While taking a vacation here in the states is always fun, making a trip overseas is another experience altogether. Whether you are going to Rome, Paris, or elsewhere, there is no doubt plenty of fun and excitement awaits. To make sure your international trip goes as well as you hope, preparation will be the key to your success. Before you hop that flight and begin your journey, here are some steps you should take beforehand.
Plan Plan Plan
No trip is successful without a good plan. Sure it is good to have unplanned time, but you should have most of your schedule figured out before you step on the plane or boat. Search the location you plan on visiting. What do you want to see or do? Where are the popular places to visit? How will you get around? Another thing to consider is the weather in the region. You want to make sure that you are ready for the heat, cool, or rain of the area.
Update Your Passport
If you don’t make it a point to update your passport prior to your international trip, you are setting yourself up for delays and other issues. To avoid any problems, update your passport at least six months before it is set to expire. To be very safe, the U.S. State Department recommends you do your update at least nine months before your passport’s expiration date. So update it early! You won’t want to be stuck at home, missing a flight because of your passport.
Check for Health Advisories and Travel Warnings
Before you ever make your overseas trip, check for any health advisories and travel warnings that may apply to your destination. This is more important than ever in the age of COVID-19. So always stop by Urgent Care Pros, or another medical center, to update your immunizations, especially for COVID-19 and influenza. As for travel warnings, if any have been issued by the State Department that you feel could put your safety at risk, you may want to find an alternate destination.
Make a Packing List
International trips are much different than other trips. For starters, most nations have different electrical systems. Buying a travel adapter is a great idea to do now so that you don’t have to pay extra at an airport or other place. When packing, another thing to include is extra pairs of clothing. You never know when a flight will be delayed or canceled. The more you pack now, the better off you will be during the trip. It’s also wise to check travel restrictions. Being stopped by security at an airport is unpleasant and something you’ll want to avoid.
Have Acceptable Forms of Payment
If there is one thing that can turn your overseas trip into a nightmare, it is being in a foreign country and realizing you don’t have an acceptable form of currency with you to make purchases. To avoid this, select one or two credit cards to take with you, then call your card providers to make sure those cards are accepted at your destination.
Take these few steps as you prepare to embark on your international trip. If you do, you can avoid many unexpected problems and make your trip a memorable one for all the right reasons. Remember, the more you prepare now, the less you will have to worry later. Last-minute rushes are neither fun nor helpful. Preparation only takes a while, but the memories you can make will last a lifetime. So prepare now while you have time so that you can have a carefree trip.
