International trip to-do list
Congratulations! Are you going on a trip in just a couple of days? Here's what you need to do.
1. Check your documents
That might sound obvious but you can't imagine how many times I witnessed people trying to find their passport an hour before heading to the airport turning the whole apartment upside down. My friend once got to the airport with just an hour to spare before boarding just to find out that she forgot her passport at home. Luckily, someone was able to jump in a taxi and get it to her on time! But not every story ends like this!
2. Let your bank know about your trip
Call your bank a couple of days before the trip to let them know where you are going, the dates of your trip, and what cards you will be using to make sure that you can easily access your money while abroad. Banks might treat your international purchase as fraud and block your account if you don't let them know beforehand. It would be very stressful to find yourself in a foreign country without any money!
3. Get a travel plan for your phone
I use AT&T and they have International Day Pass which allows you to keep the same plan while you are traveling for $10 a day. Check if your cellphone provider has something similar so you don't have to worry about roaming and unexpected fees.
4. Check if you need outlet adapter
Every country has different outlet specifications and you need to make sure beforehand that you have a proper adapter so you will be able to use and charge all your devices. I recommend getting something like this one that works for 150 countries.
5. Charge your power bank
If you are traveling internationally you are probably going to be on a road for a while and your phone and other devices might run out of charge. If you are renting a car at your destination don't rely on it having an usb outlet, charge your power bank and take it with you as a backup. Especially if you are traveling in a third world country where rental cars might be older and not have this feature at all.
6. Get travel health insurance
It's never too safe when it comes to traveling abroad. Most likely nothing will happen and you will never have to use your travel insurance but if something goes wrong you will be grateful that you have it.
7. Get a covid test and other required documents
Traveling during pandemic is way more complicated than it used to be. Every country has it's own rules and regulations. Since you already have your tickets you probably checked that you meet all the requirements to go there. Check again, rules change all the time when it comes to traveling during covid.
8. Download an offline map go the area
I can't stress this enough! At some point in your trip you will encounter areas with bad cellphone service or no service at all! Download an offline Google Map to your phone to be able to navigate to desired location. You don't want to be lost with no service, trust me!