Everything We Do Before a Big International Trip (Our Full Prep Checklist)

There’s a version of family travel where you toss things in a bag the night before, grab your passport, and just go. Welp, that’s not us. After 24 countries with 3 kids, I’ve learned that the difference between a smooth international trip and a chaotic one is the two weeks before you leave. The prep isn’t the fun part (nobody’s romanticizing a passport check), but it’s the entire reason the fun part is even possible.

Next week we leave for one of our biggest trips yet, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, where we’ll finish our 15-year Disney castle quest with our 3 kids under age 12. This is the same list I’m working through right now, this week, at my kitchen table.

Use it, save it, adapt it for your family. Whatever helps you get out the door without that “wait, did we forget something huge?” feeling.

1. Check every passport for the 6-month rule

Most countries require your passport to be valid for at least 6 months AFTER your return date. Not 6 months from today. Six months from the day you fly home. Some are only 3 months, but I use 6 months to be safe.

This one trips up SO many families. You show up to check-in with a passport that expires in 4 months, and you get denied boarding. No refund. No exceptions. It’s brutal.

So if your international trip is more than 6-8 months out, go check every family member’s passport expiration NOW. Renewals in the US currently take about 6-8 weeks routine, or 2-3 weeks expedited. (In an actual emergency you can pay for a same-day renewal at a passport agency, but trust me, it’s a whole ordeal you don’t want.)

I built passport expiration tracking into the Travel Keeper app because this is the most common preventable disaster in family travel. The app flags an expiring passport against your trip dates before you even book. You can also just set a reminder to check every passport twice a year. Whatever keeps it off the “oops” list.

2. Book dog boarding (or pet care) as early as you possibly can

Good kennels fill up FAST, especially around school breaks. If you’re traveling during U.S. spring break, summer, Thanksgiving, or the December holidays, book your pet care at least 2-3 months out.

We use a kennel we really trust, and we book their spot the same day we book our flights. It’s the second thing that goes on the calendar, right after the trip itself. If you’re local to Rochester, NY, shout out to Josette at Future K9 Care.

3. Download every app you’ll need in-country

Every country has its own app ecosystem. Some are nice-to-have and some you truly cannot function without.

For our upcoming China trip, that list looks like:

• WeChat and Alipay for basically everything (payments, transportation, even reading restaurant menus)
• Baidu Maps or Amap, because Google Maps doesn’t really work there
• Google Translate, with Mandarin downloaded for offline use
• A VPN, set up and TESTED before you land. (We usually skip the separate VPN because our AT&T international plan routes around it.)
• DiDi for rideshare
• Shanghai Disneyland
• Hong Kong Disneyland

If you land without these, you’re stuck. Set them all up at home, where your phone works, your WiFi works, and you have the time and patience to troubleshoot.

Every destination has its own version of this list. Search “essential apps for travelers to [country]” a couple weeks before you go, and download everything then. Do not try to do this at baggage claim.

4. Confirm all visa and entry requirements

Rules change constantly. What was true last year might not be true this year, so always check the official government site for your destination close to your trip.

For our China trip, we’re using the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, which requires:

• A confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region
• Entry and exit through a designated port
• Arriving from one country or region and departing to a different one

Here’s how our route satisfies it. We fly into Shanghai from Hong Kong, travel to Beijing, then fly out of Beijing to Singapore. Hong Kong on the way in, Singapore on the way out. Two different regions, so we qualify, and we never apply for a visa.

Print everything, bring extra copies, keep digital backups, and just assume that at some point, you’ll have to prove something to someone.

Also check: vaccination requirements, currency restrictions, customs declarations, and any prohibited items. China restricts certain electronics, medications, and even some books, so it’s worth a look.

Last time we visited China in 2014, my phone backup battery charger was confiscated at airport security, even though it had already made it through 3 other airport screenings.

5. Deep-clean the house

I know, I know. This one sounds random until you’ve walked in the door after a 14-hour flight to a sink full of dishes.

I deep-clean before every big international trip because Future Me (the version of me who lands at midnight after two days of travel with three wiped-out kids) deserves to walk into a clean house. She will not have the energy to deal with laundry on the floor. She has earned better.

My pre-trip cleaning list:

• Kitchen wiped down, dishwasher run and unloaded
• All laundry done and put away
• Beds made with fresh sheets (this one is non-negotiable…coming home to a freshly made bed is everything)
• Trash emptied
• Fridge cleaned out (nothing that’ll rot while we’re gone)
• Bathrooms cleaned

It takes an afternoon and is worth every single minute.

6. Restock the travel medicine kit

If a pharmacy is hard to find at home at 11pm, it’s even harder abroad.

Our travel medicine kit includes:

• Adult and kids’ pain relievers (Advil, Tylenol)
• Allergy meds (Zyrtec or Benadryl)
• Motion sickness meds (Dramamine)
• Anti-diarrheal (Imodium)
• Anti-nausea meds
• Band-aids in a few sizes
• Emesis bags

For international trips, I also tuck a small note into each kid’s carry-on with their name and our contact info. This would be a good place to list any allergies and/or current medications as well, because you just never know.

And heads up that some countries have strict medication rules. A few things that are totally normal in the U.S. (like some ADHD meds) are actually prohibited elsewhere, so always check before you pack.

7. Refill all your travel-size toiletries

We travel carry-on only, which means everything liquid has to be 3 oz or less. I keep a set of travel-size bottles (from the Target travel section) that I refill before every trip.

What I always refill:

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Sunblock
• Lotion

While I’m at it, I do a quick inventory of my toiletry bag and toss anything expired or basically empty. I also trade liquid options for solids where I can like laundry detergent sheets and sunblock face sticks.

8. Pack, unpack, and repack

Every. Single. Trip. I overpack on round one. Then I unpack, take an honest look at what I’ll actually wear, and repack. Then I usually do it a third time.

That last round is where the real cuts happen. The “just in case” sweater goes back in the closet. The extra pair of shoes I know I won’t wear. The book I’m not going to read (I never read the book).

If you carry-on only, this step is non-negotiable. Every ounce matters, and every “just in case” item is space you could’ve used for something you’ll actually reach for.

And, if you’re looking for all our favorite travel gear, you can find it all here on my Amazon shop.

To make this part easier, I saved my own carry-on-only packing list right in the Travel Keeper app as a ready-to-go template, so I’m not rebuilding it from scratch every trip.

And on the Pro tier, you can create your OWN packing templates and reuse them on every trip. Build it once, and every future trip starts with your list already there.

Here’s our full carry-on only system, step by step.

Why the boring part matters

The prep isn’t glamorous, but it’s the whole difference between a great trip and a chaotic one.

None of this is Pinterest-worthy. Nobody’s making an aesthetic reel about deep-cleaning their fridge or triple-checking passport dates, but the smoothest trips we’ve ever taken…the ones where nothing went sideways, everyone stayed calm, and we actually got to enjoy where we were…every one of them started with two boring, methodical weeks of prep at home.

The fun part of family travel is the trip. The reason we get to HAVE fun on the trip is because we did the unglamorous work first.

Save this list. Use it before your next big trip. Adapt whatever works for your family and skip whatever doesn’t.

And if you want a tool that handles the passport tracking, timeline reminders, and packing lists for you, that’s exactly what I built my app to do. Travel Keeper is free on iOS and Android.