Traveling is fun, exciting, and adventurous.
But there are also a myriad of different things that can go wrong if you don’t prepare yourself properly. This isn’t to discourage you from traveling (on the contrary, traveling is a good thing), but it is to say that there is a whole lot more to travel than just book a flight and a hotel room.
Here are the top five overlooked travel tips:
1 – Purchase Travel Insurance
What are some things that can go wrong on a trip? Well, you may sustain an injury or catch an infection and find yourself in the hospital, you may lose a valuable item, or you may have to cancel your trip and come back home because of an emergency.
Any of those above situations are going to be quite costly, but fortunately, travel insurance can keep you covered from a financial point of view. Travel insurance will particularly be important in the event that you find yourself in a foreign hospital, because chances are good your medical health care plan here in the United States won’t cover anything that happens overseas.
NOTE: be sure to carefully read the fine print on the travel insurance plan you sign up for. Oftentimes insurance plans will claim they cover medical expenses or cancelled plane tickets/hotel rooms, only for there to be a very long list of exceptions.
2 – Exchange Your Money For Foreign Currency
You’re going to need currency of the country you’re traveling to. Yes, you can certainly pay for things internationally with a credit card if you want to (assuming your credit card provider allows it), but it’s still a very wise idea to have cold hard cash on hand for emergencies.
The easiest way to get foreign currency will be to use a foreign transfer service where you can exchange American dollars for that currency. You’ll need to pay a small fee as well as a small margin of the exchange rate, but it will be worth it.
3 – Check Your Passport
Here’s a truth that many people don’t know: just because your passport is still valid doesn’t meant that other countries will accept it. In fact, several countries may not accept your passport even if it’s still valid for another six to nine months.
The reason for this is because they want to make sure you’ll still be able to leave the country should you end up staying longer. Otherwise, if your passport expires because you didn’t depart at your planned date, it’s going to be a long, complicated, and expensive hassle getting back to the states.
The U.S State Department recommends you be on the safe side by making sure that your passport is valid for a minimum of nine more months before departing for a foreign country.
4 – Join Travel Groups On Social Media
Travel groups on social media (as well as certain travel apps) are some of the best ways to meet other people who are traveling to the same destination as well.
This probably won’t be a concern of yours if you’re already traveling with someone else or with a group, but if you are traveling alone meeting with other people can be a great way to socialize as well as to feel (and be) safer.
5 – Set Aside Time To Rest
Last but not least, know that setting aside time to rest is not wasted time on a trip. You’re naturally going to feel quite tired after flying for several hours, and plopping down on the bed in your hotel room is probably the only thing you’re going to want to do.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong or wasteful with setting aside a large amount of time to rest on your trip. In fact, you can set aside an entire day to just resting if you want to. Besides, the only fun time to get up and explore the area is when you’re feeling fully rested and energized.
Overlooked Travel Tips
Traveling to another country is meant to be fun, but that doesn’t mean that you can just get up and go without any kind of preparation.
Purchasing traveling insurance, exchanging money for the currency of the country you’re traveling to, confirming your passport is all good to go, joining travel groups on social media, and setting aside time to rest are among the most overlooked traveling tips that are out there.