This post is sponsored by MOVAVI
Traveling involves a lot of preparation; it is not just packing your luggage and bringing along your air ticket. There are lots of things you need to do in order to make sure that you have a smooth travel journey. The following are 9 international travel tips for travelers.
Bring More Than One Copy of Passport
You should bring a couple photocopies of your passport. If your passport gets stolen, you can still prove your citizenship and return to your country. You might also want to consider leaving a copy of your passport at home with a someone you trust as a backup. You can also scan your passport and attach it in your email to send to yourself.
Check Money Conversion Rate
Before traveling, check the money conversion rate of the foreign country so that you know how many stuff you can buy there with the money you bring along. If you want to save money when exchanging money, you should go to a local bank in the country you are visiting. Many money exchange shops like to charge a lot of fees on tourists that are exchanging money. We always round up so we “pretend” we’re spending more and then there’s travel money left over. Just a nifty little trick we do. But you do what works for you.
Make Sure You Bring Enough Cash in Local Currency
It is important to always carry some local cash and not rely on your credit card. Not all shops accept credit cards for transactions. For example, the bus and train station only takes cash when you buy the tickets. Cash works like a guarantee that you can always buy the stuff you want where a credit card is not accepted. It can just be super convenient. We used to get some cash from our bank before leaving, but have found it to be a better deal to get some out of an ATM – we recommend leaving the airport first, though.
Do Research on the Places to Visit
Right now, you can start researching on what attractions you want to visit so that you know what places to go when you arrive. The internet is the best place to do your research on the available attractions in the country you are visiting. You can also go to the library and borrow guidebooks. Some tourist attractions allow you to book a ticket in advance. This prevents you from having to queue up at the ticket booth or missing out on an experience because a ticket sells out. We’ve unfortunately learned this the hard way.
Bring Your Travel Adapters
If you plan on using some electronics at the destination country, you should bring with you one or more travel adapters and extension plugs depending on the number of devices that you want to charge. In some countries, you can’t charge an electronic if its voltage is not matched with the voltage of the outlet. Therefore, before visiting the country, check what is the supported voltage of the AC outlets and then only bring electronics with matching voltage. This is important because some countries may have the same plug, but could fry chargers or items like a curling iron.
Get an International Phone Plan or Know Your Phone Limitations
You will want to make sure your phone can work when you visit another country. This should not be an issue if your phone has an international phone plan. If you make calls with a regular phone plan, you will end up with an expensive telephone bill. With an international phone plan, you will be able to call, text and use the internet at around the same price as your regular phone plan. Some phone plans come with a built-in international plan. Or you can rely on wifi and use apps like Whatsapp or Facetime to avoid any fees at all. You can decide which fits your need better. We most often use wifi, but have the luxury of having a basic international plan built into my phone plan.Pack Your Luggage a Few Days in Advanced
A few days before departing, you should start packing your stuff. If you always forget to bring something on your trip, try creating a packing list by writing does everything you need to bring. When you finish writing the list, review it and check if you miss something especially the small items. It is important that you know your airline baggage policy for example prohibited items, extra fee items, and baggage excess fee. Use smart packing tips like roll your clothes and socks to save space in your luggage.
Pack Your Photography Gear
Are you into photography? Don’t forget to bring your DSLR camera and other photography gear on your trip. You will have to disassemble everything including the lens and put them in special suitcases that have sufficient padding. Pack cleaning supplies like lens wipe just in case your lens get dirty and you need to clean them. Plan on using your smartphone? That’s great too! Think of grabbing a pocket charger to ensure that your phone isn’t going to die before your perfect vacay-shot!
Bring Your A Tablet/Laptop for Down Time
You should also not forget to bring your tablet so that you can watch some movies in the hotel room. Most of the movies you can download on YouTube with the browser plugin are available in MP4 format. MP4 video has lower quality. If you want to watch the movie in high quality, you will need to convert it into a higher quality format like AVI. You can use Movavi Video Converter, for example. First, you click on the + Add Media button and choose the video you want to convert. Next, you go to the video tab and select a compression format like MP4. The last step is to press the export button to compress the video. If you click the Edit button, you can open the video editor and edit your video. Get more details at https://www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-convert-mp4-to-avi.html. Also, bringing your tablet or laptop can help you keep in touch with your friends back home and a great place to backup your trip pics.
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