How to Prep for a Trip Without Stressing Out
Keep reading this post to learn:
⋒ What kind of timeline is helpful when prepping for a trip
⋒ 10 steps to prep for a trip without stressing out
⋒ What you can do to not only prep for the trip but things you can do that will make coming home feel good, too
I used to dread going on trips because I felt like the prep was just too much and so overwhelming. I think it’s because I didn’t have a system in place. I would kind of wing it each time and it felt exhausting to start from scratch for every trip.
So I put together this blog post (and this podcast episode) to share the system that I have now for preparing for a trip!
This is more geared toward you already having the trip booked – like you know what dates you’re going and where you’re going and you’ve booked travel (flights, rental cars, etc.) so I’m not going to dig into any of that stuff. This is basically what I do once that stuff is planned.
I recommend starting this list 4-6 weeks out from the date of your trip!
10 Steps to Help You Prep For a Trip Without Stressing Out
01: Create a place where all your trip notes live.
I personally use Notion – I’ve shared about it on the show before…it’s basically my digital filing cabinet/spot to brain dump anything and everything related to my life. For me, half of the stress that comes from trip prep is keeping stuff floating around in my brain. Because I know myself and if stuff is floating around in my brain and it doesn’t live anywhere else, there’s a 90% chance it’ll be forgotten and fall through the cracks forever, lol. The moment I sit down and get everything out of my head and onto paper (or a screen) I feel SO much better.
So I open Notion and just created a new page and go to town. I don’t worry about it being cute or aesthetic but if that’s your thing, go all out and make it a vibe.
Having one place to store all of your trip-related brain dumps is key to not stressing out during the prep process!
02: Get clear on what the purpose of the trip is.
Ask yourself is this a trip for business? Is it a vacation to connect with my spouse? Is it a family trip to make memories?
When you know what the purpose of a trip is, it helps with the rest of the steps that we’re gonna talk about.
So for example, the trip we just went on was a 5-day cabin trip with all of Adam’s siblings, their kids, and his dad. We knew going into the trip that it wasn’t going to be relaxing or refreshing, lol - the purpose of the trip was to see and spend time with family we don’t get to see often since they live all over the country.
Having that at the front of my mind helped me prep for the trip well and I was able to get my mindset right about the trip – aka my expectations were set appropriately.
03: Decide what routines you want to bring with you and which ones you’re cool with leaving at home to be there when you return.
Step 2 has to be done in order to do step 3!
For me, if I’m going on a work trip, I like to try and stick to a lot of my at-home routines while I’m away. But if it’s a trip that’s meant for connecting with others or relaxing, then I tend to not bring many of my regular routines with me.
People ask me all the time if I do HS5 on trips – if it’s a work trip, yes but any other kind of trip, no.
There was a time in my life when I would go on a vacation-style trip and bring the majority of my at-home routines with me but it’s because I felt chained to them. I would feel guilty if I wasn’t sticking perfectly to my routines when I was away.
Thankfully, I’ve grown a lot in my Hustle Sanely journey since then and now I understand that our routines are…say it with me now, tools, not chains so I don’t get stressed out if I am off of my routines when I’m on a short trip.
I know that my routines were curated to support me well at home and that they will be there waiting for me when I get back.
04: Adapt the routines you want to bring with you to make sense for the trip
I’m going say it again – our routines are tools, not chains… they are meant to support you, not stress you out!
It’s totally okay to go with the flow on a trip if that feels good to you.
I personally like to take a few routines with me from home (usually my HS5 move for 30 minutes and morning journaling) and adapt them to whatever trip I’m on.
So for example, when we were on the cabin trip, I knew I wasn’t going to be going to a gym and that my HS5 move for 30 minutes would look more like family walks and hikes.
My normal morning routine of reading and journaling probably wouldn’t happen since we’re sharing a space with a lot of people so I decided to bring my journal and just do that (because I know it helps support my anxiety). My morning journal practice takes 5-7 minutes so I’d just step outside and do it before we all got really moving for the day.
Think about the routines you do want to bring with you on the trip and what you can do to adapt them to make sense for the trip so that they’re supporting you and not making you feel boxed in.
05: Make a list of what you need help with while you’re gone.
Before following this system, this is something that I would always forget to do when I was planning a trip and then I’d be scrambling the day before we left to try and rope someone into watching our dogs. The stress was REAL.
So now, as a part of my trip prep system, I’m reminded to do this ahead of time!
Think about the things that need attention while you are away – pets, plants, mail, etc. and ask for the help that you need with these things with plenty of time for the person you’re asking for help from to plan for it!
I usually try to ask at least 3-4 weeks in advance.
06: Make a list of what absolutely needs to be done before you leave.
This usually looks like work-related things for me since I own a business. But about a month before a trip, I look at my work calendar and see what deadlines are coming up before the trip, during the trip, and right after the trip.
I make a list of tasks that absolutely need to be done before I leave and focus my energy on completing those before the trip.
Doing this a month out from the trip gives me plenty of time to coordinate my work schedule with the tasks that need to be done. When I’m making my what needs to be done before the trip list, I always check the week before the trip, the week of the trip, and the week after the trip so that I don’t feel crunched for time on something that is happening the week I get back.
For example, we got back from our trip Friday June 28 and the BFF Membership opened for enrollment July 1. I spent a week in June, before our trip, doing all of the backend prep that goes into BFF enrollment so that I wouldn’t feel stressed trying to hurry up and get it done right when we got back from our trip.
Some non-work related tasks that I include on this list:
– Washing the sheets and preparing the house for guests if someone is staying at the house while we’re gone
– Cleaning out the fridge (because I don’t wanna come back to any spoiled food ya know)
So whatever this looks like for you, step 6 is to make a list of what absolutely needs to be done before you leave.
07: Make a list of what’s urgent for when you get back.
This is similar to step 6 but instead of writing what needs to be done before you leave, you’re making a list of priority tasks that need to be tended to upon your arrival home.
So for me, I look at my work calendar again and I see what deadlines are coming up 2 weeks after my trip and coordinate my work schedule based on those.
I know my email inbox will need to be tended to so that goes on the list.
I know I’ll need to sort the mail and get our trip laundry done. I know I’ll need to order groceries.
Like that kind of stuff.
Seeing all of these tasks listed out before you even leave, makes it feel way less daunting when you come home… trust me!
08: Start a packing list at least a week before you want to start packing.
When I’m making a packing list for a trip, I like to do 2 things:
01: Use categories. The typical categories I use:
- Travel Days
- Clothing
- Toiletries
- Technology
- Food/Supplements
- Entertainment
- Other
02: Then, as I’m going through a typical day at home, I’ll start adding things that I know I want to bring with me to the list as I use them – so in the morning when I’m doing my morning routine, I’d add “vitamins” and “journal + pen” to the list. As I’m doing my skincare, I’d add “skincare” to the list. When I charge my phone, at night, I’d add “phone charger” to the list. This just helps me not forget any regular life items I want to pack.
Then I write out each day of the trip and what I’ll need for each. So it might look like:
Day 01: Road trip
- Snacks for Adam, Everly, and I
- Toys for Everly
- Books for me
- Diaper bag stocked
- Water cups filled
Day 02: Hiking Day Trip
- Hiking outfit + supplies (workout set, hat, tennis shoes I can get dirty, sunscreen, water cups, backpack, carrier for Evvy)
- Dinner outfit (dress + sandals)
- PJs
- 2 pairs of undies
- Pair of socks
I personally am a last-minute packer because packing early stresses me out. I hate having to grab something out of my suitcase and then putting it back in there…like if I need to use it before the trip while I’m still at home. I’d rather pack the night before I leave or the morning I leave depending on what time the trip is. Packing itself doesn’t take long because of my packing list!
One thing that I do that helps, too, is take pictures of outfits that I want to wear for certain parts of the trip and save them to an album in my phone so that when I pull stuff out of my suitcase on the trip, I know what it’s for and what it goes with.
09: Make an itinerary of some sort.
This is going to vary depending on what kind of trip person you are. Adam and I don’t like jam-packed itineraries when we travel. We like to pick a handful of restaurants/activities that we’re interested in and leave a lot of margin to explore and see what we want to do once we’re at our destination.
We usually give each day a theme or a vibe that we’re going for – so like “relax day,” “explore the city day,” “adventure day,” and so on. We’ll plug in any of the food or activities that we want to try based on the different types of days we want to have and just go from there each day of the trip.
But if you are the type of person who wants a perfectly planned our trip – go off. Plan every hour of every day if that makes you feel better about the trip!
10: Clean your house before so you come back to a clean space.
Trust me…future you will be SO grateful that you did this. Think about coming back from your trip to a clean space. It’s just the move.
I mostly care about coming back to a clean kitchen (like a fridge that doesn’t have old food in it), no laundry (since I’m gonna have to do all of our trip laundry), and no clutter on any of the surfaces.
Decide what matters to you to have done before you leave as far as your house goes so you can prioritize getting those tasks done before the trip.
Like I said, highly recommend starting on these steps 4-6 weeks out from your trip and make them part of your Weekly Top 3 Tasks and daily Focus 3 Tasks leading up to the trip so you’re not running around the day before a trip trying to piece everything together and starting your trip off with a cortisol spike, lol.
And that is it! How to prep for a trip without stressing out! Remember to go listen to Episode 190: How to Get Back to Your Routines After a Trip if you need support with that, too!
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