I've condensed a pre-trip meeting with my Tuscany students here for my virtiual class, so that you can get a feel for 'how to prepare' for any art trip. Covered topics are: customizing supplies, imagining what you might want to paint, and how to gather good studies and reference on location. Although the images here are of Tuscany, I'll also be going to Paris and will have more material on this later for students in this online class.
Gather art you like to inspire you further. For example Sorolla's recently printed book on gardens has me excited to see what new reference I can gather when in Italy and France.