Exploring a new country and travelling internationally can be an exciting experience! If you aren’t a travelling expert, it can be overwhelming, too. In order to be prepared when travelling overseas, here are some of our top tips:
Grab Hotel Business Cards
When you arrive at a hotel overseas, take some business cards from the front desk. This is especially helpful if you are in a country that doesn’t speak the same language as you. This way, if you get lost, you have the name and address of the hotel. It will come in handy when you want to take a local taxi back to the hotel.
Medicine
Bring some of the most common medications like Advil, NyQuil, and Imodium with you to a foreign country. It’s no fun trying to roam around a new area trying to translate “diarrhea.”
Money on Your Mind
Credit cards may seem easy to use while travelling overseas, however, many credit cards will tack on a foreign transaction fee. In fact, this transaction fee is sometimes as high as 3%! This can add up if you are travelling over an extended period of time. Look for a credit card that doesn’t charge a fee. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Platinum American Express are good options. Also, don’t have a hotel convert the fee to dollars first—it’s a bad deal.
Data Roaming
Set up your cell phone to avoid international data roaming charges.
Leftover Local Currency
What should you do with that extra local currency? You can ask your hotel to apply it toward your hotel bill and then pay the remaining balance with your no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card. What tips do you have for foreign travellers?