It’s never too early to start preparing for your next trip! If you want to learn how to prepare for international travel, read on!

As an avid traveler (and type-A personality), I have compiled a detailed, comprehensive checklist of how to prepare for international travel – born from years of experience! This year, I am doing something entirely new for my travels; I am embarking on a year+ solo world trip, which will bring exciting new challenges of long-term travel. So to help you AVOID mistakes I’ve made in the past and have a (relatively!) stress-free, amazing adventure, I’m sharing 15 of my essential tips on how to prepare for an international trip (with extra tips for long-term travel!):

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One of the very first steps I always take before visiting a new country is to double check whether or not I need a visa. For those of us who live in the United States, we have an incredible passport privilege that allows us to visit many countries without a visa, so this might not be on your radar (yet!). Many countries allow you to visit without a visa as long as you don’t stay for longer than a certain amount of time (generally about 30 days). But there are some countries that require a visa for even short stays. 

For long term travel, visas become increasingly important if you decide to stay longer than the time allowed for typical tourism. If that’s the case, you’ll want to look into how to get a visa for a longer stay, or if you just need to exit the country and re-enter. Each country’s rules are different, so check their official government website.

Once you figure out if you need a visa, apply and prepare any necessary documentation. Some visas you can easily apply and get approved online, some might require you to visit an embassy, and some might need to be done in person (visa-on-arrival or completed in a neighboring country). If there are no embassies nearby, you’ll need to be on top of your plans.

Regardless, make sure you are applying and completing all of your visa requirements well in advance just in case they take time to get approved.

As early as you can, jump on Duolingo, YouTube, or any other resource you enjoy using to practice your language skills. If you are visiting multiple countries, I recommend even just knowing a few key phrases in each native language – ESPECIALLY if you travel solo. Not only can it be a life-saver, but it shows respect and appreciation for the country you are visiting to be able to converse in the local language. Plus it helps immerse you in the culture!

Another thing I like to get completed in advance is any extra required vaccines for visiting a certain country. For most countries, as long as you have all your basic vaccines you probably already got in childhood (for US citizens) you are good to go. However, some countries might have additional recommendations as put forth by your country’s health department. For US citizens, check the CDC website and talk to your doctor about what vaccines you might need.

Certain vaccines may not be carried regularly by your primary care doctor, which might mean going to a travel clinic or waiting to have the vaccine ordered – which is why it’s good to get this done in advance. Note – many insurances won’t cover specialized vaccines so make sure to factor this into your budget, because these get expensive fast.

While you are already visiting your doctor, make sure you are well stocked up on your regular medications, especially any that need to be ordered in advance. If you need refills for long-term travel, you’ll need to figure out if you’ll be able to get them abroad or if you need to stop home periodically to get re-stocked up for more travel. This is something you can check with your travel health insurance (see tip 7!) – which is why I HIGHLY recommend you always get insurance for travel, especially long-term travel!

You also might want to consider packing some over-the-counter medications just in case you get sick or can’t find your preferred medication abroad. I generally pack some pain killers, anti-diarrheal pills, anti-nausea medications, and a few others, but check with your doctor before you pack.

However, if you want to pack light, you can skip packing pills and buy medications as needed from the local pharmacy – I can usually find almost anything I need, with a few exceptions. Google the active ingredient of the medication and if there are variations so you know what to ask for.

Did you know you can order foreign currency from many banks? If I have a big trip planned, I’ll keep an eye on exchange rates and order currency from either my bank or AAA as soon as the exchange rate is favorable for the USD – this is a great way to save a bit of money! 

For long-term travel, however, I don’t want to travel around with a ton of cash, especially from countries I’m not even visiting yet. My favorite way to avoid bad airport exchange rates is to just get money from a local ATM – there’s usually always one right at the airport so as soon as you land you can get your cash and go.

My favorite tip from fellow travel blogger Nomadic Matt? Get an ATM card with Charles Schwab, because the bank will refund you for any ATM fee – saving you literally HUNDREDS of dollars for long-term travel. This was a game changer for me!

SPEAKING of ATM cards, it’s a great idea before you leave to make sure that you double check and use your cards and pin number at home just in case you don’t remember or input your pin incorrectly. No one wants to get to an ATM and learn that their pin is not working, and now you’ve tried 3 times and your ATM card is now locked up and useless! I like having a backup ATM card just in case. Also know how to get in contact with your bank to unlock or reset your card – note, sometimes you CANNOT do this while abroad!

Make sure to also go through all your credit and debit cards and double check the expiration date. Nothing like showing up to a foreign country and your credit card is absolutely useless because it expired just last month! 

Many credit cards prefer you to set a travel notice so make sure you jump on your card or bank’s website and quickly input your travel days and countries. I’ve noticed that newer, travel-focused credit cards have dropped this policy and just opt to text or email you about any suspicious activity, so make sure you have the ability to check texts or emails and that this system is set up correctly before you go.

Travel insurance is SO important that I wrote an entire blog post about why you need it. The cliff notes are: having travel insurance is extremely important in case of trip cancellations or interruptions, medical emergencies, and other factors that could negatively impact your trip. 

I would definitely recommend getting travel insurance that includes medical insurance and for adventure travelers, see if your adventure activities will be covered – for that I’d recommend World Nomads. For photographers, I’d recommend looking into gear insurance. For long-term travelers, look into coverage that includes multiple countries and is built for “digital nomads” or uses other wording to suggest coverage for long-term usage – for this I’d recommend SafetyWing. For all travelers, check into travel insurance to see if it covers missing luggage, or if your travel credit card might have this coverage as well.

At this point, I honestly don’t know how to live my life without phone data – the long years ago I traveled without it I can’t even comprehend anymore. But especially for solo travel, I find data and phone usage ESSENTIAL for safety and utility. If you’re used to traveling abroad and buying a local sim and installing it on your phone, I have something you will absolutely LOVE – save yourself the time and trouble and get an Esim on your phone.

I am a HUGE fan of Airalo Esims – they are easy to install and help keep me connected while abroad. Note – plans are data ONLY so if you want to be able to still make phone calls, you might still want to consider a local SIM card or try data-driven options like FaceTime, GoogleMeets, etc. One thing that is incredible abroad that we don’t use much of in the US is Whatsapp – I highly recommend you download it. Many businesses around the world use Whatsapp and you can just text them with questions and concerns – no phone calls needed.

Even if you are a last-minute packer, I recommend making a packing list well before the day you physically pack. You might find that you need to order something (see tip 9 below!). I hate arriving and realizing I forgot something essential, although for many countries, you’ll likely be able to buy similar clothes and toiletry items so don’t stress too much if you do end up forgetting something.

If you need anything special or specific for your travels, be sure to order it in advance and add it to your packing list. Maybe you are snorkeling and need a water-proof phone case, or maybe you are somewhere without clean drinking water and you need a special water-bottle filter. Identify in your travel research what specific items might be useful – even if it’s just a quick-drying towel or shower scandals – and make sure those items you ordered will arrive before you leave.

Here are some of my GO-TO travel carry-on essentials to help get you started. Another one of my recent hacks is to order apparel made SPECIFICALLY for the demands travel. My favorite is Unbound Merino, because merino wool clothing can be worn multiple days in a row without smelling (meaning you can also pack fewer clothes!), it’s breathable and super soft, and dries quickly.

At the time of this writing, there are 14 different plug types in use around the world (!). It’s a great idea to double check which plug type (it might be multiple) is used in your destination, and purchase a converter if needed. Also US citizens note – in quite a few countries a higher voltage is also used. Each of your electronics should have a voltage listing – do NOT charge anything abroad that has a lower voltage rating than what is coming through the plug abroad. Otherwise, you risk frying your electronics and/or the electrical system in which you are charging. Most high-tech electronics these days are rated for higher voltages, but items such as hair-dryers are common culprits for blowing a fuse.

For both short-term and long-term travelers I cannot recommend enough having a VPN on your phone and on your computer as well if you are packing one. In your travels you will likely be connecting to a whole host of different WiFi networks, and you can’t be certain your data is safe on any of them – even ones in hotels or Airbnbs.

I currently use SurfShark for both mobile and desktop to protect myself in situations such as logging onto my bank accounts to check balances, pay bills, or even just shop online using a credit card. SurfShark is well worth the expense, and they even have an option to monitor credit cards for any suspicious activity and emails for any leaked passwords – ESSENTIAL for long-term travelers to help make sure your frequently used cards aren’t being secretly used by someone else.

Before traveling, I like to run through all of my entertainment apps to make sure I have enough shows or movies to watch on the plane, I have enough books to last me through the trip, and I have music & podcasts ready to go for long bus or car rides.

My number one tip though, whether you are using public transport or not, is to download Google offline maps of your destination – so you never get lost again! This is HUGE for safety for solo travelers and generally for any kind of traveler to help you figure out where you are and where you need to get to on your trip. For adventure travelers: if I’m hiking or adventuring at my destination, I also recommend downloading offline trail maps for extra safety.

For US citizens, I highly recommend signing up for the STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program). It’s a free service where you input your contact information and the countries you’ll be visiting & when. You’ll then receive email updates about safety conditions in your destination country. It’s also important in case of any natural disasters or other emergencies, as the closest Embassy will be able to get in contact with you.

For non US citizens, I encourage you to check with your country’s embassy or consulate and see if there is a similar way to register your trip.

For all travelers, take a quick note of where the closest embassy is in your destination and how to get in contact in case of an emergency – especially for solo travelers.

Whew, you made it! Now is the fun part – planning and booking your trip! Unless you are a wholly spontaneous traveler, in which case please send me some of your chill vibes. Taking all the tips above we talked about above, use these to help you make informed decisions and book your trip. 

My final tips for bookings would be to check on your airline miles and see if you have any credit card points or rewards that could help you avoid paying full price for your trip. Set flight alerts to see when airfare price drops or consider signing up for an email subscription service for cheap flights. And then when everything is planned, booked, and ready to go, sit back and relax! You’re about to have the trip of a lifetime!

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