The Check List.

The idea of travelling at the drop of a hat sounds ideal.  To be able to drop everything and head off on an adventure seems like the way to live and the more often the better.  However, this does not seem to be the way of the world (certainly not mine).  There are so many things that need organising and planning that hours of time are spent on the trip before I even leave my front door.  In our case here is a check list of things we have had to do or are yet to complete.

1. Book the hotel. (After hours of research and comparisons. Done well in advance to take advantage of the Disney deal.)
2. Book the flights. (We booked the hotel so far in advance that we had to wait for the flights to become available for our return date. More research and comparison.)
3. Book a hotel at the airport.  (Flight is early morning so we need to travel the night before.)
4. Book airport car parking.
5. Book pets into pet boarding.
6. Travel insurance (included with house insurance but need details).
7. Create an itinerary for trip. This is needed to plan meals and takes advantage of extra Disney hours.
8. Book Fastpasses. (Starts 60 days before departure).
9. Make reservations for meals on Disney Dining Plan (starts 180 days before departure).
10. Organise Esta's for the visa waver scheme.
11. Complete API forms.
12. On-line check-in.
13. Exchange cash.
14. Top up money travel card.
15. Sort out emergency telephone numbers (insurance, bank cards, etc).

Now that all that is organised the only things left to do are to make sure we have all the essentials that we need to pack and then actually get there.  The packing is not as it used to be, where there was a panic if something had been forgotten. Now for any items that we have failed to pack we either do without or buy another locally.

The only real essential is the travel documents such as passports.  Much of the other documentation is    on-line.  It is never very clear whether or not this needs to printed out or not.  In a recent flight booking, they suggested printing out the e-tickets as some countries require a physical return ticket to prove that you intend to leave the country.