Seven Ways to Prepare Yourself for Sticky Situations While You’re Abroad

When you plan a trip overseas, you want everything to go perfectly. You imagine yourself sipping on coffee in a café, sleeping in a quaint bed and breakfast, and seeing unbelievable sites half a world away.

There’s no reason why you can’t have all these positive experiences and more, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that everything is going to go perfectly when you travel abroad.

Chances are, something is going to go wrong at least once. You want to make sure one sticky situation doesn’t ruin your entire vacation.

Here are seven ways you can prepare for possible problems so they don’t catch you unawares while you’re in another country.

Research Rules, Laws, and Regulations at Your Destination

Before you leave home, take some time to research rules, laws, and regulations at your destination so you don’t find yourself breaking the law when you didn’t even know it existed.

For example, you could find yourself in trouble if you’re dressed immodestly in Qatar, or you make an obscene gesture in a bar that isn’t considered obscene back home.

You may also want to prepare for potential problems by researching attorneys you can call in the case of an emergency. In Houston Texas, Brian White has achieved large settlements and trial verdicts on behalf of injured persons.” He might be someone you want to have programmed into your phone if you’re taking an adventure vacation and expect to do slightly dangerous activities, like skydiving, mountain biking, or white water rafting.

Make Sure Someone Back Home Knows Exactly Where You Are

You have to be careful announcing where you are when you’re away from home. Using social media platforms, like Facebook, to show friends and loved ones where you also mean that people with bad intentions know you aren’t home. It’s best to wait to post about your travels until you have returned home.

That doesn’t mean someone at home shouldn’t know where you are! Should you be kidnapped, get lost, or find yourself in jail, it’s important that someone at home knows where to start looking for you.

Staying in contact through phone calls, texts, and emails can work well, as can using phone tracker apps.

Always Carry a Little Extra Cash

Just because you’ve gotten used to using plastic for every purchase back home doesn’t mean you can do the same abroad. It isn’t all that uncommon to discover that a cab driver only accepts cash or that the card reader can’t read your particular card.

It’s always a good idea to have a little extra cash on hand. That way, if you find out that little café doesn’t accept credit or you’re having trouble using your card to buy a train ticket, you’ve still got the money without having to hunt down an ATM first.

Carrying cash can also keep your finances safer than carrying around plastic. If your money gets lost or stolen, it’s going to stink, but at least you won’t have to deal with fraudulent charges or a suspended account.

Consider Travel Insurance

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go the way you planned while you’re on vacation. You might find that you get sick and have to leave early, or there may be a family emergency that requires you to get on the next flight back home.

Without travel insurance, you’ll likely be out of the money that you spent on your vacation ahead of time, even if you aren’t going to be taking those flights or staying in those hotels. Travel insurance can help you get back home and save money so you have the funds to finish your vacation some other time.

Know-How You’re Going to Communicate With the Locals

Immersing yourself in a new culture can be invigorating. It can also be scary. When you’re surrounded by winding roads and street names that don’t look familiar, it’s easy to get lost. If you don’t know the local language, it can be nearly impossible to find your way.

If you’re staying in a country where residents speak another language, it’s important to think about how you’re going to communicate. Learn certain phrases in the local language, like where to find a bathroom or where to find the street that your hotel is located on, but translation apps can be very helpful too. All you have to do is type or speak what you want to say and they can translate it into another language that one of the locals will understand.

Hide Your Valuables

Tourists often stick out like a sore thumb, especially in foreign countries where you don’t look or dress like the locals. Pickpockets and theft are common, which is why it’s a good idea to know how you’re going to hide your valuables while you’re out and about.

A few ideas include:

• Wear a money belt under your clothes
• Carry a backpack with a hidden zipper
• Carry a wallet in a front pocket instead of a back pocket
• Use accessories with hidden compartments, like cell phone cases and flip flops

Build-in Extra Days Into Your Vacation

No matter how perfectly planned your schedule, something is bound to go wrong. Whether it’s a delayed flight or a missed train, you could find yourself having to rethink your entire vacation.

Save yourself the hassle and build extra days into your vacation. With an extra day, a delayed flight won’t mean you miss your cruise and an extra day can enable you to stay longer at a location you fall in love with.

In the instance that everything goes exactly according to plan, having a few extra days means you have plenty of time to recharge before you have to go back to work!

Traveling abroad can be exciting, but it can also be scary. Don’t let a sticky situation ruin your trip! Plan ahead with these tips and you can ensure that you’re prepared to deal with any trouble that comes your way.