Vacationing abroad creates lasting memories and opens our eyes to new cultures, breathtaking landscapes, and new perspectives. However, it also includes a considerable amount of preparation, and even if you live close to your destination, there are still plenty of pre-holiday hurdles to overcome.

Simply stepping away from your routine for a few weeks can be quite a challenge on its own. Then there’s insurance, accommodation, transportation, and a whole host of other decisions that need to be made before you can even start picturing the waves crashing against the beach or that first meal in a beautiful square.

With that in mind, here are some easy tips and key things to remember before heading off on your trip.  

Get your devices and gadgets ready for your trip.

Having easy access to the internet and digital tools like GPS can make travel significantly less stressful. Yet, all too often travelers fail to come prepared. For instance, phone chargers and adapters to make them work with the outlets in your destination country are consistently among the items most often forgotten, forcing vacationers to either get by without their mobile phone or purchase new chargers.

Your mobile phone, when charged, can help you translate basic phrases, research tourist hotspots, and, importantly, guide you around bustling cities and crowded streets. To that end, try to download any city maps to use offline before you leave as this will help you save data.

Back home, make sure all electrical appliances are unplugged. This will not only save you money while on vacation but will also help to reduce holiday anxiety about some kind of electrical malfunction while you’re enjoying your hard-earned break.

Double check all of your travel information and documents.

While modern technology can help out in a pinch, doing as much as you can to prepare for your trip ahead of time can still help save you from last-minute stress. For instance, make sure you know which airport terminal you’re flying from, and print all your boarding passes in advance to avoid any frustrating situations at your departure gate.

You should also check to be sure that you have all the necessary visas for your trip. This is not always straightforward, as each country has its own agreements with other nations. For example, many visitors traveling to Europe often don’t realize that there are different immigration rules for visiting the United Kingdom because, despite being part of the European continent, the country is not a part of the Schengen area visa agreement.

Buy tickets for the main tourist attractions in advance.

From Machu Pichu in Peru to the Forbidden City in Beijing, many tourist attractions and national parks have daily limits in place to avoid overcrowding. While it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly when you would like to see the biggest tourist attractions when organizing your trip abroad, it is better to plan ahead than to miss out altogether. You don’t want to go to all the effort of traveling to the destination only to find that you’ll need to wait until October to see the most iconic sites.

Tell people that you’re on vacation.

While vacations are often rejuvenating, you may dread returning to the daily grind. Here, a little bit of preparation can also help you avoid the worst post-vacation headaches. One of the key things to do before traveling is set your email to an automated vacation response to let colleagues and contacts know when they should expect to hear back from you. Likewise, get in touch with your bank and inform them that you will be away and therefore will likely have unusual spending patterns. Try also to make sure that any bills for that month have been paid to avoid any late fees or lengthy telephone calls during your time off.

If you decide to post pictures of or talk about your trip on social media, consider waiting until you return. Social media platforms can be a treasure trove of information for thieves and scammers to target potential victims.

Pick up local currency.

Whether it’s for bus fares, accommodation, ice cream or souvenirs, cash is a safe bet for purchases of all kinds while traveling. Depending on where you’re traveling to, cash could also be the preferred method of payment for locals, who may not frequently use cards or mobile payments. Even if modern mobile and card payment infrastructure is in place, cash provides you with crucial backup payment option should you encounter any issues.

To support your all-important local currency needs, Ria offers a competitive exchange rate, a broad range of currencies and a seamless currency exchange customer experience across ten countries*. Are you traveling to or from Europe? Use our locations feature to find the most convenient Ria Store for your trip.

*Available in: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

For more info: comms@riamoneytransfer.com