It's time to update your Airstream travel checklists

We're big believers in checklists. Effective checklists ensure that you get on the road safely and don't forget anything important. Airline pilots use them. Surgical teams use them. Airstreamers should use them too.

A few weeks ago we set off on our first official Airstream trip of 2025, which meant it was time for our annual checklist review. Although we make small changes after most trips, at the start of each year we do a full update to accommodate new equipment, upgrades, or changes to the way we travel.

This year's update was major, because we recently moved and can no longer load up the Airstream in our driveway. This forced changes to our "Day Before" checklist, such as adding a trip to the storage lot to turn on the refrigerator and inspect the rig inside and out. 

Yes, even experienced Airstreamers need checklists

You only have to arrive at a destination missing things like ear plugs (a terrible thing to forget if your partner snores), a spare key set, coffee filters, or the dog leash to feel the pain. Ask us how we know.

Experienced travelers can also fall into the trap of thinking "well, it's only a short trip..." Ha. That reasoning has resulted in us forgetting things like honey, hot sauce, seltzer, or enough olive oil to cook meals for those "few days."

Now that we can no longer pack our Airstream in the driveway – it's a 25 minute drive back home and another 25 minutes back to storage, if we forget something – accurate checklists are more important to us than ever.

Is it time to update your checklists for the year? 

We've shared suggestions, tips, and examples below for our four primary checklists: 

1. Departure and Arrival Lists
2. Do-Pack-Check List
3. Go List
4. Keep It Stocked List

1. Departure and Arrival Checklists

Everyone needs a personalized version of at least these two checklists. You'll find generic Departure and Arrival checklists all over the internet, as well as in the Newbies Guide to Airstreaming. Use them as a starting place to create one that's unique to the way you travel.

Below are excerpts of our personal Campground Arrival and Departure checklists. To get started with yours, download and customize the templates from our Checklists and Guides page.

Campground Arrival

• Use leveling blocks to level the trailer (if needed)
• Unhitch
• Plug EMS into campground power, and connect to Airstream (use electrical adapter if power is a different amperage)
• Set up water filtration system and attach drinking water hoses – turn on spigot and verify all connections are tight
• Attach sewer hose
• Deploy stabilizers
• Pull out RV mat, chairs, and side table
• OPTIONAL: Deploy awning, open up windows, turn on Fantastic vents, turn on air conditioning or heat
• Set out kitchen items such as dish soap and utensils
• Set up stowed items on bathroom counter and in shower

Campground Departure

• Inside -
  
  • Put shampoo and other shower products into cabinet
  • Rinse bottom of teak shower mat and the shower floor, making sure all water has gone down the drain; remove hair from drain
  • Dry off inside shower door and walls
  • Secure shower door
  • Clean bathroom counter, sink, and toilet
  • Close bathroom ceiling fan vent 
  • Remove all used bathroom towels and put in laundry bag
  • Put away all kitchen utensils, hand soap and dish detergent
    
  • Clean and wipe down all kitchen counter tops and stove
  • Secure paper towels with binder clip or put roll away
  • Lock windows and close shades and curtains
  • Pack any remaining loose items
  • Turn off all lights and vents, and pull curtains closed
  • Turn digital thermostat to "off" position
  • Fill toilet bowl with water and pour in tank chemicals after gray and black tanks are emptied, then flush
• Outside –
  • Raise stabilizer jacks
  • Turn on TPMS, if you have one
  • Unplug and stow power cord and EMS
  • Unhook water filtration system from hoses, drain, and store
    
  • Dump black and gray tanks and stow sewer hose
    
  • Check tire pressure on the TPMS, including spare, and inspect tire condition
  • Hitch up & double-check
  • Do a full walk around the Airstream to check for any overlooked items
• In Truck –
  
  • Turn on GPS
  • Turn on back up camera
  • Put truck into Tow Mode
  • Make sure brake controller is set properly and working

If you haven't reviewed your Arrival and Departure and Arrival checklists in the last year or two, make a plan to do so in plenty of time for your next trip. Ask yourself things like:

• What new gear did we buy last season that's not on the list?
• What gear to we get rid of that needs to be off the list?
• What has changed in our travel that would impact our lists?

Great idea from Rich and Cindy at LuvSubbin: Put your list on a card, laminate it, then attach a lanyard so you can hang it around your. neck. This makes it easy to refer to while you are doing things from the list.

2. Do, Pack, Check Checklist

Of course, certain things are always inside the trailer or a storage compartment—plates, silverware, tire changing kit, drinking water hose, etc. But there are still a surprising amount of things that you need to remember to do or take with you on every trip.

To make sure important things are not overlooked, Rich uses one of two, long checklists for each trip. One checklist is for short trips (two weeks or less) and the other is for long trips. Each checklist is broken into sections that basically cover these three categories:

Things to DO. For example:

• Wash the truck
• Get the truck's oil changed
• Sanitize water tank
• Lube the hitch ball

Things to PACK. For example:

• Clothes
• Outerwear (hiking boots, coat)
• CGear RV mat
• Electric toothbrush and charger
  

Things to CHECK. For example:

• Tire pressure and tire condition
• TPMS monitor charge (and plug in if needed)
• Breakaway switch

Your list will be highly customized to your needs. Rich prints a copy of his checklist prior to every trip, and checks off boxes as he completes things. 

3. Go List Checklists

The Go List is what I call the long list of all the things I pack for every trip. The list is split into sections such as Fridge/Freezer and Dry Goods. Many of these things we don't have a duplicate of, so we can't rely on it being in the Airstream. And in our hot Arizona weather, storing things like shampoo and lens solution in the Airstream is not a good idea. 

I use Notes in my iPhone and use the "checklist" feature to tick off each item once it's packed. 

Taking my own advice from this blog, I'm in the process of finalizing this checklist for 2025. The goal is to finish the update before our next trip, in three weeks. 

4. The Keep it Stocked Checklist

The impetus of this checklist was the frustration of arriving at several destinations last year, only to find that important items we'd always left in the Airstream were not there when we arrived. (Thankfully, none of them was toilet paper.) 

Have you ever seen the cleaning/paper product stock checklist in the restrooms at large retailers like Target or Home Depot? I borrowed this idea from that. I like to keep the Airstream bath stocked with items that I don't have to remember to pack every time. These include:

• Hand towels, bath towels, wash cloths
• Toilet paper
• Cotton balls and Q-Tips
• Tweezers and nail clippers
• Shampoo, conditioner
• Body wash
• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Dental floss

I had always done a spot check before each trip to make sure everything is stocked. But that has resulted in missing items upon arrival. 

So now we have a Stocked Item Checklist taped to the inside of the bathroom and kitchen cabinet doors. At the end of a trip I check the list to be sure things on the list are stocked. When we pack for the next trip, I know what needs to be replenished.

How many lists do you need?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this. It depends on how you travel and camp. (And maybe how OCD you are.)

You don’t have to limit yourself to just checklists for prepping/packing, arrival, and departure. You might want to have a checklist for hitching and unhitching. It can be easy to lose your place in the hitching up process, especially when you're new at it. And that could prove to be a safety issue or expensive mistake down the road.

Or, you could create a checklist for determining whether you've got a slow gas leak. We asked our friend Brad from Thirteen Adventures to demonstrate that in this video using GasStop. Checklists like these two could save you from disaster.

Or perhaps you want to create preparedness/“what if” lists such as: What if I have a flat tire? What if we have a major water leak while on the road? or What if our dog gets bitten by a snake or becomes very sick?

Truth is, there is almost no limit to the lists that can come in handy, once you start personalizing them to the way you travel. We’ve found that making lists is highly effective in keeping us organized and on track. Plus, it gives us a great sense of completion when we’ve checked off all the items on the list.