TRAVEL TIPS

Unfortunately, some of these I have learned the hard way.

PHOTOCOPY  OR  SCAN  IMAGES OF  CREDIT  CARDS,  PASSPORTS,  ETC.

The easiest thing to do is use a Smart Phone or Tablet to take photos of all your important documents then upload then a cloud service - Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.  Be sure to also photocopy the back of the card.  The back of the card will have the International (non-1-800 number) to call in case you lose or have your cards stolen internationally.  

If there are country specific Visa's in your passport be sure to include a photo of those pages as well.  

PHOTOCOPY  RECEIPTS  OF  EXPENSIVE ITEMS YOU ARE LIKELY TO TAKE ON VACATION

You should also get in the habit of photocopy or asking for an electronic receipt for any major electronic - phone, camera, video recorder - item you plan to take on vacation.  If you are mugged or an item is stolen, filing an insurance claim (which you should purchase if you are traveling internationally) is straight forward and easy...IF YOU HAVE THE RECEIPT.

ADD  MINUTES  TO  SKYPE (OR OTHER MEANS OF DIALING CUSTOMER SERVICE)

There are various services that work great to keep in touch with others while you are traveling...however, that's predicated upon the person you contacting having the same service or app.  If you need to contact someone in the U.S., whether its customer service or your grandmother, you'll need another form of service.  I keep a $10 balance on Skype I can use to dial U.S. land lines.

THREE TIPS  FOR  TRAVELING  AROUND  THE  WORLD

There is a plethora of information available if you are planning an around the world trip.  Everyone who was undertaken this adventure shares their advice and lessons learned.  I will keep my info short and practical.
  • Pack Light.  You do not need more than a 40L backpack and a 20L day pack.  This reality will set in about two weeks into your travels when you realize you are constantly grabbing and using the same things and you never touch half of the other items you thought you needed.  In addition to lightening your load, packing light gives you greater flexibility in moving around locations and across countries.  Trains and buses have limited storage.  Airlines charge higher fees for heavier baggage.
  • Credit and ATM Cards with no international fees.  It's easy to find credit cards with no international fees - I think most, if not all, Capital One cards are fee-free, there are a few others as well.  In addition to no-fees, using credit cards also helps you receive better FX conversion rates and protects you from theft and fraud.  No fee ATM cards are a bit harder to find, but still worth the effort.  Capital One 360 (formerly ING) has an ATM card that links to your credit cards and another option is Charles Schwab.  ATM fees are brutal - at $3 - $5 per withdrawal you could easily spend $150 a year on accessing your money...not including the local branch fees.
  • Document and backup as you go.  As soon as you board your departing flight start typing / writing.  Before long you will have a ton of your experiences documented and you will see the value of tracking your trip.  I backed up photos every night - on a multi week/month trip, it would be an insurmountable task to try and do this on the backend.  I would document and backup to a cloud service - if anything is stolen your writing and photos are still accessible.  If you are going to create a website, I would have the "skeleton" / outline of the website built before you start traveling.