How to Plan Your First International Trip
Let me set the stage: You work hard and rarely take time off. You’ve heard friends talk about their amazing vacations and thought you would like to explore the world, but didn’t know where to start. So you checked airfare to Paris, the cost of the ticket was shocking and you quickly dismissed the idea. Or, you found an international fight on sale but got lost in visas, vaccinations, currencies, hotel brands you don’t recognize, and language barriers. You got so overwhelmed you gave up trying to plan your first international trip.
I get it. I’m super busy too. Adding another thing to do easily puts all of us over the edge. Especially something like taking your first international vacation. There’s a lot to factor in and the thought of realizing you missed something while in another country is scary. No worries! We are going to slow this process way down. You will not miss anything. This step-by-step guide for how to plan your first international trip is full of tips and hacks to get you flying as soon as possible. And, once you land you will know where you will stay, how you will get around, and what activities you will be doing. The more prepared you are, the more comfortable you will be and you will be set up to have an amazing vacation.
Before we get started, do you have a passport? If not, apply here. You should receive it in 6 weeks. If you have a passport, check the expiration date. You must renew if the expiration is within six months from the final date of your trip. If you plan to rent a car, you will need an international driver’s license. It’s very simple. Also, because I’m hoping you are about to become a globetrotter, enroll in Global Entry. Most travel credit cards waive the fee for Global Entry and cover car insurance if you pay with their card.
10 Steps to Planning Your First International Vacation
1. Pick your Destination
There are endless international vacation spots. The first step is to commit to a location. This is often the hardest part of planning your first vacation abroad. Quickly dismiss thoughts that this is your only chance to see the world and you must choose the perfect location. Planning and preparing for your first international trip does require some effort, learning something new always does. Your next trip will be much easier to plan, and, once you have caught the travel bug, you will be jet-setting as often as your PTO allows.
Start brainstorming. Ask your friends for international vacation ideas, search Pinterest, and Instagram for inspiration, read travel blogs, print out a map, and highlight all the destinations you would like to visit. Choose one. Now, look at your highlighted map, what is close? Europe has many budget airlines and a great train system, it will be easy to hop over to nearby cities. Create a flexible itinerary, commit to it, and think about it often. We are more likely to follow through on our dreams when they are solid.
Once you have chosen your destination, do a quick check to see if you will need a visa or vaccinations. This is also a good time to google if there are any scams taking advantage of travelers, travel advisories, unsafe areas, or other safety issues. Knowledge is power and allows you to prepare. For example, Paris is full of scams designed to take advantage of tourists. If I know what to expect, I can develop a plan to respond. On the other hand, if there is political unrest I may decide to visit a different destination.
2. Create a Travel Budget
Do you know your travel style? Will you be traveling solo, with a friend, or with your family? Are you someone who knows what you want to experience and does not want someone else dictating your time? Or, do you want to get on a cruise, unpack once, and enjoy day trips into cities? Maybe you would prefer a group tour with everything planned for you? Your travel style is an important factor in determining the cost of your trip.
How many days will you be away? Airfare is expensive and overseas flights are long, stay as many days as possible. Consider your travel pace. Do you want to spend 2 weeks in one destination to experience the culture and day-to-day life? Or, do you have limited PTO and want to see as much of the region as possible? Many Americans spend 48-72 hours per destination, factor in the cost of transportation between destinations into your budget.
Do you prefer luxury accommodations or do you plan to explore the city and a budget hotel is fine? What about the food? Will you be sitting down to 3 meals a day or grab and go while exploring the destination? Maybe a combination: 2 quick meals and 1 sit-down meal.
Decide when you want to travel. Festivals or large sporting events drive up costs. Check the weather. You may want to shift your dates if it is hurricane season or hot and humid. If you decide to travel during the high season, the trip will have a high price tag. Consider traveling during the shoulder season. If your destination is in Europe, the shoulder season is September through October. Destinations are less crowded and costs are lower. Refer to this travel calendar as a reference.
Will you be booking day trips or tours? What about attractions? Do you enjoy visiting museums? Are there bucket list experiences you must have? Factor these costs into your budget.
How far in advance you should plan an international trip depends on your rough itinerary and travel budget. Think about these questions for a couple days then research your costs and create a preliminary budget. Do not spend days working on this, it will evolve over time. Determining international travel costs is another step in planning your vacation and creates a savings goal. If you do not have a travel credit card, this is a great time to get one. Travel hacking points and miles go a long way when planning international travel on a budget.
3. Start Saving Money
Most of the readers on this blog are middle-aged professionals with mid to upper incomes. You can afford to travel. We all live paycheck to paycheck. The more money made, the more money spent on accumulated bills. Think of travel as a bill. Be realistic of course and set yourself up to succeed. Very few people have the financial ability to decide to travel to Europe for 3 weeks in luxury accommodations and leave in 2 months.
You have an estimate of how much your trip will cost and a date of when you would like to go, how much do you need to save each month to hit your goal? Auto transfer the amount into a separate account. Pretend your budget goal is $4k and you would like to travel next year. You will need to transfer around $340 to a savings account each month, or $170 out of each bi-monthly paycheck. Sounds like a lot right? Break it down further, it’s $11.50 a day. You can save $11.50 a day simply by eating your leftovers for lunch each day.
There are many things we can cut out of our life to save money. Pay off those credit cards and stop paying interest. Cut your subscription services and unnecessary recurring costs you don’t use, think Audible, Spotify, satellite radio, iTunes subscriptions, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, extra cloud storage, a gym membership. Shop for less expensive insurance options, bundle your phone bill, cancel magazine subscriptions, cut out the daily stop at Starbucks, reduce meals out to once a week, fire the gardener and clean your house yourself, and do your own nails. What are you willing to do to travel the world? There are lots of options.
4. Start Your Itinerary
Create an actual itinerary on a piece of paper. Note the dates you will be in the destination, transportation (flight or train) and hotel information, transportation to the hotel, transportation within the city, basic activities of the day, and confirmation numbers for pre-booked tours. The outline is intended to make you feel more secure. This is our vacation and you can change things up whenever you want.
Create a Google Map for this trip. Add a layer for each destination you will visit. Mark the airport, train station, and chosen hotel. Add in things you want to see, do, and eat. Include notes of opening hours, transportation options, and what to eat at a recommended restaurant. Google Maps is now are personal tour guide during your stay.
Print out all tickets, paperclip them together, and place them in a folder. Record this information on a master travel planning worksheet and forward the documents to your TripIt app. Taking small easy organizational steps along the way eliminates last-minute panic.
5. Book Your Transportation
Booking airfare is often the scariest step in travel planning. It locks you in, and makes the trip definite. Booking airfare is also the most exciting part of travel planning, your dreams are coming true. By now you have checked visa requirements, vaccinations, and travel advisories, and decided where you are and the location of your arrival and departure, it’s time to start the search.
Hypothetically, you began to plan this dream trip 6 months ago. At the time, you applied for the Chase Preferred Sapphire travel credit card and you have earned the sign-up bonus. Congratulations! You may find your airfare is free. Jump over to how to find cheap flights and follow the tips to ensure you get the best deal.
Now that you have your international flights booked, what are your transportation needs in-country? Will you be using budget airlines to country hop or taking the train between cities? Book and pay for all transportation. Add all this information to your itinerary. If you are on a roll, continue on to how to book your accommodation. If this was a lot, wait a couple weeks. Remember, this is your dream trip. Planning it should be like putting together a fun puzzle.
6. Book Your Accommodation
There are a lot of things to consider when searching for your accommodation. Is there a brand you are loyal to and have rewards to utilize? You just saved more money, go to their website, and search their properties. If not, what type of accommodation did you budget for? If you are staying for only a few days, a hotel is a good choice. Consider booking Airbnb if you will be at the destination for a week or more. What area of the city do you want to stay in? Do you prefer a quiet neighborhood, the city center within walking distance of major attractions, or close to the train station to make early morning departures simple? Use a hotel search engine to scan your options and read the reviews. Follow these tips, tricks, and hacks to ensure you get the hotel’s best price. Book your hotel stays for each destination you will visit. Add this information to the itinerary.
Plan how to get from your arrival point to the hotel ahead of time and also add it to the itinerary. Check for trains or buses into the city. Google if Uber serves your destination. Also, Google the typical cost of a taxi from the airport and if there are any airport taxi scams to be aware of. Getting caught in a scam upon arrival sets the stage for a tense visit. Be sure to print a copy of your confirmation and transportation to the hotel. The confirmation will have an address and is a good way to communicate with a taxi driver when there is a language barrier. Also, bookmark the hotel on Google Maps. Google Maps is a great GPS when overseas. One way to avoid taxi drivers who take the long route is to show the driver the location on Google Maps, the driver won’t be able to read the address but now knows you are tracking the ride.
7. Book Your Activities
Don’t waste your vacation planning how you are going to spend your day. Start with identifying the bucket list activities you must do while at the destination. Buy the tickets online for top priority attractions to save time and ensure it is not sold out. Check the Google Map you have created. Are there attractions near the bucket list activities you would like to visit? Group the activities into the same day and grab those tickets ahead of time too. Purchase tickets for day trips and tours as well. Always do a quick search for discount codes and specials before you buy. Viator offers tickets and tours to the most popular attractions of a destination. They also have an app to download for last-minute additions while traveling. Add this information to your itinerary.
8. Packing for International Travel
Packing for international travel is similar to domestic travel with a few additions. It is very important to pack light. You will be dragging your suitcase across cobblestones, lifting it onto trains and subways, and carrying it up flights of steps. It’s exhausting. Pack light.
Do you have a current travel packing plan and list? Purchase packing cubes, they are life-changing. Buy a travel adaptor that has USB ports. Spend money on a good camera. Plan a capsule wardrobe. Bring a little bit of laundry soap with you just in case. Any item that pops into your head followed by ‘just in case’ does not need to be packed. Accept cold medicine, a personal rule resulting from several bad experiences having a cold overseas.
Be very purposeful in packing your carry-on item. You are about to get on a 10+ hour flight. That’s a long time. It is likely you booked an economy ticket. You need food, water, and entertainment. You also need necessities in case your luggage is delayed. Here are some more tips for surviving an international flight.
9. Travel Insurance
Did you purchase travel insurance? Should you? You worked hard for your vacation and things can go wrong. Flights get delayed, cameras break, luggage gets lost, and injuries happen. Travel Insurance protects your investment and provides peace of mind allowing you to travel with confidence. Many airlines and tour providers offer travel insurance. Roam Right covers independent travelers and is recommended by National Geographic and Lonely Planet.
10. Before you Go
Do you have a pretravel checklist? If not, create one. Be sure to include visas, vaccinations, travel advisories, copies of important documents in Google Drive, cash ($300 your currency, $200 local currency), credit card without foreign transaction fees, backup credit cards, common scams, common language phrases, banks with a global alliance, bills paid, mail hold, adjust cell phone plan, pet sitter, notification to credit card companies, lights on a timer, copy of the itinerary to friend or family member, enroll in Smart Traveler, passport, driver’s license, global entry card, international driver’s license. Also, get a free Charles Schwab online account with no foreign transaction fees and ATM fee reimbursement.
Be sure to bookmark this page full of travel resources mentioned above.
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