Travel should be fun and exciting, but that nagging feeling that you're forgetting something can add undue stress to your preparations. If you want to banish that feeling from the time you start packing to when you walk out the door with your suitcase, you're going to need this checklist.

Chelsea Fagan explains on The Financial Diet the list she compiles and emails to herself to make sure she doesn't forget anything. This checklist is built for a trip to visit her in-laws in France:

• The attached aforementioned spreadsheet , to go over right before my departure and make sure I had everything I needed in my bag. 
• A list of to-gets, from friends' snack requests to gifts for my parents. 
• Arrival time and terminal of my plane, with e-boarding pass attached. 
• Precise plans for taking the airport-to-city bus, followed by a cab (this included attaching a timetable of the bus' route). 
• Entrance directions for the apartment of my first host (a screenshot of the outside of her building, her codes, where to find her key, etc.). 
• Her French phone number. 
• A pre-set alarm for 4 AM the day I had to take my train down south. 
• Attached e-tickets for my train ride, back and forth. 
• The phone numbers of my in-laws, already added on WhatsApp. 
• Entrance directions for my third host, who, like the first, would not be there upon my arrival - code, instructions for finding the key, etc. 
• Customer service numbers for my American credit cards, in case they were blocked for fraud or lost. 
• Information on my French debit card, borrowed from Marc in case I needed to grab cash without paying fees. 
• A list of good places to work, with reliable WiFi and where I can always grab a calm seat. 

Your list might be a little different-for example, if you're truly on vacation, you won't need a list of places to get work done. Email also may not be the best way to save this list if you won't have easy access to data or Wi-Fi. Evernote, the native notes app on your phone or tablet, or a good old fashioned journal (with printed out copies of things like train tickets) are all reliable ways to have your travel checklist at your fingertips.

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