For another side of it...
Cover with a clean towel or cloth during the first part of fermentation. That can be as short as 2-3 days or as long as a week. The hydrometer will tell you - normally I would consider the Primary or first part of fermentation done when the hydrometer reads between 1.020 and 1.010.
Stirring, as mentioned is done for two reasons - Insure enough oxygen is available for the yeast and secondly to keep the fruit skins/pulp wet so that it breaks down as much as possible. Not everyone stirs their wine though. I don't think it's critical but it may speed things up, which might help avoid the second question you asked about leaving it while out of town.
As to leaving the wine alone for more than a 2-3 days while it's fermenting - the biggest harm might come from seeds or pulp releasing unwanted flavors. Again that isn't something that will always happen but there is a risk especially with fruits with a lot of seeds like strawberries, and blueberries, as well as grapes with seeds left in the must.
A lot of us have made "Mistakes" and had no serious problems but what most folks here will tell you is that they don't want to have a problem. I doubt that in the 1400s to the 1800s they were quite as careful and 'scientific' in their wine making so either nobody lived to tell what went wrong (doubtful) or they just accepted that some wine batches were better than others.
