluble tablet. Be sure to clean the tank before and after your trip.
Clean Out the Refrigerator and Take Out the Trash
Go through your fridge and throw away all food that will not be eaten before you leave and that will perish before you return. You don’t want a fridge full of moldy food when you get back. Remember to throw away the trash on the day you leave to prevent odors from spreading in your home.
Unplug Electronics and Adjust the Thermostat
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Larger electronics such as computers and TV’s can use a small amount of electricity even when powered off. Consider unplugging them or turning surge protectors off while away. This has the added benefit of protecting them from storm surges. Also, adjust your thermostat to be closer to outdoor temperatures to save on cooling or heating costs. But make sure you keep the temperature well above freezing.
Set Up a Schedule for Smart Lights or Timers
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If you own smart bulbs or smart plugs that can be controlled through Google Assistant or Alexa, did you know you can most likely set up a routine to power on and off while you’re away? You can choose time ranges to power on throughout the week to give the appearance someone is at home.
Amazon has introduced “Alexa Guard” to Alexa-enabled devices to detect noises such as smoke alarms or glass breaking and will send you a notification with a recording. Simply enable it in the app and by saying “Alexa, I’m leaving.”
If you don’t own any smart devices, you can purchase outlet timers to plug into the wall. The timers may be programmable or they could be on a fixed schedule to turn on at different times throughout the week.
Conclusion
There you have it. These simple tips will make your vacation more peaceful by keeping your home, work, and finances more towards the back of your mind. Your circumstances may require you to do some additional planning, but the points in this article are a great starting point.
- Informing the Stakeholders at Work of Your Absence
- Ensuring Financial Accounts are In Order
- Taking Care of Your Home While Away
Coming back from a vacation with less responsiblities can help you transition to your regular routine. It can also help reduce the stress from returning from an extended absence. I hope you are looking forward to your vacation even more with these tips and get your much deserved rest and relaxation.
Helpful Links
Check out the below links for additional tips to prepare for your vacation.
