Preparing for Your First Trip Abroad!

It’s always exciting to travel and get out of your own comfort zone. Many Americans make the summer trip or two, preferably to those warmer temperatures that the highly popularized Florida and California offer.  Although traveling within the United States is a great way to explore the beauty that this country has, traveling overseas can offer a whole new set of experiences that forces you to dive into a completely different perspective than you are used to.  That is exactly what I looked forward to doing on my first trip abroad to Italy!  In order to prepare, I went through a few list of “to-do’s” to help me get the most out of this first experience.

 1: Save Money!!

This one is quite obvious, but probably the most important. Traveling abroad doesn’t have to cost a ton of money (and shouldn’t if you are hoping to make it a permanent part of your life), but it is always helpful to set aside a certain amount of money for your trip abroad.  I like to create a separate bank account exclusively for travel.  I set up an automatic monthly direct deposit into the account so that funds are automatically deposited into the account without me ever seeing it; this lessens the urge of keeping the money or spending it on something frivolous.  I like to put in maybe somewhere around $150-$300 a month into that account, though you should decide how much to place into the account based on your personal preferences.  But the important thing is—SAVE!

 2:  Plan for What You are Doing

This is probably going to be the most time consuming part, but also one of the most fun. You get to organize and plan things that you will do when you get there.  For me, I think the best way to explore a new area and get a full experience is to plan the events yourself and leave ample time to explore on your own.  For my first trip abroad, I planed on staying in Rome for about a week or so.  In this time, my brother and I (who travelled with me) planned on taking part in some of the day tours that the city has to offer, and then have the rest of the day to explore the rest of the city ourselves as the locals do. Doing this will help you to get the full experience of what that country has to offer beyond the generic tourist areas.

 3: Buy Your Ticket and Plan Where You are Staying

Buying the ticket and planning where you are staying will probably take up most of your funding for your travel, so handling that early on is a good idea.  Also, if you are having doubts about traveling abroad or if you are developing any types of fears, just buying the ticket will surely get you ready for the trip.  After the ticket, it is also important to plan where you are staying. Hotels are what first comes to mind when people are traveling, but there are plenty of other more affordable options to consider.  Hostels, Airbnb, and CouchSurfing are all viable options to consider, and way cheaper.  We used Airbnb for the first time and looked forward to the cultural immersion we would experience (although my brother was initially against this idea, he was looking forward to seeing what this option had to offer)

 4: Get Excited!!

With all of the annoying things out of the way, here comes the best part….getting excited! Anticipating things, at least for me, is one of the best parts of traveling.  It’s like they say, the journey is more important than the destination.  So, everything you do between now and when that plane leaves for your destination—such as studying up on the culture via online blogs or YouTube, trying your hand at the local language, or looking at countless pictures of that spot you want to hit up during your vacation—will make your experience that much sweeter.

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