Travel Tips for Overseas
These tips are for travel overseas in Europe and Asia. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of tips, but rather ones that I think are important.
First: Let’s talk about luggage. You have too much. Americans always overpack. Remember this one thing: you will have to carry your luggage up a flight of stairs. No matter how or where you check it or who you would pay to carry it, you will still have to carry it all up one flight of stairs. So keep that in the back of your mind when packing.
Some things to take that you might not think of.
A flashlight.
A compass.
A handy map that you can read in English.
An plug adapter for 220 electric power.
An eReader.
An Ipod or some small music device with earphones.
Earplugs.
Something comfortable and presentable to sleep in that you won’t mind other people seeing.
A moneybelt.Why these things? A small flashlight will light your way down a dark stairway or down a street under construction. The compass goes with the map. A map doesn’t do much good if you don’t know which way is north. Local people sometimes don’t think much about compass directions. An adapter is all you need to power any battery-powered device. Recently made batteries are not choosy about what kind of power you use. The eReader replaces any book you want to read and is lighter to carry. The small music player will allow you to block out noise so you can sleep. So will the earplugs.
The presentable sleepwear is handy if you travel by train. In some countries, the people think nothing of traveling with strangers in their car. On an overnight trip, you want to be comfortable but keep some dignity. The moneybelt is for some emergency cash in case of unforseen trouble.
Get your bank to create an account for you to use overseas. Sometimes this just means getting a separate account and telling them when you will be away. Get a card that accesses that account and carry that with you. Never put more money in it than you would really hate to lose. Transfer money to this account from another one as you need. Let your bank know when you get back to stop any foreign access.
You can also get a credit card with a low limit like $300 and use it or keep it for emergencies. Keep your money/cards in two different places. One place could be a moneybelt or your passport holder that you wear around your neck.
I referred to a passport holder. This is a pouch you wear around your neck. It can hold your passport and your boarding pass and possible a few small thin items. This is handy in more ways than one. Not only will it make your stuff safer in an airport, it will also keep you from losing or misplacing these items in the flurry of doing everything you need to do in an airport like security and bathroom trips.
Traveling Your Dream 