My best travel tips when traveling abroad

In January of 2023 I booked a one way trip to England with plans to explore all of Europe. With absolutely no context of what I was getting myself into, there was a lot I had to figure out along the way. There were a couple apps + services that SAVED me from spending too much $$, getting myself into unsafe situations, and getting straight up lost in a foreign country. These are my top tips and tricks whether you are moving or traveling abroad.

For the sake of transparency, a lot of these links are commissionable for me. I would not recommend anything I did/do not genuinely use but it’d be super helpful if you do book to book through these links. Thanks :)

Before you go

First off, CONGRATS!!! We’re going on a trip, how exciting!! Let’s make sure you’ve got everything set before you go.

  • Travel credit card: if you don’t have a travel credit card traveling abroad you’re literally loosing out out money. You get 2x, sometimes 3x points back on travel. I highly recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve or an AMEX.

  • Travel credit cards are also great for flight insurance, to make sure you are compensated if flights go wrong (which they always seem to). If you don’t utilize this, Airhelp is a great site to help you still get compensated when flights are delayed or cancelled.

  • Travel Insurance: Your US travel insurance under most circumstances does not cover you abroad. Make sure you purchase good travel insurance.

  • SIM cards or travel plan. If you’re balling on a budget international SIM cards are the way to go. The way I used my phone over there was through Airalo, an app where you can get online SIM cards to all the different countries you travel to.

  • This backpack: I’m cautious to ever say you NEED something, but if you are traveling abroad I don’t know how you would survive without this backpack + a pair of new balances.

Once there

YAY!! We made it!! Let’s get you ready & prepared to get around + have the best time on your trip.

  • Trains: if you’re anything like me, these are going to be your biggest headache. We used trainline to book all trains. They did a good job at giving money back if trains were cancelled (which happens often with train strikes).

  • Flights: once in Europe you’ll want to fly around to different countries. I used google flights to find the best deals on flights & often booked through Kiwi so make sure to look on their website too!

  • Where to stay: we LOVED staying in hostels abroad, we booked all of them through Hostel World it was a great way to meet people from all over the world. Hotels sometimes can be affordable, best place to compare is definitely Booking.com. If this isn’t quite your vibe look on VRBO & Airbnb.

  • Activities: There are so many different ways to book excursions in various locations, but I have found the best through GetYourGuide, Viator, and GoCity.

  • Storage lockers: when you get to a new location but can’t check into your hotel yet but still want to explore - what the heck do you do. Every major city has storage lockers, you can find those here. For a small price you’re able to store your bags for the day. This saved us so many times.