What to Do Seven Days Out from a Trip

I always say seven days out from a trip is the most crucial when it comes to making or breaking your trip. It’s close enough that you can start doing things like checking the weather and packing, but it’s far enough away that if you discover any issues or mistakes, you have time to fix them.

I shared the three things I like to do seven days out from my trips here and was so gobsmacked by all the comments with your own advice that I had to share them below!

What to Do 7 Days Before a Trip

Re-confirm any reservations.

First things first, sit down and re-confirm any and all reservations or bookings you’ve made for this trip. Flights, trains, airport transfers, hotels, restaurants, bookings… you name it. This is also when you want to double check dates. There’s been at least one or two times I’ve booked a hotel for the wrong night and only learned this mistake when trying to check-in.

**This is also where I remind you that many countries go by a dd-mm-yy format, NOT a mm-dd-yy one. Don’t want you to show up August 10th only to learn you accidentally booked for October 8th!**

Usually with seven days to go, you have time to fix any booking errors and avoid any cancellation fees.

Download apps you’ll need.

Depending on your trip, you may want to download and even offline a few apps you may not need in your day to day life. If you’re going to a country with a foreign language, this is a great time to download a translation app and the necessary languages. If your destination has its own public transport or rideshare apps, that’s also good to get now.

My big one to download? Your airline’s app! Don’t just download, but turn on phone notifications and sign up for email notifications. These are by far the most up to date for any change in plans.

Oh, and check messaging apps. Most countries communicate via WhatsApp. Also ask any of your emergency contacts at home to download it if they don’t. That way you know you’re reaching them abroad. iMessage can be so finicky!

Check prescriptions.

Now is an excellent time to make sure you have enough medication for your trip whether it’s prescription or just general first aid. You also want to make sure you have enough for the first few days back as well.

Notify your credit card companies and bank of travel plans.

This may not be necessary for all banks and credit cards but it’s worth logging on to the website or app to check. Nothing causes panic like a locked card overseas.

Double check what you’ll need for payment.

While most countries are credit card friendly, cash still rules in others. Some countries may also not accept your credit card (I find many people have issues with AMEX). It’s always good to check so you can be prepared to exchange money ahead of time.

Check passport and visa requirements.

While seven days out isn’t ideal for checking passport or visa requirements, it’s still a decent amount of time to sort out any issues. Many countries often require your passport to have at least six months and two blank pages left. If you do discover you need to renew your passport fast, look into emergency passport services ASAP! The same goes for any visa entry requirements. The State Department website for each country will say it pretty prominently if you just google “[Country] + Visa Requirement” and click their URL.

I feel like this should go without saying but… please do NOT just rely on ChatGPT when researching this information!

Bonus: One of you mentioned that you’ll actually put a reminder in your calendar a year from when your passport expires so you remember to renew regardless. Genius!!

Start packing!

You don’t need to pack everything seven days out, but it helps to at least open up your suitcase and put things in as you think of them. If you’re going somewhere warm in winter, you probably don’t need shorts or swimsuits in the next seven days, so you might as well start packing them.

Pack your toiletries ahead of time and live out of that bag.

Lora commented this idea and I think it’s absolutely genius! Pack your toiletries bag ahead of time with all your skincare, make-up, and medication. Start living out of that bag like normal to see if you’ve forgotten anything.

Use street view on maps to see what’s around your hotel.

Whether it’s a restaurant, a pharmacy, a grocery store… It’s nice to know what’s around you so you can hit the ground running. If you arrive early in the day, you’ll be grateful to your past self for already finding some good coffee shops within walking distance. Or if you arrive right for dinner, you won’t want to deal with jet lag and hanger while figuring out what to eat!

Break in new shoes.

This is also something I’d recommend doing well before your trip and not just seven days out, but seven days is still a decent amount of time for most shoes. If you have newer shoes, start wearing them around the house so they’re comfortable by the time you leave. Nothing is worse than getting blisters on day one and having to hobble around the rest of the time!

Pause any delivery service or mail.

Besides mail, if you get any regular deliveries, now is a good time to pause them. Imagine forgetting to pause one of those meal prep services and coming back to rotten food on your porch!

Download movies, TV shows, books, or podcasts.

Now is a good time to download any entertainment you want to have on the plane. It’s one of those things that always gets forgotten in the lead-up to departure, and then you’re scrambling to try and get something offline before take-off.

Print out and photograph any necessary documents

Call me old school, but I do still like having printouts of all my important information. I’ll also put a sheet of paper with contacts and our itinerary in my suitcase in case something happens and an airline needs to figure out how to get it back to me.

In addition to boarding passes and travel info, you guys recommended having print outs of medications, medical conditions, and your normal doctors with phone numbers. I’m also going to add that you should have this translated as well if necessary.

And, of course, I also take a photo of everything to store on my phone.

Start checking the weather forecast

You are now in what I like to call the zone of predictability, aka the time when you have a much more solid idea of what the weather will be like on your trip. If it calls for rain on some of the days, you bet I’m tossing my rain coat into my suitcase right away.

Double check any pet or plant care.

This is also a good time to double check that your pets and/or plant care is taken care of. Ideally you’ve already made arrangements weeks or months ago, but it’s good to check in now in case your sitter has forgotten or needs to back out. Seven days vs one day out is significantly less stressful.

Sit down to make your Plans B, C, and maybe D

One thing I always recommend with travel is to have at least a Plan B or C in case something goes wrong. I also recommend writing these plans down with good, ole pen and paper well before you’re actually traveling. Seven days out is the perfect time to do it. 

Start cleaning out the fridge

Right now is a good time to think about cleaning out your fridge. Plenty of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to make sure everything gets eaten.

Consider starting to adjust your sleep schedule for different time zones

We all handle changing time zones differently and sometimes a trip can put us as much as THIRTEEN hours ahead. If you’re not sure how you’ll do, start slowly shifting your days now even if it’s in 30-40 minute increments! Not everyone necessarily needs this but it does help with any time adjustments.

And there you have it – tips son what to do seven days out from your trip, as recommended by all of you! Anymore you’d add? Let me know below!