Wednesday 18 July 2018

Preparing for a summer holiday with Bupa Global // AD

I suppose this post covers a holiday no matter what time of year you're going, but as it is summer I thought I'd share some of my top tips when it comes to preparing for a summer holiday. I'm off to Belgium in about a month's time to visit Brussels, Ghent and Bruges and while it's not a sunbathing on the beach with a cocktail in hand kinda holiday (although I desperately need one) I think preparing for it is pretty much the same. So let's go...

blonde girl in malaga by the glass pyramid
Chilling in Malaga
One of the most important things for me is to have a holiday playlist, or three. A really upbeat one for the journey out there, to get you in the mood; a playlist of Really Good Songs to listen to during the trip, so that the songs always remind you of being on holiday; and some calm songs for the journey home, when you're sad to be leaving and your flight is inevitably delayed and you just want to sleep. I'll be sharing my travel playlists as I put them together over the next couple of weeks, but if you have any recommendations for some jams I can listen to as I wander the streets of Ghent, let me know!

Get yourself some travel insurance!!! Obviously this is massively important, in case anything goes wrong on the run up to your trip and you have to cancel it or if something happens when you're away and you need medical treatment, or there are massive delays, etc etc. You can get cover just for the one trip, or year-long cover which tends to work out cheaper and can be used for as many holidays as you happen to be going on. You can also get joint cover for you and someone you live with (for example, my brother and I got joint cover through the Post Office one year as that was the cheapest way to do it) and family cover too. It's just definitely something you want to make sure you get sorted as soon as possible - check out Bupa Global Travel to see what their insurance is like, and make sure you use price comparison sites too!

blonde girl scuba diving
SCUBA diving in Turkey
Especially for a summer holiday, make sure you have your suncream packed - I have some mineral suncream from Tropic which I've also been using in England and I love it. I also love a good miniature, and I've amassed loads from various European pharmacies, event goody bags and Christmas gift sets - as I'm travelling hand luggage only this time around, I need little versions of all my beauty products to put in my clear plastic bag (side note if anyone knows where I can get a really sturdy clear bag for my liquids, please let me know). I keep all my miniatures in my cabin-sized suitcase, so I know exactly where they are and they're at hand when it comes to packing. This is, I have to say, probably the only organised thing I've ever done.

Another really organised thing you can do is make a packing list - write down (or, if you're anything like my dad or my best friend, make a spreadsheet) everything you want/need to take with you. How many pairs of knickers, what outfits you're taking, the electrical stuff you need. Having a list means you can tick it off as you pack so you know you've got everything with you.

girl camping in france
Camping in France
The final preparation tip I have is to look at what you want to do while you're there; you don't have to go so far as making an actual itinerary, although if that's what you're into then go for it, but just making notes in your phone or on a post-it so you have a rough idea of things to do when you get there is good enough. I use sites like Trip Advisor (duh) and also Atlas Obscura to look for sights to see, restaurants to eat in and museums to visit. As I follow and am followed by a lot of other bloggers, I tend to put a tweet out asking if anyone has been to wherever it is I'm going - obviously it's nice to support other bloggers, and I like to read an in-depth review of what there is to do.

So that's it - there's what I do to prepare for a summer holiday. Thanks to Bupa Global for sponsoring this blog post; remember to get ya travel insurance sorted if you've got a trip booked, gang.

This post was written in collaboration with Bupa Global;
please see my disclaimer for more info.

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