Family vacation planning starts way before we head to the airport or get in the car. It’s exciting for the family and nerve-wracking for the family vacation planner (me). Check lists save me and I love them.
I use a check list for every part of my vacation planning: to plan our itinerary, book everything as far ahead as we ought to, pack and keep track of last-minute details like stopping the mail.
Here’s my master vacation-planning to-do list to keep you organized when you plan family trips. It remembers all the important tasks , so you don’t have to. And you can focus on the good part: Looking forward to your trip with your partner and kids.
Skip to the bottom to download and print the list.
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• And check out my tips for Keeping Plants Alive While You’re Away.
• 5 Apps to Plan & Track Your Vacation Spending
Your 6-Month Check List For Planning a Family Vacation
Things To Do 3-to-6 Months Out
Choose your destination: This is where it all begins. Your destination determines how far out you want to book. For a Disney theme park vacation, a week in a popular summer destination like Cape Cod or a trip that requires overseas airfare, six months is a minimum. A year out wouldn’t be unreasonable.
For a weekend getaway, a large all-inclusive or a destination you’ll drive to, less than six months could be fine, though the closer to the trip you book, the less opportunities you’ll have to find good deals.
Book lodging & air travel: These are the biggest expenses and the most important to pin down. These days I make sure the lodging is refundable, or not even paid until the trip comes around.
For airfare, I avoid the “basic economy” fares when I can. Aside from restrictive luggage limits and seat options, they offer almost no recourse if something goes wrong with our flights.
Reserve your car rental: I don’t bundle my car rental with my airfare anymore. And I shop around more than I used to. Fees have gone up quite a bit for popular destinations. The base price, size of car, pick-up location and extras like not having to refill the tank can vary quite a bit.
It’s unusual to pay for a car rental before you get to the rental desk. So, when rates are high I redo my search at least once or even twice as it gets closer to the travel date. I’ve saved a few hundred dollars and wound up with a better car this way.
Book train tickets for peak travel days: Taking the train over Thanksgiving, Christmas or a popular spring break week? Book ahead. If it’s not a peak travel week, you can wait.
Book popular tours & attractions: I booked our tickets to the Harry Potter Studio in London before I even booked our airline tickets. It seems crazy, but it was a school break week there, as well as for us, and I was able to get the day and time we wanted. Sometimes it pays.
Check passport expiration dates and apply for any visas: Check those passport dates. Kids’ passports renew every five years and always sneaks up on me. Some countries want the passport to be valid for a few months passed the date your trip will end.
Whether you are traveling on a cruise, on your own, or on a tour, check yourself to see what visas you might need for the countries you’re going to and get the paperwork in on those as soon as you can.
Things To Do 1-to-3 Months Out
Plan a loose daily itinerary and/or driving route: This is when I start mapping out the trip, alternating busy days with more relaxed ones. And if we’re driving I start looking at our route and thinking about places that will make good stopovers, either for a few hours or overnight.
Book in-transit lodging: The places we stop for a night to break up your driving are usually more basic than places we choose to stay for a few nights. But I still try to lock something in ahead of time. You don’t want to roll in town the one week a year hotels are booked solid for a local event.
Haircuts for you and/or the kids: I lose track of when my child needs a haircut and she’s happy to let me. Vacations are a good excuse to get that taken care of. I schedule my own haircut a few weeks before a trip so it’s had time to grow in a bit and is still easy to take care of while we’re away.
Schedule pet and plant care: Easy to forget and important to do!
Download airline, hotel, theme park, local transit & other apps: Every app requires signing in, finding your account or your reservation and so on. It’s less stressful to do this when you have plenty of time to figure it all out.
Things To Do 1 Week Out
This is when you’re seriously getting ready. Do laundry open weekend before so everyone has everything they need to pack.
Print a packing list for you and give your kids their own. And make sure everyone has their suitcase 90% packed a week before. Use those lists to remember last-minute items.
More routine things: If you’ll be gone for more than a few days, schedule a mail hold so it isn’t piling up. If you’re traveling overseas or in some other way that’s unusual for your family, call your credit card companies to let them know.
Photocopy passports, driver’sl icense, credit cards, AAA card as needed
Get a mani/pedi: Aside from making sure your toes will look great in sandals, it’s a nice time-out from all the planning.
Things To Do 24-to-36 Hours Out
Confirm and Check-In. Confirm your lodging and car rental and any key reservations. C
Check in for your flights and if you have TSA recheck, make sure it shows up on your boarding pass.
Book taxes to your home airport and away from your destination airport.
If you’re driving, fill the gas tank. You don’t want a mostly empty tank to slow you down on the way out of town.
Check that you’ve packed your passports and make sure tickets and reservations are easily accessible via email, apps or Apple wallet and that you’ve printed anything you have to.
Charge! Top-up laptops, tablets, phones, e-readers, cameras and portable chargers so they’ll be powered-up en route.
Pack carry-on bags: So many last-minute things go into a carry-on that you can’t pack it too far ahead. But pack it overnight and have kids do that same, so people aren’t remembering glasses, chargers and other important things as you’re walking out the door.
Walking Out the Door
Shut down the house: Power down electronics, unplug appliances if that’s your thing, and make sure there are no wet laundry in the washing machine or dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
Last-minute check: Count luggage & carry-ons to make sure everyone has their bag. Double check for essentials like documents, cash, credit cards, sunglasses and phone.
Check that everyone is wearing the footwear they should be for your planned activities or for getting through airport security with ease. You never know what last-minute shoe choices kids will make.
And off you go!
The Printable Vacation Planning To-Do List
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