I recommend asking yourself if an idiot would do what you are going to do. Do the opposite. I took lsd by myself, with no one home at 5pm. And only while the effects started to take place did I begin researching the effects. I did not know that you can't sleep when on acid for instance. So maybe don't listen to me. I'm also not so hot mentally, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Point (3) specifically is easily the worst, because you start researching after you get anxious, and what you find will make you even more anxious, because if you are looking for potential side effects and issues, that's exactly what you are going to find. The positive feedback loop with this one is pretty bad.
I also did point (4). I talked to my grandma on the phone. I called her an hour before I took it, but she called back an hour after I took it. The surprising thing is that I actually didn't have a bad trip. It was just pretty meh after I tried everything in the vicinity.