You decided that you want to go for a trip. What do you need to do before?
1. Read, read and read!
Find as many informations as you can. About law, history, money, politics, food, culture etc. Of course when you are going to visit the city in your country you don’t need to do this research, just find accommodation and way to get there.
But when you are going abroad you need to know a lot about the country that you are going to. Especially when it is on a different continent. You need to know how to behave, what is forbidden, what you need to wear, what is the type of plug to electricity, do you need visa or vaccination, what currency is there etc.
As example- we were travelintheg to the Maldives this year (in next few posts you will read about this outstanding country). The country is Muslim, women need to wear modest clothes, you won’t get alcohol, you can’t show off with religion other than Islam and you need to go to the island with bikini beach for tourists. These are all very important informations. We’ve bought a guide and read a lot on the internet. Because of that, we’ve also found out about different plug contact. We had a switch in Saudi Arabia and this country is Islamic and more radical, so it was also important to find out what to wear to not disturb locals.
2. Health insurance
This point is very important. When you are from UE and you are traveling around UE you can use European Health Insurance Card. Check in your Department of Health how it works for your country. For example, in Poland, you can have this card for 6 months and when something will happen to you with this card you don’t need to pay for medical help at all. For each UE country, it works different.
And when you are leaving Europe you should buy private insurance for travelers. It should cover civil liability in case of an accident, medical help, medical transportation (ex. from the island where is no hospital to closest one with medical care), transport to your country, assistance in the event of lost luggage and in case of sport activities special insurance for it.
Regarding to this point, check where you have medical facilities and which one is closest from your hotel.
3. Transportation
You need to remember that airport is always in the city center. Sometimes it is few kilometers from the city and sometimes more. You need to search the internet how to get from the airport to city center. Usually, you have bus or train. Check out how much it costs (so you will put it into your budget) and whether you need to reserve it before.
Also, you need to find out informations about transportation in the city. How to travel around the city, from accommodation to touristic spots near by. How much it will cost and what kind of ticket is the best. Just in case, find a number for a taxi.
4. Budget
When you don’t have much money you need to keep your budget. To do this you need to count everything. In next post, I will tell you how we are tracking our money.
These are points, that in my opinion are the most important before the journey. This is base before you will go somewhere so your trip will be well thought, safe and stress free 🙂