What I Always Do the Week Before a Trip

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The week before a trip is when everything suddenly feels very real.

You’ve spent months planning, and now you’re trying to remember whether you booked airport parking, wondering if everyone owns enough socks, and mentally running through your trip at 2:00 a.m.

Over the years, I’ve found that doing a few things the week before we leave makes travel day so much easier.

Free Week Before Your Trip Checklist

There’s a lot to remember right before a trip. Grab my free printable checklist so you can keep track of what needs to be done during the final week before you leave.

1. Go Through Every Reservation

About a week before we leave, I check all of our reservations one more time.

I look at:

Flight times
Hotels
Rental cars or transportation
Tours and activities
Restaurant reservations
Confirmation numbers

I also make sure I know where we need to be and when.

This is especially helpful if something has changed since you originally booked it—which happens more often than you’d think.

I keep all of this together in my Wander With Ease Travel Planner, so I’m not searching through emails once we’re on the trip.

Take a look at the Wander With Ease Travel Planner →

2. Check the Weather

I start watching the forecast about a week out.

Not because I trust a 7-day forecast completely, but because it gives me a pretty good idea of whether I need to rethink anything.

If I was planning for sunshine and suddenly see five days of rain, I’d much rather know before the suitcases are zipped.

This is also when I make any last-minute adjustments to our packing lists.

3. Start Packing—But Don’t Finish Yet

I am not someone who wants suitcases sitting fully packed in my bedroom two weeks before a trip.

But I also don’t want to start at 10:30 the night before we leave.

About a week out, I start setting aside things we won’t need before the trip—shoes, travel-size toiletries, extra chargers, swimsuits, jackets, and anything specific to the destination.

I also love packing cubes for keeping everyone’s clothes organized, especially when we’re sharing suitcases. I have a different color of packing cube for each member of my family. That way it is easy for us to find our items.

Then I finish the everyday items closer to departure.

4. Make Sure the Carry-Ons Are Ready

Carry-ons get their own checklist because those are the things you actually need access to on travel day.

A few days before we leave, I check:

Headphones
Chargers
Portable charger
Snacks
Medications
Travel documents
Entertainment
Change of clothes if needed

I also charge everything before travel day. Nothing like getting on a plane and realizing someone’s tablet is sitting comfortably at 8%.

I almost always bring a portable charger too. Phones work way too hard on travel days to trust the battery alone.

If you’re traveling with kids, I have a whole post on Carry-On Essentials for Kids: What Actually Matters on Travel Days →.

5. Check Passports and Important Documents

Yes, technically you should check your passport expiration date much earlier than one week before an international trip.

But I still physically check that we actually have them before we leave.

I also make sure we have any important confirmations, IDs, insurance information, or other documents we might need.

And then I put them somewhere safe where I will absolutely remember them.

Because a passport does you very little good sitting safely at home.

6. Take Care of Things at Home

This is the part of travel prep that has nothing to do with the actual vacation but makes coming home much nicer.

Before we leave, I try to:

Do the laundry
Empty the refrigerator of anything questionable
Take out the trash
Stop or arrange mail if needed
Set lights or thermostats
Make sure pet care is completely arranged
Leave the kitchen reasonably clean

Coming home from vacation is already a little depressing. Coming home to old garbage and a sink full of dishes makes it significantly worse.

7. Check In for Flights and Review Travel Day

Once airline check-in opens, I check everyone in and confirm seats if necessary.

I also look through the entire travel day one last time:

What time are we leaving home?
Where are we parking?
How early do we need to be at the airport?
Do we have enough time for connections?
How are we getting from the airport to our hotel?

I’d rather think through all of that from my couch than while standing in an airport with everyone asking me what we’re doing next.

8. Leave Some Things Until the Last Minute

You do not need to have every single thing finished a week ahead.

There will always be items you’re still using—phone chargers, toothbrushes, medications, favorite clothes.

I keep a short last-minute list somewhere I can’t miss it.

Usually things like:

Phones
Chargers
Passports
Medications
Toiletries
Water bottles

Those are the things I check right before we walk out the door.

Final Thoughts

The week before a trip doesn’t need to feel frantic.

A little preparation throughout the week is so much easier than trying to remember everything the night before you leave.

Check your reservations, start packing, get your travel-day essentials together, take care of things at home, and then let yourself get excited.

At some point, the planning needs to stop, and the vacation gets to begin.

If you’re still earlier in the planning process, How to Plan a Family Vacation Without Feeling Overwhelmed → walks through the whole process from the beginning.

And if you want one place to keep your reservations, budget, itinerary, packing lists, and trip details organized, take a look at the Wander With Ease Travel Planner →.