Two months out: check your passport first; many countries require six months' validity from entry, and renewals in busy season can take weeks. Then review your destination's visa requirements for your nationality, and start the file immediately if it's an advance visa like Europe, the US or the UK.
What to prepare one month out?
One month out: book flights and hotels after your visa route is confirmed, not before, and avoid non-refundable bookings while the visa is pending. This is also travel-insurance time; some visas require it anyway, and its value in a medical emergency abroad dwarfs its price.
What to prepare one week out?
One week out: photograph your passport, visa and bookings and keep copies in both email and phone; tell your bank you're travelling so your card doesn't freeze at the first foreign charge; carry two different payment methods; download offline maps of your destination.
What to check two days out?
Two days out: weigh bags against your airline's actual allowance instead of discovering it at the counter, charge every device, keep essential medicines and chargers in hand luggage rather than checked bags, and confirm the right power adapter.
What to do the night before?
The night before: check in online and save your boarding pass, and book the airport ride three hours ahead for international flights. And if you'd like someone to walk the whole list with you item by item for your destination, send us your trip details on WhatsApp.
