It’s the time of year when many begin to venture off on holidays with northern hemisphere summer coming! We have planned another extended Europe trip (see our plans here), and we are sure many of our readers have as well! In light of these upcoming holidays for many, we have put together a guide on a few things you might not have considered when planning your travels!
Have you considered these 8 important things for your travels?
This guide isn’t the about the “best destination” or the “key must know” agendas for your travels. It’s a little more the.. “don’t forget these” points!
Let you bank know you’re travelling
This might be something you’ve already considered, however, for many, it can easily slip your mind. It is important to alert your bank that you are travelling so that they don’t freeze your account when it is accessed in a different country thinking you are a scammer/hacker. You can often do this on your online banking, however if unsure, give them a call and let them know what countries. This will also help them continue to monitor your safety!
Travel SIM/eSIM?
Do you know what your current mobile carrier’s plan for overseas/roaming is? Likely, this will involve a costly daily surcharge. While this may be convenient for a few days or weeks, longer trips require more flexible solutions. When travelling inside the one country, getting a local number and SIM at the airport is often a good idea. However, when traversing multiple countries, the SIMs often aren’t suited to this. Enter the ‘eSIM’, a newer method of accessing the internet without need for a physical SIM card. Most newer smartphones have the ability to use these digital SIMs which are often accessed through applications. There are a number of great options out there, including Orange, Airalo, Holafly and more (see a great guide on eSIMs from Savvy Backpacker here)
Travel health insurance/coverage?
Have you considered what might happen if you are overseas and need medical cover? Many haven’t, and while it might not be a huge concern of your short term (it should be), you’ll likely need to consider it when on the road for longer periods of time. We definitely made sure to have good coverage when we were on the road for over 6 months full time, and recommend you consider appropriate coverage for ‘worst case’ scenarios. We always think travel and health insurance is the money you spend to hopefully never need to use! We have included a link below to SafetyWing, a travel insurance company that we will be using for our next trip. We find it is very reasonably priced, and geared travelers like us, especially those doing extended periods of travel.
Check the safety of your destination
Usually, most of us are travelling to safe tourist destinations. However, with recent conflicts overseas, and some of the ‘less popular’ destinations not always being as safe as they could be, we always encourage people to check out the safety of the destination you are visiting. We use the Smart Traveller website, and Australian-based government website which provides great detail about all manor of safety concerns. See Smart Traveller website here!
Make sure you meet visa/Schengen requirements
Have you checked the visa requirements for the destination you’re visiting? Some countries have visa waiver exemptions, or your passport covers entry without any approval. Other countries require a visa on arrival (e.g. Bali Indonesia). And some whole regions have visa agreements, e.g. the Schengen Zone in Europe is a good example of this. We will put together a Schengen Zone guide at a later date (see a decent Schengen overview summary here), however this point is more around reminding you to check in advance the visa or entry requirements for each country. Last thing you want to do is arrive and realize you should have applied for a visa weeks ago.
Foreign withdrawal fees? Check your cards/bank!
Look into this with your current debit or credit card before you leave! We recommend you look at getting a card that will minimise your oversees bank fees. It is very easy to spend $20 or more on a single ATM withdrawal overseas if you don’t have a good card. We use the 28 Degrees Credit Card, however there are definitely better options out there. For Australians, banks like Wise, HSBC and ING are reported to be good options, but as always, do your own research!
Cultural traditions and ‘rules’ in differing countries?
Another important, but sometimes overlooked consideration when travelling to foreign countries. This is especially relevant when visiting some middle eastern, Asian and African countries, where these customs can be particularly important. You run the risk of offending the locals, or at worst, being arrested or deported. Some examples of these customs include wearing a head-dress (e.g. in many Muslim cultures, Tess had to do this in Morocco/Turkey at times), limiting or not showing public affection in couples, avoiding drinking or public drinking, and much more. Definitely do your research beforehand!
Locate the train stations & airports in cities
Finding the main train stations and airports in advance to your travels can save you time, effort and even money, especially when booking and planning. In particular, many airports are often located a fair way ‘out of town’. If you don’t plan for this in your itineraries, you may find you haven’t allocated for the extra 30-60minutes it may take to reach the airports.
A few of our Europe guides..
Travel destination guides..
- See some of the ‘best of’ awards from our travels in Europe with this guide!
- How expensive are the cities you want to visit? Take a look at our thoughts on the most expensive cities in Europe.
- Are the cities you want to visit overrated? Are they overrun with tourists, especially in peak season? See our thoughts here!
- See our picks for the alternative Europe destinations you should consider!
- Have a read of some things you might not expect when travelling Europe!
- See the places in Europe that we would return back to!
- Take a look at our top 6 ‘big cities’ in Europe that we loved!
- See 16 of our favourite small towns around the world!
- Are you a coffee lover? See our list of the BEST Coffee’s in Europe!
- See our Favourite beaches in Europe!
- Check our some of our top day trip locations in Europe!
- Can you drink the tap water in Europe? See our recommendations here!
- Beware of the busiest cities in Europe. Take a look here.
- Proposing in Europe? See some top proposal locations here!
- Trying to save money? See some of the cheapest destinations in Europe!
Europe Itineraries:
- 1 week Europe itineraries: see here!
- 1 month Europe itineraries – take a look!
- 3 month Europe itineraties: see our guide!
- 6 month Europe itinerary? See what we did!
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