Checklist

Just like pilots before a flight, I do a pre-departure checklist for overseas trips. There are some things I want to do at least the night before setting off for the airport. Any other traveler I suppose would do the same thing. There are calls to make, bills to pay, letters to send, plugs to be pulled and thankfully, some of what I want to do can actually be accomplished with a few clicks on the mouse. Here are some of what I did:

• turn off the ringer on my home phone (a constantly ringing phone tells people I'm not home)
  
• turn on my Intermatic lamp timer (tells people I'm home at night)
  
• call the bank/credit card companies for use of my debit/credit card abroad (I need money, duh!)
• check weather forecast at my destination via www.weather.com
  
• hold delivery of my mail through www.usps.com (a bulging mailbox announces I'm not home)
  
• email travel insurance to my next of kin
  
• email emergency contacts to myself (a back-up to what's in my wallet)
  
• photocopy my passport and keep a copy. I also scan and email it to myself as a back-up (losing a passport won't be a big hassle if you have some proof)
• online check-in for my flight right now (it's 24 hours before my flight and it saves me the hassle of queueing at a check-in counter. Lines to security checkpoints at JFK would be a different story!)

Now that all these things are done, I'm all set to be gone for the next two weeks.