Christmas Going Away Checklist

Christmas is upon us! Whether you're spending the festive season back home with your family or on a special Christmas trip, here is a checklist of five things to remember to do before you set off for the holidays, to help ensure your Christmas travels are as calm and stress-free as possible.

Remember presents and cards

First and foremost, make sure you don't forget to pack any presents and cards you've gotten for your family and friends! Try and have your presents already wrapped too, or at least bring the wrapping with you - this is especially helpful if where you're going doesn't have easy access to shops for last minute tidbits. For me back home is London, so you can imagine why I rather not do last minute Christmas related shopping there!
If you are a last minute shopper consider buying presents (and even cards and wrapping) online using the address of your family home or holiday destination as your delivery address, as to make sure presents don't arrive at your home when you've already left. Of course make sure the orders are still under your name so there are no surprise-ruining mix ups.

Clean your home

The obvious steps to take before leaving for the holidays - though ones that can be easily forgotten - are to clear the fridge of any food that might go bad, wash the dishes and take the bins out, so that you aren't greeted with any gone-off food upon your return. Or worse still, so you don't realise you've left food out when you're already miles away and it niggles in the back of your head throughout your break. But aside from those mandatory precautions, it's also nice to have a general tidy of your whole place before you leave. This, in turn, leaves your head decluttered over the holidays, and your home will feel extra welcoming when you return to it post-Christmas.

Consider home security and safety

To ensure your home stays safe when you're away it's important to remember to take precautions such as closing all your windows, locking your doors and turning off electronics before you leave.
And now, thanks to really cool recent technology, there are ways to ensure all is secure back home even when you're miles away. Smarthome Panasonic is a system that lets you keep an eye on your pets when you're out, switch electronics on and off without moving, alerts you of any potential intruders or visitors at the door when you're away, plus more. And all of this is done easily from your smartphone or tablet. The price of Smart Home is also very reasonable and could make a great Christmas present!

Prebook travel and remember your tickets and documents

Try and avoid booking travel at the last minute to avoid elevated Christmas time fares. Once you are all booked don't forget to take with you your physical tickets and travel documents, and have any e-tickets and booking codes readily on hand before you travel.

Clear your schedule 

There's nothing more satisfying than completely clearing your schedule for a period of time. And never is this act more necessary than over Christmas, when you surely deserve a break from more menial obligations (where possible, of course). Do this before you leave for the holidays, so that as soon as you're out the front door you know there's nothing left to do except relax and have fun until you're back after Christmas! Even if you do have some responsibilities over the holidays that you can't get out of, make sure to clear out anything extra that isn't integral and save it for another date!

I hope you found these tips helpful. Have a great Christmas!

Disclaimer: This post has been kindly sponsored, but all views are my own.

Amani x