Thursday 17 August 2017

Planning for a trip away

Many of us take the opportunity to get away while the kids are off school, especially with the risk of fines for taking them out of school for holidays in term time, so whether it is a trip to visit family, a few days at the seaside or a package holiday abroad there is always a lot of careful planning and organising to do.



The most obvious planning and organising would be your packing- buying all the clothes, toiletries, accessories, travel essentials, the list can be endless so it is really important to plan, list and pack just what we need, although the little girl guide in us shouting 'be prepared' can mean we over pack if we are not careful.

Money - If you are travelling abroad take time to research the places offering the best currency deals, ensure you take enough to keep you going the first few days but not too much you will be in a dilemma if it got lost or stolen, having a credit card or way of accessing the additional funds is a necessity both at home or abroad.



Transport -  whether it is simply booking transfers to the airport or you are using your car to travel within the UK somewhere, give yourself plenty of time to book or plan, also if travelling by car make sure it is roadworthy, check the tyres, oil, water, screen wash, and have breakdown cover.

Journey - When travelling with children, it is so important to plan the journey, make time for regular stops, pack a bag of snacks and drinks, have an activity back pack for each of them with plenty of car or plane friendly activities to keep them occupied

One thing we also need to consider is what is left at home, so the obvious would be animals, get sitters if you have one or just someone who can pop in and feed the fish or the cat. There are so many more options and services these days you do not need to rely on kennels or catteries as much.



Something we probably do not spend as much time on planning or give it as much thought as we should is home safety while we are away, yes most of us let the neighbours know to keep an eye, but is that enough? With increased crime rates should we be a bit more home safety conscious? I think so, so maybe look at installing some home safety systems to protect our homes, because really we are going away and leaving many thousands of pounds worth of equipment, furniture, heirlooms, and technology. What about installing some home safety equipment like the Panasonic Motion sensor, it picks up movement inside your house and sends an alert to your smart phone, tablet or another device as well as setting off an alarm, which will hopefully deter a potential intruder, also giving you peace of mind while you are away. The motion sensors can be installed inside a room on a window or door, so the alarm can be raised before an intruder even sets foot in the house. The sensors need to be used in conjunction with a hub but up to 50 variations of sensors can be linked to one hub so enough for the whole house.

Now you have all you need to get away and enjoy your break, short or long, near or far, with peace of mind and hopefully minimal stress.