Most Important Tips for Planning International Trips
- Always ensure your Passport expires at least 6 months after your return date. After 100s of international trips, can you believe we actually forgot to check this once? We ended up having to come in under a ‘tourist visa’ for our own country of residence!
- Game Changing Tip: Take a picture of your Passport (front page and barcode in the back), then email those to yourself! That barcode is even more important than the front page. Who knew?!?
- Always first check Visa Entry Requirements for your desired international destination before booking your trip. We made this mistake in Vietnam once and had to re-schedule our flights because our tourist visa was delayed! Whoopsie!
Tips Before You Even Finalize Your Destination!
- For your international destination, check if your travel dates land on a national holiday. If so, your flights and hotel could be way more expensive than just a day or or two earlier! We accidentally booked our Japan trip for the biggest national holiday and was so confused why the hotel prices were triple the cost of a week earlier. Suffice it to say, I ended up re-booking our entire trip to save on hotel costs. Quite the hassle, but we learned our lesson from then on!
- Check the high/low season for your destination. Low Season or Shoulder Season will be less crowded and offer better deals on flights and hotels. We love love love traveling to Europe during their Shoulder Season of April/May and September/October. The weather is heavenly, and the crowds are minimal!
- Check the type of weather for your expected travel dates. Monsoon Season in Thailand has certainly ruined those perfect island paradise vibes. Not to mention, our ferry almost capsized! Ahhhhh!
- Sign up for Airline and Hotel Loyalty Programs. Try to use those same ones often to accumulate reward travel.
- Use Travel Credit Cards to your advantage. Our favorite is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The sign-up bonus points alone are worth an international plane ticket! Just by using this credit card on our everyday purchases like gas and groceries, we’ve earned enough reward points to take 2 international trips, a Mediterranean Cruise, and countless hotel nights for FREE! But be sure to automatically pay your credit card off each month or those rewards really aren’t worth the amount you pay in interest.
- Choose a Travel Credit Card with no foreign transaction fees and good exchange rates, like the one above. Be sure to sign up for a Travel Credit Card at least 4-6 months before your international trip to ensure you actually get those sign-up bonus points in time to use them for this particular trip.
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How to Save Money on an International Trip:
These our go-to tips for How to Save Money on an International Trip:
- Book flights and hotel 4-8 months out
- Eat like a local
- Avoid eating at restaurants in high tourism areas
- Take public transportation such as the subway, buses, etc
- Do a quick Google Search of Free Activities to do in that destination
- Use an ATM or Credit Card with no foreign transaction fees
- Consider getting trip insurance in case of unforeseen circumstances
TIP: QATAR AIRLINES WAS our best experience flying with kids
Tips for Booking International Flights
These are the Travel Hacks I use to search for the best price on international flights:
- Use google.com/flights to see a monthly overview of when flights to your destination will be cheaper.
- When searching for flights, open a Private Window (incognito mode). This is important because the algorithm will see that you have already searched for a flight, and it will most likely continue to increase in price as you keep coming back to search for that same flight.
- Use Skyscanner to set up an alert to notify you when the price decreases for your desired route. This is most helpful if you have an exact flight you are wanting.
- Check prices of flights for the closest major airport hub. Flying from a major airport hub to a major airport hub will offer the best prices on an International Flight. Then book a flight, train, or ferry to the smaller city. We did this when traveling to Mykonnos, Greece and saved hundreds of dollars by flying into Athens and taking a ferry to Mykonnos instead of flying directly into Mykonnos.
- Flying on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday usually has the best fares.
- For the best prices on international flights, it’s usually best to book 3-6 months out – the ‘Goldilocks Window.’
- For peak travel times, like Christmas or Spring break, it’s better to book 4-10 months out.
- After more than 50 flights with kids, our most favorite family-friendly airlines are Qatar Airlines, Korean Airlines, and Japan Airlines.
FLIGHT TIP: We’ve personally had the best experience flying to Thailand with our family on Qatar Airlines and also Japan Airlines. Both were child-friendly airline options.
- Families with small children could board early
- Automatically got bulk-head seating when we traveled with an infant
- Could pre-select kid-friendly meals
- They have great entertainment options for the littles
- They had ‘grab-n-go’ snacks available throughout the whole flight
- The best part : more legroom than the other international flights for families that we’ve taken
Tips on Where to Stay for your Trip Abroad
Hotel Booking Advice & Tips for Planning International Trips:
- Do a quick google.com search about the best areas to stay at your international destination. Some tourist areas might actually not be the ‘safest’ or the most family-friendly.
- After knowing which area to stay, use Google Maps to find hotels in your price range in that area.
- Then, use Tripadvisor.com to read traveler reviews and compare prices from different booking engines. For us, we don’t usually book any hotel with less than a score of 8 from traveler reviews or a score of 4.6 on AirBNB.
- Generally, Booking.com offers better rates in America and in Europe while Agoda.com offers better rates in Asia.
- If you find an AirBNB you like, send a direct message to the owner to ask for a discount.This is a pretty common practice around the world — also speaking from experience being an AirBNB Host.
- If your dates are more than a month out, I recommend booking a refundable option – even Free Cancellation.
- If less than a couple weeks out, consider booking the cheaper, non-refundable option.
What to Pack for an Overseas Vacation
- In your carry-on, pack an extra change of clothes and PJs for everyone (just in case your flight is delayed overnight).
- Packing Cubes: We do one color per family member. I even get my kids to pack their own cubes. I do give them directions such as you need 2 pairs of PJs, 1 dressy outfit, 2 swimsuits, etc. This also gets them excited about the trip! I always double check what they packed though.
- Passport Wallet: Big enough to hold all your passports together in one place.
- External Battery: with at least 15,000-30,000 MaH
- Electronic Organizer Case: A must to organize all those cords! Also, check the destination’s electric voltage and plug type to see if you need an adapter.
- Lots of Snacks: Just in case you or your child is not brave enough to try new foods. Our favorites travel snacks are granola bars, trail mix, Gold Fish, strawberry fruit leather, and dehydrated apple slices.
- Bento Snack Boxes: our family packs these for every trip! Let the kids get involved by choosing their own favorite snacks to add to the bento containers.
- Child-size Headphones: the airlines give adult-size headphones to use with their entertainment device, but those slide right off our little girl’s head. So it’s best to bring child-size headphones (with an AV cord!) on your international vacation.
Our Favorite Travel Resources for Exploring Asia
- The Best Deals on Hotels in Thailand: Agoda.com
- Most Family-friendly Airline: Qatar Airlines
- Renting a Car: EconomyBookings.com
- Getting around (ferry, train, flights, bus, transfers): 12go.com
- Booking an Activity or Tour in Asia: Klook.com
- Travel Insurance: VisitorsCoverage.com
- Internet and Cell Phone Service: Airalo
Tips for Saving Money while Traveling Overseas
- In most countries, cash is king. Don’t expect to be able to use your credit card everywhere.
- Always bring some cash on hand with you in case of emergencies. On one trip to Greece, we didn’t bring any cash on hand with us, and then our ATM card got flagged and didn’t work for the entire trip! Ahhh! Thankfully, we had our Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, but there were many small souvenir shops and cafes that we couldn’t go to because they only accepted Euros.
- Notify your bank and credit card of any international travel to avoid getting a block on your account, like what happened to us in Greece! Ekkkk!
- Check that your ATM card has a Visa, Mastercard, or Plus logo on the back, or it might not work at ATMs overseas.
- Check with your bank about out-of-network ATM fees and foreign transaction fees.
- Withdrawing from an ATM will usually get a better exchange rate than exchanging cash at the Tourist Exchange Kiosks.
- Never exchange money before arriving at your destination. You’ll get better rates in the country of that currency.
- Also, avoid exchanging money at the airport if possible. Again, the exchange rates are less favorable.
- Be aware of your ATM daily withdrawal limit. For example, we wanted to go on this Island Hopping Long-tail Boat Tour in Thailand, but the operator only took cash. So we went to the ATM and realized our Daily Withdrawal Limit was not enough, so we didn’t end up getting to go. How disappointing! Then, we called the bank to increase our DWL to $1000 instead. You don’t want your DWL to be too high just in case your ATM card gets stolen.
- Try not to withdraw from an ATM overseas too often because there are usually foreign transaction fees and exchange fees as well as international ATM service fees. Charles Schwab has the best International ATM Service that we’ve found.
- When using your ATM or Credit Card at a store in a foreign location, and a merchant asks if you want to use USD or the local currency, always choose the local currency for the best exchange rate. This will avoid the DCC rate which is less favorable.
Our Favorite Travel Resources for Exploring Europe
- Best Deals on Hotels: Booking.com
- Best Airline to Europe: Qatar Airlines
- Renting a Car in Europe: EconomyBookings.com
- Booking an Activity or Tour: Viator.com
- Travel Insurance: VisitorsCoverage.com
- Great Internet Service all over Europe: Airalo
All about Health Insurance and Medical Care: Great International Travel Advice for Families
- Check if your health insurance covers you outside your country of residence.
- Check if your credit card has any travel insurance benefits to cover flight cancellations, trip interruptions, or baggage delays.
- If not, it would probably be beneficial to purchase one from visitorscoverage.com. We like their prices and service. They have both International Travel Insurance to cover medical expenses while overseas as well as Trip Insurance that covers delays and cancellations.
- Always bring any medicine and prescriptions that you take regularly, and bring extra just in case.
- Be aware of the local emergency numbers Some countries don’t use 911. For example: Thailand uses 191.
- Know in general how far away is the closest International hospital or clinic. Some local islands or cities won’t have any medical facilities or the doctors at the public hospitals might not speak English.
- Check Vaccine Requirements and Medicine Restrictions. For Example: Japan restricts bringing in Ritalin even if you have a prescription from a doctor in the USA.
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Itinerary Tips for Planning International Trips
- Factor in jetlag and don’t over-schedule too many activities the first couple days overseas.
- Have a game plan for meals even if it’s just doing a quick search on Google Maps of the best restaurants nearby. Just be sure your itinerary doesn’t have you in the middle of a rice field at lunchtime with no restaurants nearby.
Child-friendly Travel Tips Abroad : Creating an Ideal Itinerary
We’ve been on 100s of trips abroad with our little girls, and this is our ‘go-to itinerary’ that we’ve found is the best way of how to travel internationally with kids:
Morning: Breakfast then an Outing (Usually, this outing is more for the parents such as visiting a museum or temple).
Lunch: then Downtime Hopefully, at the hotel, but sometimes it’s on a long bus ride to the next outing or simply finding a chill cafe to just let the girls watch YouTube for an hour.
Afternoon: Do an Outing that the kids are most excited about so they have something to look forward to all morning. This might be a bicycle tour through rice fields or boat ride down the river or a local park with a playground.
Dinner: then dessert for our fam! It is vacay after all 🙂
- When traveling with kids, it’s best to plan for downtime. Kids get tired more quickly than us parents, so it’s good to take breaks as needed. They might be hot, hangry, or jet-lagged. So be sure to watch for those clues to avoid a full out melt-down! Sometimes a pit stop at a local Gelateria or ice cream shop is just the trick to get everyone perky again.
Hey there, we’re Brittany and Witt!
An American-Thai couple with 3 little girls, who have been based in Thailand for 16 years. We’ve enjoyed traveling all over the world, and we love sharing those experiences with you — both the good and the bad! We hope these free Travel Guides, Itineraries, and Travel Tips are helpful as you set off on your own wanderlust adventure!
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With 21 years of traveling around the world and a degree in event planning, let me use all that experience to help you plan a stress-free and unforgettable vacation abroad!
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