Traveling is an exciting vacation from your everyday life. While it is okay to take a spontaneous road trip every now and then, more serious travel requires serious preparations. You’ll learn some basic but often forgotten traveling tips below, from preparing for the local weather to what travel insurance is and why you may want it.
No matter where you decide to go, just make sure you drive safely. Brevard County reported 9,283 car accidents, and you wouldn’t want to be a part of any similar future statistics.
Weather Changes
You need to keep an eye on the weather for many reasons. The main one you probably already know is that it heavily affects your trip. This is especially true for trips to places like Florida which get a lot of rain.
Before you book your trip and set up plans, make sure you’re prepared for the weather. See what the climate typically looks like so you can prepare appropriately. From there you can keep an eye on local news channels and online weather reports and plan your trip around any rain, snow, strong winds or any other weather condition.
There is another reason to keep an eye on the weather, though: barometric pressure. This is pressure caused by the weight of the atmosphere and it changes based on the temperature and likelihood of storms.
Barometric pressure is at its highest when you’re anticipating storms, but it can still affect you even if you’re only expecting some rain or light snow. Yes, barometric pressure has an effect on your body and health. You may have heard older people say that they can feel that a storm is coming in their bones. They’re not wrong.
Barometric pressure changes can make arthritis worse, so they actually do feel it in their bones. Other people can get headaches or even migraines due to a drop in barometric pressure.
Unfortunately, both can only really be resolved with time, though some medicine may ease the discomfort a bit. Keeping an eye on the weather when you travel will prepare you for when you may feel these symptoms and help you prepare accordingly.
For example, if you suffer from headaches during poor weather, maybe pack some ibuprofen (Advil) if you see some rain in the forecast. You’ll thank yourself later.
Flexible Plans
There will be some things that you can’t convince yourself not to do on a trip. That’s totally fine; you can easily plan around a few of these kinds of events. However, your entire trip shouldn’t be made of them.
Remember, this is supposed to be a vacation for fun. If you wanted a tight schedule that couldn’t be changed, you’d have stayed home and gone to work on Monday instead. No, in order to keep your trip fun, be flexible with your plans.
It’ll not only give you breathing room to relax but it also prevents you from getting stressed if the weather is poor or maybe the food you ate didn’t sit on your stomach well or something. Life is unpredictable so you need to be prepared for that, and a strict schedule just can’t.
Location Research
It sounds obvious, but you need to research your destination before booking and planning your trip. It won’t be very fun, but you’ll need to look into laws, both local to where you’re going and local to where you live. You’ll need to learn the paperwork and visa requirements as well and prepare accordingly.
You may even need to visit your doctor for a checkup before you leave. You’ll then also have to tell not just your family and friends about your trip but your bank as well so they don’t freeze your account.
There’s a lot to learn and probably a lot of paperwork to have as well, but so long as you plan your trip well and take plenty of time for the research, you’ll probably be just fine. Remember, you’d rather be bored now so you’re not stressed and frantic later.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance probably isn’t the first thing that comes to your mind as you prepare for a trip and it may not be necessary for quick or local trips. However, the second you decide to take a long-distance trip you need to start looking for travel insurance.
Each policy is different and will cover different things, but the most important ones to consider are lost luggage, medical and cancel-for-any-reason-insurance. Lost or delayed luggage policies may not seem necessary because the airport will pay you when they lose your bags.
This payout is limited though and you won’t get it immediately, which is pretty bad if you’re missing important things like soap and a change of clothes. An insurance policy that covers bag delays or loss will pay you as quickly as they can after you submit a claim so you can fill the gaps immediately.
Medical travel insurance isn’t a good idea if you’re not leaving your native country. It is vital if you’re traveling abroad though. You’ll still have to pay any upfront costs but your claim should result in your insurance reimbursing those costs.
The final travel insurance perk to consider can’t actually be found as its own policy: cancel for any reason. Some insurance companies offer it as an extra add-on to certain policies but the addition will make it more expensive. That being said, it is absolutely worth the cost.
Accidents happen and so do unpredictable emergencies like a loved one falling ill. If this happened before your trip and you had to cancel, you’d just have to cope with the money you lost on the refundable purchases you made.
However, if you have the cancel for any reason insurance add-on then you can receive at least some of that money back.
Bear in mind that while you can cancel for literally any reason, you do still have to do so in a certain timeframe to have a successful claim. Always remember to read every insurance policy carefully before agreeing so you know exactly what you’re signing up for.
