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As a parent, one thing I’ve learned over and over again is that life happens. If you’re not looking for it, it can get to you quickly.
Tips Traveling Internationally
Babies get sick. People run red lights and cars crash. Flights are delayed and cancelled. Pickpockets will take your wallet abroad and leave it tied to your cash and ID to return home. Airlines lose your luggage.
Important International Travel Tips For Families
As a parent, I’ve learned a few lessons after dealing with fighting kids over the years. Lesson Numero comes from UNO Scouts:
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am very careful when preparing for a trip. I try to think ahead and second guess myself
Necessary, just in case. (Side note – please show me my “Mommy Travel Purse.” I wasn’t kidding when I said I was ready for you.
Over the years, I’ve developed an international travel checklist of essential items to ensure I can travel anywhere in the world and keep myself and my belongings safe. For me – I need to know:
International Travel Etiquette Tips [infographic]
Here are my top eight international travel tips to help you be prepared for whatever life throws at you. If you enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you shared it with your travel-loving family and friends! Or pin me so everyone can share these tips!
As I said at the beginning of this post, life happens. It’s easy to be like Pollyanna and hope nothing bad comes of your dream vacation. As long as it happens.
Travel insurance is not only medical insurance during travel. I shared in this previous post that I had an unexpected surgery two days before a long planned family trip. Less than 48 hours before we were scheduled to leave, I had my gallbladder removed. If we hadn’t purchased travel insurance prior to surgery, we would have been out thousands of dollars in theme park tickets, airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, and deposits for sightseeing tours.
Travel insurance covers a lot of financial ground, from the cost of your entire trip to refunds, in case you have to turn down lost baggage replacements. When you look at travel as more of an investment, you begin to understand why it’s important to protect your investment.
Flying Tips For International Flights
When I started looking for travel insurance, I looked at several different companies. After comparing prices for quotes and coverage offered, one company stood out above the rest: RoamRight.
What impressed me most about RoamRight was the variety of things they covered. From their website:
Trip cancellation with the option to cancel for any reason or upgrade to cancel for business reasons. Trip Cancellation, Trip Delay and Missed Connection Luggage Protection Emergency Accident and Illness Evacuation and Repatriation Sports Accident Insurance Accident Death and Vehicle Breakdown. Collision coverage
They offer travel protection style plans. These plans act as a financial safety net to cover non-refundable fees or replacement of lost baggage. Usually, unless you have travel insurance, you will have to pay out of pocket.
Tips To Make International Travel Easier
And of course they offer health insurance. Because in a country where you don’t speak the language, you can’t wonder if your insurance is accepted.
In conclusion, if you take nothing else from this list – take this issue to heart. Travel insurance: don’t leave home without it!
I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember life before technology. How did I live without Google? How did I navigate Google Maps in any new city? I’m old enough to remember the answers to this (library and flashcards), but today’s technology is at the core of our daily lives.
The force responsible for controlling this technology while I’m on the go is my cell phone. Or as I called mine”
Traveling As A Student: A Complete Guide + Travel Etiquette Infographic
“. I would be lost (literally and metaphorically) without Ida. It takes me to new cities. Translates foreign menus. Ida is my traveler.
Ida obviously needs to be energized to run my life smoothly. On a typical day at home, it can last a full day just by plugging it in while I’m sleeping and when I’m traveling – an overnight charge usually doesn’t last until lunchtime. Traveling in a foreign country without a phone is not very good, so I have to raise Ida’s juice.
I want to find the person who invented the portable charger and hug their neck. They know the struggle is real and are here to make life better for all of us.
I have tried many chargers. Some had enough. They got the job done, in other words. But the chargers themselves required frequent recharging. Some chargers were not powerful enough to fully charge in a reasonable amount of time. And some didn’t charge my electronics at all.
International Travel Tips For Traveling Abroad For The First Time
I had given up on life with unreliable phone chargers when I found this little beauty one day. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new best friend, the Anker 20100mAh Portable Charger.
A portable phone charger that doesn’t require frequent recharging and can charge quickly while you sleep is on my short list for portable charger needs and it ticks both boxes. It’s $80 more expensive than the others (on sale for $42 right now! Don’t run! Don’t walk! Get that charger!), but it’s a case of getting what you pay for. Anker offers a hassle-free 18-month warranty, which makes it worth every penny in my book. If you buy through Amazon, you don’t need to save your receipt because Amazon does it for you!
Whichever you choose, don’t travel without a portable charger. Also, make sure you have one for every phone/tablet/camera you carry (unless your charger is a dual charger like Anker). You’ll thank me later.
You may have remembered portable chargers. Congratulations! Now how do you use your mobile phones, especially mobile data, on the go? Dude, you need your own hotspot.
Tips For International Business Travel From A Multi Million Miler
You can buy one before you go or rent one after you arrive. I want to have them with me when I get there so I don’t have to try to figure out where to rent them in a country where I don’t speak the language.
Whichever route you choose, you will need to get a SIM card for it once you reach your final destination. Both the SIM card and personal hotspot can be found at local mobile phone stores. You can usually find a SIM card kiosk in most airports. Mobile phone shops are very common in cities and it is not difficult to find them. The airport concierge can point you in the right direction.
After receiving the SIM card, everything is ready! Most personal hotspots can also be charged with a separate charger, so you get more bang for your buck. You never have to worry about being out of touch again!
Allow me to introduce you to my favorite RFID blocking wallet. For those who don’t know, RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification.
Tips On Traveling Internationally With Kids During The Pandemic
RFID waves are used to transmit information electromagnetically. Some credit cards, passports, and driver’s licenses contain these RFID chips. An e-pocket can get information from these cards by standing near someone who has them. A thief only needs to have an RFID receiver in their pocket or bag, be close enough to someone with a chipped card, and they can transfer all the information from that card. Even if you don’t know it’s there,
There is a very simple solution to avoid this. Get an RFID blocking wallet. The lining of the wallet is a specially designed material that blocks RFID transmission. Keeping your information safe is easy.
I really like this one because it’s slim, well made, and comes in 24 colors. It holds all my cards, cash and zippers so I don’t have to worry about them falling out.
This tip is a simple and very affordable way to protect your identity and financial information. A bonus is the advice to pack it up and forget it. Can’t remember to do something every day? Yes, ma’am! I’ll take it!
Tips To Keep Your Data Safe When Traveling Abroad
I know I’m not alone because I prefer to have a bag or backpack on my back when sightseeing. For comfort and fashion, they are the way to go.
However, backpacks can easily be stolen without your knowledge. And wallets