Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette More suggestions from travel pros Get a facial. Get a massage. Make a to-do list. Make a to-pack list. Pack clothes by outfit by day. Pack the night before. Do last-minute check of passport and ticket in the morning. Clean the house, do the dishes, take out the trash in order to return to a tidy home. Set your watch to the destination time as soon as you board the plane and adjust your sleep pattern to the new time zone. Buy a travel guide to your destination and start reading it on the plane or train. Learn the language of your destination country. Get in good physical shape. For more information about Lonely Planet visit www.lonelyplanet.com.

From the breathtaking beauty of Machu Picchu to animal sacrifices in Kathmandu, the Rev. Renee Waun has documented it in her travel journals.

She purchases a new one before every trip.

It's a long-standing travel ritual, one she has practiced since she was 19, living in Switzerland and first traveling around Europe.

"I have quite a stack of 'books' I have written about my travels -- not just a diary about what I did and where I went, but insights I have discovered about myself and the world," says the Rev. Waun, 61, of Edgewood. She hopes her grandchildren will read them someday.

As a minister at the East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church in Murrysville, the Rev. Waun sometimes even uses passages from her journals in sermons.

Most frequent travelers have travel rituals or routines -- those things they do/buy before or on each big adventure or great vacation.

"What travel rituals probably do psychologically is help an individual release some of that anxiety and remind them of the safety and comfort of their home," says Scott Tracy, an assistant professor in Chatham College's counseling psychology department.

From Greek worry beads to rosary beads to little stuffed animals, "there is some pretty good scientific evidence today that this manipulation of the hands and repetition of body actions decreases anxiety, lowering blood pressure, heart rate and causing the individual to relax," he says.

"As strange as the ritual may seem to an onlooker, that ritual feels very natural and comforting to the person who is doing it," says Sheila Roth, an associate professor of social work at Carlow University.

In 1995, Tamara Barr, an inventory and customer service manager for the Australia-based independent travel information company, Lonely Planet, had a pair of red and black striped boxer briefs she considered her lucky flight underwear.

"I'm not scared of flying, but they gave me comfort," says Ms. Barr, 37, via e-mail from Berkeley, Calif. "It was sometimes difficult to be sure they were clean for the return flight. ... Sometimes I had to resort to wearing them over my clean underwear."

She has since lost the lucky boxer briefs, replacing them with a Beanie rabbit, Floppy Al, then replacing that with an Eeyore travel pillow.

"Every time the traveler performs the ritual and they go on the trip and have a safe journey, use of that ritual becomes reinforced," Dr. Roth says.

Jane Young buys a Christmas ornament or item that can be used as an ornament on every vacation or trip to a new place.

"I try to find one that represents something about the place I am visiting or something I did while I was there," says Ms. Young, 44, of Carnegie. "This ritual always brings back many good memories when you decorate the tree at Christmas."

She started the tradition about 15 years ago and has ornaments from the Caribbean, Europe and all over the United States. She's passing it on, too. On a recent trip to Memphis with her 9-year-old niece, Natalie, Ms. Young bought the child a Christmas ornament commemorating the Peabody Hotel's famed, red-carpet waddling ducks.

Lonely Planet staffer Jane Ormond and a friend always make themselves CARE packages they can't open until they're on the plane.

"They generally consist of a card, a mix tape (back in the days of Walkmans!), chocolate, cigarettes (back in the days of smoking!), that kind of thing," wrote Ms. Ormond, 38, via e-mail from Melbourne, Australia. "It all adds to the excitement of the trip."

In advance of trips to Third World countries, the Rev. Waun purchases clothing at Goodwill. Then, on the trip, she leaves behind the clothing and other items that may be useful to the people she has met.

"When I traveled in Nepal, my first aid kit, simple as it was, was better stocked than their local clinics," she says. "People were bringing their sick to me. That was pretty amazing. I left the whole [kit] behind."

In preparation for intercontinental flights, Deborah Robbins, Lonely Planet images licensing manager, enters "hydration mode," purchasing five quart-sized bottles of water.

In addition to regular fluid intake, she drinks one quart each day for the three days before the flight, drinks the fourth quart the night before the flight and the fifth quart on the flight.

"I'm not sure that this helps to ward off jet lag, but it certainly helps alleviate the dehydration, which is supposedly a contributor to the jet lag," says Ms. Robbins, 47, via e-mail from Berkeley, Calif.

Sara McLain visits the United Kingdom at least once a year and has made more than 25 visits there.

"For the six weeks prior to a trip, I never climb up on a stool or a chair or anything I could fall from, nor do I lift anything heavy over my head," says Ms. McLain, 56, of Evans City. "Even here at work if they say, 'Sara, move these boxes,' I say, 'Not this close to a trip.' "

The day before an overseas flight, she gets a chiropractic adjustment.

"It makes all the difference in the cramped seats on a night flight and makes it easier to fall asleep," she says.

Some travelers enjoy arriving at the airport or train station three, four or more hours early. Jeanette Wall, 32, of Melbourne, a Lonely Planet editor, says arriving early helps her relax into the experience and eases the transition from busy working person to laid-back traveler.

"It just doesn't feel right if there isn't time at the airport for a cup of coffee and a bit of looking about."