Whether you’re a first-time traveler or you’ve been around the block before, it’s important to check that you’ve completed these essential tasks before you travel abroad. Every trip requires you to assess these basic tasks as technology, travel style, and requirements change.
In an ideal world, these tasks are just a matter of going down the list and checking them off. Unfortunately, rarely is that ever the case. Most of these necessities require you to assess your own situation and needs in order to decide which way forward is best for you. So don’t procrastinate and read on to see what you need to do before you travel abroad!
Travel Medical Insurance
No one likes to think anything bad will happen to them while traveling abroad, but no matter how careful you are, accidents can happen. If you’re fortunate enough to have international health coverage included in your domestic insurance, know that I’m very jealous. For the most part though, insurance coverage ends the moment you cross the border.
When I began my long-term travels in 2023, I switched insurance providers and haven’t looked back since. SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance is a travel medical insurance that covers medical (illness, injury, etc) and travel (travel delay, lost checked baggage, etc). This means there’s no need to look elsewhere to find coverage for both! How easy is that?
SafetyWing offered a better cost than my previous insurance while providing a high level of care and flexibility. You can purchase a plan that covers your entire trip, up to 364 days, or a monthly rolling plan if you need more flexibility.
But don’t worry, if you missed this step before you traveled abroad, you can purchase SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance outside of your home country. Which was fantastic news when my first year in New Zealand was up and I knew my travels weren’t over yet.
For my non-American readers, Nomad Insurance 2.0 recently launched which includes a $0 deductible. When I tell you my jaw dropped, it is not a word of a lie. For my fellow Americans, we still have a $250 deductible (but my fingers are crossed for future us). I submitted a claim last year due to a sinus infection and it was as easy as insurance can be.
So before you travel abroad, make sure you’re covered with SafetyWing so you can worry about how you’re going to eat everything your new destination has to offer instead! Get your quote below.
Cell Phone
When I first started traveling, I had a prepaid international calling card to call my parents from pay phones. You can begin the old jokes now, but that was just over 15 years ago! I need you all to appreciate how easy we have it nowadays to be able to contact our friends and family and access the internet from the palm of our hand while (mostly) anywhere in the world.
If you want to use your cell phone abroad, you have two options: adjust your domestic plan or get a local SIM card.
Enhancing Your Domestic Plan
Adding international roaming to your domestic plan will be a good option for those who are only traveling for a short while. Depending on what options your provider has, this could start from just $10 a day. If you want to stick to wifi as much as possible, some providers have an option to top-up your international minutes/data and you can use it sparingly by minute or gigabyte. Those tend not to have the best rates, but if you only want the option available for emergencies, it’s definitely worth it.
There are even some providers (particularly TMobile) that already include a certain amount of international minutes and data in their plan. In the case of TMobile, your international roaming data is only 2G. So it’s included, but it won’t be the speeds you’re used to at home.
Local Sim Card
If you’re going abroad long-term, I can’t recommend using local SIM cards enough. In order to do this, your phone must be unlocked. If you bought your phone from your provider (think AT&T, TMobile, Sprint, etc), your phone is most likely locked to only accept SIM cards from that provider. For those who bought your phone straight from the manufacturer or another third party, it’s likely already unlocked.
If you have an iPhone, you can check your phone’s status by going into Settings > General > About > Carrier Lock. Any other phone probably has a similar system or you can always test it out by trying to insert a SIM card from another carrier.
For seemingly every country outside of the US, cheap, prepaid, and generous SIM cards and plans are available at every corner mart. You can do some research before you go for recommended providers, but for short-term? Just go with whatever fits your budget and data needs.
Introduction of the eSim
eSims have been around for several years now but I didn’t start exploring this until last year. For phones that are compatible with eSIMs, users can now use multiple SIM cards on one phone at the same time! For me, that means I maintain my US phone plan as an eSIM and rotate a physical SIM card from local providers.
Some phones allow both eSIM and physical SIM card and some only allow one or the other. Some phones only have capacity for 2 SIMs at a time while (especially newer phones) others have more. You need to look into the specific capacity and capability of your phone to know what’s possible for you.
Nowadays, I’ve seen a surge of eSIM apps that let you purchase eSIM plans from countries all over the world right from your phone. So if you’re traveling a lot, you can easily look at your options and pick a plan each time you land somewhere new. I haven’t tried any of these myself, so do some more research on which one fits you best!
Banking
Let your bank know where you’re going! They are not afraid to cut off your card if they sense any chance of fraudulent use. Suddenly popping up somewhere it shouldn’t is definitely one of those signs. Most banks have a simple way to add and update your travel plans through online banking and/or banking apps.
My credit cards don’t require me to submit travel plans because of special technology (that I don’t understand) they’ve implemented. But do not assume that’s the case for all of your accounts!
Make sure to confirm your card’s withdrawal limits as well. I learned this the hard way when I arrived in Switzerland midway through a month-long jaunt around Europe. The ATM was not letting me withdraw any francs even though it worked before and Switzerland was on our travel plans.
I found out after calling the bank that I had a withdrawal limit on my card and the franc to USD conversion was so high I was just trying to withdraw too much. Luckily that was an easy fix, but I could’ve easily avoided the stress with a little preparation.
For big picture banking, you need ways to access cash abroad that doesn’t come with hefty international transaction fees. If you have a local bank account, you can set up a TransferWise or Paypal to transfer money between accounts without hefty fees.
Or you can choose your bank based on their international fees (or lack thereof). For my American friends, I opened an account with Charles Schwab several years ago and they refund all ATM transaction fees. Domestic! International! All! They also have a pretty generous interest rate, which is just one more of their benefits.
Long-Term Sidebar
For long-term travel, you may open a bank account in the destination country. If you’re going for work or trying to rent an apartment, you will likely need to open a bank account before you can accomplish either. (The vicious cycle of you need an address to open a bank account but you need a bank account to get a residential address is another story altogether.)
If you do open a bank account abroad, give yourself a few weeks before you leave to start the process of closing your account. It took years (literally years) to close the French account I had despite preparing everything before I left. Talk to a human, get things in writing, know exactly what you need while still in the country, because once you leave? Say goodbye to an easy process.
Passport/Visa
This may seem obvious, but check your destination country’s entry requirements. And make sure you’re looking at the specific requirements for your citizenship. If you carry a US passport, the State Department website is your best friend here. In addition to a visa (which we’ll get to next) many require a certain number of empty pages in your passport and a minimum length of time from your passport expiration (typically 6 months).
Yes, you read that right. Six months before expiration. You can be turned away from a country because your valid passport is going to expire in 6 months. If you’re an avid traveler or know you have upcoming plans, start the processing of renewing your passport as early as possible.
No Visa? No Entry
With US foreign policy in a solid decline, US passport-holders have already started to see increased visa requirements where they weren’t before. Europe, for example, will no longer be visa-free for US tourists. If you’re new to travel, applying for a visa may seem like a daunting task. Don’t get me wrong, some of them truly are. But they’re not scary enough to keep you away from exploring the world.
Do your research to know processing times (and apply with plenty of time to spare) and requirements. It may take a few days to gather your documents depending on how extensive the application is.
Some visa applications take 0-3 days, others take 6-8 weeks. My longest was one of my French visas at around 4 weeks, and my fastest was my Australian Working Holiday Visa which took 1 minute (no, seriously). Some require you to go to a consulate or embassy and some (especially short tourist visas) are fully online. If you need to go to a consulate or embassy, getting an appointment time can sometimes feel like a battle. Keep refreshing the website. It will work out eventually!
Carry On Requirements
Depending on the kind of travel you’re doing, you may have to be very conscious of the size of your bags. For example, if you’re backpacking around Europe for a while, you need to check the carry-on size requirements for common budget airlines like RyanAir and EasyJet who have some of the strictest size requirements I’ve dealt with. And yes, that does include wheels and handles!
Many airlines also have weight restrictions on carry-on bags (typically around 7kg). This isn’t checked often in my experience, but it can happen! When I was on my way to my study abroad semester, the check-in staff asked to weigh my carry-on bag, which was actually a few kg over the limit. I must have looked like such a mess after carrying my bags all the way across JFK that she let me check the bag at no extra cost. (Reminder: pack light, kids.)
Even if you fall within these limits, do the lift test! Can you easily lift your carry-on bag(s) over your head? And yes, I’m saying physically lift your bags above your head when you’re packing. Don’t just look at your bag and say, “eh, seems fine.”
This may be anathema to any die-hard backpackers, but ask yourself if carry-on only is the right choice for you. Checking bags in advance is now a lot more affordable on most budget airlines and a free checked bag is included on most international flights. The stress of not knowing if your bag will be accepted if it’s slightly out of the limits until you’re on the flight may not be worth a little extra money up front.
There are definitely a lot of perks to carry-on only travel, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best choice for you or this trip.
Now You’re Ready!
With all these important tasks behind you, you’re ready to travel abroad with peace of mind! If the thought of traveling abroad for the time was daunting to you, I hope this empowered you to realize that the world can be yours with just a bit of preparation. If you’re a returning traveler, I hope you learned something new to help you on your next journey.
To enhance your experience even more, check out my other Travel Resources and create the ultimate journey abroad.
Do you have any other tried and true necessities before you travel abroad? Let us know in the comments below!
