10 Things to Do When You Return Home from a Trip

Travel often feels like a series of to-do lists (book flights and hotels, call the credit card company, freeze emails, pack) from the pre-trip planning process to choosing the activities you want to experience as soon as you arrive at your destination. But what about after returning home?
Some of us do nothing, but they collapse on the sofa, exhausted, for a day or two after the trip, while others return to their daily lives like no travel. Why don't we find a happy medium? The following list of post-trip things to do will help you save money, stay healthy, and enjoy the post-trip pleasure that still lingers just a little bit longer.

1. Check your bank and credit card statements.

While this is good advice for anyone at any time, it depends on the particular traveler. “Identity theft is a growing problem around the world,” Ed Hewitt writes in 11 Ways to Prevent Identity Theft While Traveling, “Identity theft is a growing problem, especially among people forced to use unsecured Internet connections, people who carry extensive personal documents with them at all times, and people whose credit card passwords they know nothing about or have no access to.” For these unprotected travellers, who sell time and time again for sales they will never see again." he said.

Within a day or two when you get home, log on to online banking and check your bank and credit card statements for things like missed credit card repayments, taking on more debt, or charges you didn't authorize. Report any issues to your bank or credit card company immediately.

2. Turn off the international package on your phone.

Many travelers add international calling, texting and internet packages to their regular plans so they can use their phones economically while traveling overseas. But as soon as the trip is over, make sure you cancel the package so you don't keep paying extra for it next month and beyond.

3. Take care of your emails.

If you don't keep sending emails during your trip, you'll likely have an overflowing inbox when you get home. The longer you wait to deal with it, the more mail will pile up, so take a few minutes to get through the pile by responding to something urgent and deleting newsletters or alerts you'll never have time to read. Don't forget to turn off any "out of office" or "away on vacation" automated messages you opened before your trip and re-subscribe to any newsletters you canceled. And if you haven't yet notified your family and friends that you've arrived home safely, call or text them.

4. Take care of your body.

Jumping time zones, stressing over flight delays, indulging in restaurants and bars, sleeping fitfully on the plane... these are just a few ways travel can be bad for your body. It's not unusual to get sick after a trip, but you can help prevent it by taking care of yourself when you get home. To rehydrate your body after a long and dry flight, drink plenty of water and counter this with light restaurant meals with fresh fruits, vegetables and salads.

If you're dying to sleep, take a nap instead of forcing yourself to adjust to the new time zone right away. Many travelers see the extra "rest" day after the holiday as sleeping and catching up on other post-holiday tasks, which is very useful in relaxing themselves mentally and physically back to the real world.

5. Separate your photos and put them aside.

Would you wait so long to take a look at your holiday photos that you would completely forget the names of the magnificent stone castle or the shattered ancient ruins? Don't let this happen. While the memories are still fresh, divide your photos into sections and write captions; Also applicable for producing photo albums, scrapbooks or other similar keepsakes. If you're a trip or 2 behind, you may never catch them again.

6. Check your loyalty programs.

If you're a frequent flyer or have a hotel loyalty program, log the next few days of your trip in your logbook to make sure you're getting the miles and points you're entitled to. Try to keep the hotel receipt and/or boarding pass until you are sure it has been charged to your account correctly.

7. Get damage insurance.

If something went wrong during the trip and you need to make a claim against your travel and health insurance policy, do not delay; There is usually a time limit on important points between the lines of your policy, and if you wait too long, you may lose your right to be paid for the damage. Gather all necessary documents and submit your request as soon as possible.

8.Take action.

A good trip often leaves people feeling alive. Maybe your week of viewing endangered wildlife in the Amazon creates a newfound passion for protecting nature, or the plight of street children in India touches your heart and you come home eager to find ways to help them from afar.
It's easy to fall back into the short-lived excitement of your daily life and forget the memories that excited you most about your trip. Before these memories fade, donate, seek out a volunteer program, or find other ways to turn your vitality into action.

9. Share your experiences with other travellers.

As you carefully plan your trip, have you read hotel reviews on TripAdvisor, compared restaurant prices on Yelp, or reviewed the experiences of IndependentTraveler.com readers in our travel reviews section? If you have benefited from the knowledge of other people who have traveled before, consider giving the same kindness to someone else by writing about the highs and lows of your trip. For best results, do this in the first or second week of your trip while you still remember the name of the restaurant with great martinis.