Vacation is something that we all eagerly look forward to, as we want to spend our days off having the most fun possible. For many people, that means traveling off to a foreign magical land, letting go of your worries for a few days and getting ready to see some fantastic stuff. Traveling is definitely something that everyone should have the opportunity to indulge in every now and then, as it’s a fantastic way to help you get a real change of perspective and even rediscover yourself in a way – all the while gaining a few fantastic experiences along the road.
However, if you’ve ever actually traveled before, you know that it’s sometimes pretty difficult to organize a trip without something going wrong. There are so many things to think of, so many things that you need, and it all get very confusing very fast. In order to minimize the chances of all that happening, we’ve prepared a few highly useful tips for you that can make your international experience more fun and less of a nightmare.
1) Pack Some Medicine
It’s pretty important to pack some essential medicine every time you set off on a trip. A small first aid kit, some alcohol, painkillers and stomach medicine and some band-aids should be sufficient, just in case something goes wrong. Eating foreign food that your body is not used to can be a bit stressful for your stomach, and nothing ruins a trip worse than having to run to the toilet every ten minutes. It’s also a good idea to get vaccinated against any deadly foreign disease, so you should definitely consult your doctor about that before your trip.
2) Get Cash
Credit cards have become increasingly popular in the last few years. They’re very convenient since you don’t have to carry around a lot of cash and you can even use them to pay for stuff online, something you can’t do with paper money. However, they’re still not that widely accepted everywhere in the world, and international fees for paying with your credit card can sometimes be pretty large, so it’s a prettygood idea to pay with cash only when you’re abroad. That way you’re sure that you won’t run into any issues, and you’ll potentially save some money as well.
3) Acquire a Voltage Adapter
The default voltages vary depending on the part of the world that you’re in. In some places it’s 220V, in others it’s 110V, like in the US. If you live in the US and travel to Europe, for example, you probably aren’t going to be able to use any standard electric devices (such as your blow-dryer, for example) without having a voltage adapter. So be sure to pack or purchase one before your trip, because it can be really annoying to get to a hotel and then realize that you can’t charge your phone.
4) Check the Weather
Weather conditions can completely ruin a trip if you’re not adequately prepared for them. No one wants to be outside in heavy rainfall and wind, so it might be an idea to either postpone your trip to be able to, or to prepare adequately by packing some better clothes.
5) Get A Good Navigation App
One of the most common mishaps that happen to people on trips is getting lost. You’re in a completely new place and you have no idea how to get to where you want to go. Fortunately, there are a lot of fantastic navigation apps for your smartphone that store map data offline, so you should definitely download one of them before your trip. It’s either that or having to stop to ask for directions every five minutes, and that’s nobody’s idea of a good time.
6) Make Copies of Your Passport
Losing your passport in a foreign country is a living nightmare, and it’s something that no one in the world wants to experience. It’s pretty common sense to tell you to always keep your passport with you and make sure that you don’t lose it, so we aren’t going to tell you that. Instead, we highly recommend that you make a photocopy of your passport, and take a picture of it with your phone. By doing this, you can get through embassy regulations much more quickly and easily, just because you have some kind of copy of an official identification document.
7) Be Aware of Geoblocking
Depending on where you’re traveling, you might find that certain websites are unfortunately geoblocked from your location, and that you can’t access them (this is particularly important if you happen to be traveling to some eastern countries such as China. In order to bypass these blockades, be sure to download a good VPN app to your phone such as ExpressVPN for Mobile. If you route your phone’s connection through a VPN, 95% of the time you’ll have no issue with this whatsoever.
8) Take Some Time Off Before Your Trip
Planning a trip is strenuous, there’s no way around it. There are truly a lot of things that you need to take care of, which is sometimes very hard to do while you have to take care of your day job at the same time. Taking a day or two off before a trip allows you to calmly prepare without rushing, and to make sure that you’re not forgetting anything important. If that means subtracting a day or two from your trip, so be it – it’s better to do that than to forget something truly essential.
9) Do Your Research
The last and possibly most important tip we can give you is to learn as much as you can about the place you’re visiting before the day of your trip. And thanks to the Internet, you can practically do this in less than a day. Read a bit about the places you want to visit, about the history of the country, and so on. If you do this, you’ll know exactly which sites and landmarks you want to see, you’ll save a lot of time and have an overall better experience.
