My #1 International Travel Packing List rule is PACK LIGHT.

You will be very unhappy carrying 40+ pounds of stuff.  I’ve seen couples walking through airports with a massive 80 liter backpack on their back, with hiking boots and rolled up sleeping mats dangling off the top, AND another bursting-at-the-seams 30 liter backpack strapped to their chest.  They look very sad and confused.  It doesn’t have to be that way!

I recommend limiting yourself to a backpack of 45 liters or less, with a small, foldable 10-18 liter daypack, and a maximum of 25 pounds of total weight.  I recently traveled comfortably for five months, through all types of weather, with 22 pounds of stuff.  Every year I take less and less.  This International Travel Packing List will help you minimize and comfort-ize.

Think carefully about each item you pack.

Do you really like that shirt?  Have you used it often on past trips?  There is nothing more regret-inducing than re-packing your bag at the end of each stop, and seeing some heavy object that you still haven’t used.  It is a waste of your limited packing space, wasted physical effort to jam that thing in there, and wasted effort to drag it all over the world.

Weigh everything you plan to take.

This forces you to evaluate the “energy expenditure cost“ of bringing each item.  That extra pair of shoes are nice, but do you really NEED them?  Especially now that you know they weigh 2.3 pounds?   The 22 pound international travel packing list below had to get me through 95 degree afternoons in summertime Africa, as well as 25 degree mornings in wintertime Germany.  I had to have clothes for European coffee shops, and for days on Madagascar beaches.  I needed to survive a 46 hour journey from Hawaii to Addis Ababa, and a 16 hour day on Mozambican buses.

Take the international travel packing list “Proper Packing Test”.

Put all your gear in your backpack. It should fit with a little room for a few more things (that you’ll want to buy on your trip).  Now put the backpack on, click the waist-belt shut, cinch the shoulder straps.  Put your choice of walking shoes on.  Go walk around your town…at noon…for two hours.

How do you feel?  You should feel hot and tired, but not in pain.  Your back should not be hurting, your shoulders should not be chafed.  If you feel just plain tired, you have achieved success.  If it was absolutely miserable, then it’s time to re-evaluate.  Backpack a bad fit? Too much weight? Find the answer BEFORE your trip. You can replace a lot of stuff on the road, but there is no REI in Lesotho.

Travel is not a fashion show.

Unless you are Insta-famous and making big bucks from your Taj Mahal photo-shoots, it’s just not practical or necessary to lug around piles of clothes.  You need to become comfortable with wearing the same clothes.   Besides, if you are moving to new locations every three or four days, no one at that location will get to see any more than your three core outfits.  So pick three outfits you really like, and be prepared to do some hotel sink/shower washing every three days.

I highly recommend investing in some merino wool.  Merino wool is a magical fiber that really, truly does not stink.  You can wear a merino shirt for three days and it will not smell.  YOU might smell, but the shirt will not.

On your international travel packing list, there are some things you CANNOT forget and must not lose:

These would be: your passport, 2 ATM cards, 2 credit cards, emergency cash stash, smartphone, and any critical uncommon medications.  These items must be secure at ALL times.  They should never be tucked away in the bottom of your backpack.  When you are moving between locations, they should be kept securely ON YOUR BODY, in a zipped pocket, or in a well hidden travel wallet.

Additionally, these things should be duplicated, and placed in separate locations.  Location A has one ATM card, one credit card, half your cash, and your passport. Location B has one ATM card, one credit card, half your cash, your cell phone, and a laminated photocopy of your passport.  For more on this, read my post How to Access Your Money in Foreign Countries.

You should also have scanned copies of passport/atm/credit cards kept in your email inbox, or google docs, or anyplace you can easily retrieve from any computer.  Generally, you should leave the items in location A in your hotel when you are settled in a place.  Even in countries that legally require you to have your passport on you at all times, I would still leave it in the hotel, and keep the laminated copy with me.

How much do I need to spend on stuff for my trip?

The short answer is nearly nothing.  Almost everything on this international travel packing list are items you’ll already have.  You don’t need to buy special “travel-size” things. However, if you have a little money to spend there are some things that can really improve your travel experience.

Remember that you can buy just about anything you need on the road.  Surprisingly, people wear clothes pretty much everywhere.  In fact, they wear interesting, different clothes, which you’ll want to buy.   So leave some space in your bag.  And every place on earth has cell phones. That charging cord you lost?   You can buy a new one in Uganda.  If you didn’t bring the correct electric plug converter for Myanmar, I guarantee you can pick one up in the local market for a couple bucks.  Prescription antibiotics can be purchased over the counter in most countries, and for much cheaper than in the USA.  SIM cards, camera memory cards, earbuds, all that stuff is available wherever you are going, probably for cheaper than at home.

Why should you trust me?

• I chose the stuff on my International Travel Packing List by searching trusted review sites like The Wirecutter, Outdoor Gear Lab, and others.  I’ve spent hours and hours choosing the BEST item for my personal international travel packing list. I have learned through trial and error.  I’ve lost money through many pairs of uncomfortable shoes, and wedgie-producing underwear.
• I paid my own hard-earned cash for all of these things and I use them on every trip I take.  That includes a five month around-the-world trip in 2017/2018 through freezing temperatures in wintertime Europe, scorching heat in summertime Africa, through 40 countries, and dozens of airports, buses, trains, vans, taxis, bicycles, and one camel.  I used every item on the list, and I’ve ONLY listed items that YOU will be glad to have with you.
• I have not been paid to endorse, nor been provided, any product by any of these companies.

The Ultimate International Travel Packing List:

The Stuff I ALWAYS Pack:

CHECK ON AMAZON At 56 ounces, the Osprey Farpoint 55 Travel Backpack is my top choice for a travel backpack today.  (Full Disclaimer – I’m currently using an old no-longer-available REI Ruckpack 40L, but when it dies, this is my pick)  My factors in choosing a backpack are – airplane carry-on-ability, durability, weight, comfort, price.  This one ticks all the boxes for me. It is durable enough to last years of travel without a single rip. It’s comfortable and light enough that you could walk 10 miles with all your stuff in it.  It’s really only 40 liters, with a detachable 15 liter day pack, which is all the space you need.

It meets US carry-on baggage requirements.  This is critical as it allows me the flexibility I need to change itineraries, drop segments, accept bump vouchers, avoid bag fees.  Is it possible to travel with a rolling suitcase?  Yes, but only if you are limiting your travel to first world countries, and mostly in cities.  A rolling suitcase is going to be a real bummer the first time you have to walk a mile down a dirt road or broken sidewalk to get to your hostel from the bus station.

CHECK ON AMAZON  40oz The ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3 is the smallest, lightest laptop I can find that does everything I need it to do.  (Full Disclaimer – I’m currently using an older ASUS Flip C302A, but when it dies, this is my pick) It weighs only 2.51 pounds, and fits easily into my Atom day pack. I can manage Worldwide Wilbur through the WordPress site, watch Netflix, and quickly and responsively surf the web even with 30 tabs open at once. It has a 360 degree hinge, a back-lit keyboard, and a full aluminum case. It is a Wirecutter pick for Best Chromebook and Best Laptop Under $500. In their testing, they found it to have a brighter screen, more responsive trackpad, and a more comfortable keyboard than its competitors. It’s battery also lasted over 8 hours under heavy use.  I love this little Chromebook!

CHECK ON AMAZON 17.2oz Osprey Daylite 15 Liter Day pack.  (this is effectively the attached 15L day pack that comes with the Farpoint combo pack.  Now that I lug a laptop with me, I decided to upgrade from a squishy cheap day pack.  The Osprey Daylite feels light and comfortable, yet bulletproof with a durable water repellent exterior.  It has a side-entry zipper located by the padded back panel to inconspicuously hold a 13″ laptop.   I especially like this, as I can lug my laptop while still looking like a broke backpacker.  On the front of the pack, a long zip-closing stash pocket keeps small important items handy.  The shoulder straps and back padding are much more substantial and comfortable than the average day pack.

CHECK ON AMAZON 11.1oz   The Tribit StormBox Micro 2 Portable Speaker is the best small, light, yet powerful Bluetooth speaker. It pumps out 90 decibels and weighs only 11 ounces.  There is no speaker lighter or smaller with as big of a quality sound. I love having music wherever I am, and this is the top choice for portability versus volume.  It’s water resistant, can be paired with another one for stereo sound, charges quickly with a USB-C input, and has a 12 hour long battery life.   It has a strap to attach it to a bike or belt loop, or tree branch.  It has a huge 120 foot Bluetooth range, so you can walk away from it with your phone in your pocket and it keeps going.

CHECK ON AMAZON 9.5oz  The PackTowl Personal Quick Dry Microfiber Towel is the fastest drying, most absorbent lightweight travel towel made.  I love this towel.  With it, I can jump in the ocean anytime, anywhere.  I can turn a bathroom sink into a full shower. I get the largest size (Beach 36″ x 59″), as even that size folds small enough to pack easily in the zip bag the comes with it.  It can be used as an extra blanket, or folded up as a pillow. It doesn’t smell bad when wet, and dries very quickly. There is an even lighter version called the Ultralight, but it isn’t as absorbent.

CHECK ON AMAZON 8.5oz (including case)  Google Pixel 7 – 5G 128 GB Unlocked    Your smartphone is the most powerful travel tool ever created.  You need one to book flights, hotels, translate languages, convert currencies.  I switched from an iPhone to a Google Pixel.  I had two main reasons.  The Pixel takes the best pictures of any smartphone on the market, and I need to start taking better pics for the blog.  Secondly, I wanted to switch to Google Fi, the absolute best phone service for frequent international travel.   For more specifics, please check out my post on how to Get Cheap Mobile Phone Service Worldwide.  Also, you should always download an offline map of your destination onto your phone BEFORE you travel.  With Google Maps, you can download a local map, and then even with no cell service, you’ll be able to navigate a city with only your GPS signal.  I got this lifesaving trick from the helpful Backpacking Europe Packing List.

CHECK ON AMAZON 6.9oz (with two cords) The Nitecore NB 10000 Gen II Ultra-Slim Power Bank is my pick for best travel battery backup.  I used to carry a 20,000mAh battery bank that had twice the battery power, but was also twice as heavy and bulky.  It was great for recharging on plane flights and bus rides, but it had a major flaw.  Often I found myself heading out to walk around town all day and needing a battery backup, but not really able to fit it in my pants pocket.  The Nitecore easily fits in any pocket, right next to my phone.  A Pixel 7 can recharge 2.4 times at a blazing 20 watts through a USB-C cord.  I love this thing.  It is a huge upgrade in portability.

CHECK ON AMAZON 6.0oz The Zendure Passport III Universal Travel Adapter is by far the best travel adapter on the market today.  It has US/EU/AU/UK wall plugs.  It can charge up to six devices at once, at a combined 65 watt output.  It has four USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and one universal multi-prong power cord port.  If you have an old adapter with just USB-A ports, it’s time to upgrade to something like this that can charge your phone twice as fast.  I chose the bright blue version, since I already have lots of stuff that’s plain black or white floating around in my bag.

CHECK ON AMAZON 5.6oz Kindle (11th Generation)  I can’t carry 10 books along on my travels, but I can load thousands of books on this very easy to use device. It’s 6″ display is easy to read in bright sunlight, which is critical to me, as I like to read outdoors. You can even read in the pool as it is waterproof to 6 feet and up to an hour! It’s worth investing in one even if you don’t have time for pleasure reading, because all major travel guides are available in fully searchable e-book formats now. And did you know that Lonely Planet guides are available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers? The battery lasts up to six weeks, and fully charges in just two hours with a USB-C cable! It really has no competitors, other than battling with screen glare by reading a book on your phone or tablet for free. I chose this version over the Kindle Paperwhite as it is the smallest and lightest (and cheapest)!

CHECK ON AMAZON 4.3oz  Zero Grid Travel Security Belt.  I call this “The Magic Belt”.  I love it.  It is one of the most valuable items on my international travel checklist.  It is a great place to hide that $200 in emergency cash you need to carry.  I fear the day will come when I get robbed of everything, but at least I will still have cash thanks to this belt.  It also serves as extra walking around cash.  Many times I’ve been out on the town and down to my last dollar, when it was not convenient to go find an ATM, and I remembered “Hey!  I have $200 around my waist! Yay!” Then I just find a men’s room stall where I can inconspicuously remove my belt and pull a couple twenties out.  If you don’t like the casual nylon look of this belt, try the Leather Boss Leather Money Belt.

CHECK ON AMAZON 3.5oz Clear Travel Toiletry Bag I used to have a really nice super-lightweight toiletry bag with separate pockets and zippers and whatnot.  But TSA insists on seeing what liquids are in my bag, and I’m sick of sourcing a one liter zip-lock bag for that absurd security theater.  This bag is see-thru, and while it’s larger than one liter, I’ve never had it rejected by TSA.

CHECK ON AMAZON 3.3oz  Sea to Summit Lightweight Dry Sack 13 liter. You want this for a couple of purposes.  First, when you’ve just completed a muddy, rainy 5 hour hike, your clothes are disgusting, and you just have enough time to shower and change before you catch the bus to your next stop.  What do you do with those clothes? You need a waterproof bag to separate them from the rest of your belongings in your backpack. Second, let’s say you are on an all day rafting trip. You want to bring your phone, camera, a dry change of clothes, maybe a book. A dry bag is the only safe place for that.  I chose this one for its light weight and size.

CHECK ON AMAZON 2.3oz The Sea to Summit Ultra-SIL Compression Sack 10 Liter can squish your puffy jacket, fleece, and rain jacket all down to the size of a softball.  I put all my winter clothes in it when travelling in warm areas.  I put in my swimshorts/towel when in winter areas. The Sea to Summit version is as lightweight as it gets.  If you have a puffy jacket, you need one of these.

CHECK ON AMAZON 3.2oz Marathon Basics CL030010WH Simple Travel Alarm Clock. I like this simple, reliable little alarm clock. I sleep better knowing it will work. Somehow my phone alarm is unreliable, other app functions get in the way, volume controls, battery issues etc. This alarm has never failed.

CHECK ON AMAZON  2.6oz  The Black Diamond Spot 400-R Headlamp is the greatest travel headlamp you can buy.  It is bright at 400 lumens, light at 2.6oz, durable, waterproof, and can be charged by a Micro-USB.  Some of the world has no streetlights, and bad sidewalks.  You’ll want a headlamp.

CHECK ON AMAZON 1.4oz The Shacke Hidden Travel Belt Wallet w/RFID Blocker is where I store all my absolutely critical stuff on the international travel checklist. Passport, cash, credit cards all go in here. It hooks through a belt loop, and you tuck it inside your pants. The felt backing is comfortable against your skin. It has three pockets to separate things as needed. It is RFID blocking to protect your credit cards.  It works for me, but I recommend checking out all the options and picking out the perfect hidden travel money belt that fits you best.

CHECK ON AMAZON 1.4oz NecTeck Car Charger USB Adapter  You might rent a car where you’re going right?  Better bring this adapter.  It has a fast charging USB-C and an old school USB-A slot.

CHECK ON AMAZON 1oz The Nidra Sleep Mask is simply the most comfortable eye mask out there.  Way better than the one in your free airline care package.  A must have along with foam earplugs.

CHECK ON AMAZON 0.7oz  OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z2 Earphones.   I love my Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones, but they take up too much space.  I also can’t do the individual earbuds because one of them inevitably falls out of my ear into the depths of the plane seat while I’m sleeping and then is gone forever.  Get some nice connected earbuds.  These sound great, wont break the bank, and have a 30 hour(!!) battery life.

0.4oz Ink Pen.   Bring three pens.  You’ll need them to fill out customs forms at each new country.  Be the hero who has one to share with your fellow traveler.

CHECK ON AMAZON 0.2oz Carbon Fiber Money Clip  Lightweight packing means no thick leather wallet weighing you down.  When I walk around a sketchy Latin American city where I could get mugged (as I did in Quito, Ecuador) I want to be carrying only the minimum needed; a little cash and one or two ATM/credit cards.

0.1oz Small Paper Clip   This is actually a really important item.  You need one of these to pop open your phone to change out the sim card.  I once wasted an hour asking people to borrow one in Japan.

CHECK ON AMAZON 0.1oz the Flight Flap  This thing is brilliant.  You squeeze one end in between the tray table and the seat, and bend the bottom, and it holds your phone so you can watch that movie you downloaded onto Netflix.

CHECK ON AMAZON 0.1oz Macks Slim Fit Soft Foam Earplugs are a CRITICAL item in every backpack. They will get you through flight announcements, snoring hostel roommates, and blasting music videos on buses. In the hellhole of beeping car horns that is India, I wore them 10 hours a day. Bring a bunch. They disappear quickly.

Men’s clothing Packing List:

Guys, here are my tips on choosing clothes for long-term travel:

Pack lightweight clothes.  

Consider the weight of each item you pack.  Travel pants weigh half that of a pair of jeans.  Sturdy hiking boots can weigh as much as all your clothes combined!  Go light with every item.

Pack LESS clothes.

You don’t need more than two of anything (except underwear).  Pack only clothes that you REALLY like.  Don’t bring that shirt you don’t wear much, but you kinda think it might be good on a rainy day.  Nope, it will just sit in your bag and haunt you.  Bring that one shirt you think you looks really good on you, and wear it every damn day.  Also, be willing to do some sink scrubbing every three days.

Embrace Merino Wool.

I know $50 for a tshirt sounds crazy, but when you wear it you’ll see why it is worth it.  Super lightweight, cool, non-smelly, and saves you frequent trips to the laundromat.

Here is what I wear:

CHECK ON AMAZON 14.9oz Royal Robbins Alpine Road Pants  These are my go-to evening wear pants.  They are sooooooo comfortable.  Though technically “hiking pants”  they look like any normal dressy pants you’d wear to the office.  Especially in the darker colors like charcoal, no one will notice that these are made of a stretchy, lightweight, technical material.  I travel with two pairs of pants, one light colored for walking in the sun, and one darker, for looking presentable at dinner.  But, these pants would also be perfect for a long hike on a cloudy or rainy day as water just rolls off them.

CHECK ON AMAZON 13.0oz Saucony Kinvara running shoes in black.  These are my all around active shoes.  These super-lightweight running shoes are made for fast training sessions.  But they are sturdy enough for non-technical hikes, walking around town, and in the all black color, you might even get away with wearing them out to dinner.  I don’t think you can find a better combination of light weight, durability and support in a running shoe.

CHECK ON AMAZON 12.8oz The Marmot Reactor Jacket fleece in gray is a lightweight, breathable fleece that is form fitting, with two useful zippered pockets in front, and one on the chest. Its really comfortable, and is my go to chilly weather pull-on. I bring it on airplanes, and anywhere air conditioning can be turned a little low. When paired with my SmartWool sweater, my Ghost Whisperer down jacket, and my rain jacket, I have a layered fortress of warmth and dry that can tackle temps down to zero Fahrenheit.

CHECK ON AMAZON 12.2oz Outdoor Research Ferrosi Pants in Tapenade.  These pants are simply the lightest, most comfortable hiking pants around.  They are made of a thin material I can only compare to those 1980’s parachute pants with all the zippers.  Despite being so light and thin, they seem durable and sturdy, and look like normal pants not made for breakdancing.  I wear these throughout the daytime, and they stay cool in hot sun.

CHECK ON AMAZON 10.9oz Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic rain jacket.  This is the best deal in lightweight athletic rain jackets right now.  It’s stretchy, breathable for running and hiking, yet waterproof.  (Full disclosure- I’m currently getting by with an old North Face rain jacket that is no longer available.  I keep spraying it with water repellency chemicals, and it’s still working.  But when it fails, this is the jacket I would buy).

CHECK ON AMAZON 8.3oz The Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Down Jacket is truly the Rolls Royce of down jackets.  You will not believe that something that weighs 8.3 ounces, and stuffs to the size of a softball can keep you soooo warm.  It is a miraculous piece of equipment. This is my single favorite item in my backpack!  I love the look of it. It’s not cheap. But it is worth it. You have to try it on to believe how amazing it is. It is an Outdoor Gear Lab’s top pick, and the lightest down jacket currently made.

CHECK ON AMAZON 8.0oz Smartwool Intraknit Merino 200 Pattern Crew.  This medium thick long sleeve shirt/sweater is made of soft merino wool, and can be worn as a single layer during cool temperatures or a base layer in the cold. It is form fitting and soft against your skin. And the best part is that merino wool is a naturally antimicrobial fabric, which prevents accumulation of odor-causing bacteria. You can wear this for a week (as I did on Mt. Kilimanjaro) and it WILL NOT SMELL.

CHECK ON AMAZON 7.8oz Quiksilver Amphibian Hybrid Shorts.  I’m a big fan of Quiksilver products.  These shorts are comfy to wear around town, AND you can swim in them!  They are quick drying, lightweight, stylish.  What’s not to like.

CHECK ON AMAZON 6oz Wooly Clothing Merino Crew Neck Tee Shirt.  Merino Wool!  You gotta get this stuff.  This tee is light, cool, and does not collect odor.  You don’t need to wash this shirt more than once a month.  Just soak and lay flat to dry.  Wooly Clothing brand makes inexpensive (by Merino standards) shirts that fit well and look good.  These shirts will snag and wear out more quickly than some others, but at half the price.

CHECK ON AMAZON 6oz Wooly Clothing Merino Ultralight Polo Shirt.  This polo shirt is made out of an even lighter thinner wool than the Crew Neck Tee.  It’s soft and cool.  Saves me from doing laundry.  I like it.

CHECK ON AMAZON 3oz Wooly Clothing Merino Wool Ankle Air Socks.  These socks go well with my black Saucony Kinvaras and stay odor free for multiple days.

8.6oz  The Reef Phantom sandals just fit me best, and are very cushiony and light.  They don’t last all that long. They did survive two months of everyday wear in Africa.  Most long term travelers will prefer sturdier sandals like Chacos or Tevas.  A serious travel minimalist could do an entire warm weather trip with no other shoes but Tevas.  I prefer a casual, super lightweight, slip-on sandal like Reef.

3.3oz  Banana Republic boxers. I bring 5 pair of these plain old cotton/poly boxers.  They just fit me best. I have tried merino boxers and Ex Officio briefs, and they just don’t work for me.  Nothing special about these, undies are certainly a personal choice.

CHECK ON AMAZON 1.6oz Two pair of Smartwool Womens Everyday Spruce Street Crew Socks. By now, you’ve figured out that I really, really like merino wool. Doing laundry is a time consuming task when traveling. With merino wool, I can triple the days I can go in between doing laundry. And these socks are my go-to dressy evening socks.  I’m not sure why these are considered women’s socks.  I think they are plenty manly enough for me.

International Travel Packing List – Toiletries / Medical Packing List:

This is the stuff that gets jammed into my see-thru bag.  Most toiletries can be replaced on the road.  Some of the medicines are actually much cheaper and easier to buy abroad than in the USA’s bloated medical system.  If you need very specific medication, be sure to bring it with you.

• Toothbrush (cut in half to save room) 
• Travel size Toothpaste
• Dental Floss
• Hairbrush
• 3.4oz sunscreen tube (expensive to buy in places with no indigenous pale people!)
• Carmex lip balm
• Travel size Deodorant stick
• Solid Cologne (for when deoderant just isn’t enough)
• Razor with replacement blades
• 3.4oz Shaving gel
• Macks Slim Fit Soft Foam Earplugs
• Ibuprofen (great for swelling, and my nightime pain reliever)
• Excedrin (my morning pain reliever as it has caffeine.  The best hangover cure on Earth)
• Eyedrops (for dry eyes)
• Antibacterial wipes (to clean cuts and scrapes)
• Antibacterial gel (to put on cuts before applying a bandaid)
• Bandaids
• Tweezers
• Mosquito repellent (at least 40% deet)
• Hydrocortisone cream (for allergic skin reactions, poison ivy)
• Cough Drops
• Azithromyacin Z-PAC (this is the universal tool of the antibiotic world.  It cures  traveller’s diarrhoea, as well as killing multiple bacterial infections.  You can get it over-the-counter nearly everywhere outside the US.  Keep at least 4x250mg tablets on hand. It could save your life.)
• Malaria pills (if needed for your destination.  These are NOT cheaper to get abroad.  You defenitely want to get these before you go.)

International Travel Packing List – Documents:

I keep all of this inside my Shacke Hidden Travel Belt Wallet w/RFID Blocker.

Passport with at least 6 months validity and no ripped pages or damage (confirm this before you fly)

Two laminated color copies of your passport (to carry with you everyday, and show to corrupt police, instead of your actual passport)

Yellow Fever proof of vaccination (Some countries won’t let you in with out this yellow card)

Two Debit/ATM Cards (in case one gets lost/stolen/ has banking account issues) For more on this, read my post How to Access Your Money in Foreign Countries.

Two Credit Cards that get you travel rewards (in case one gets lost/stolen/shut off) See my post: Free Flights Worldwide in Nine Steps to choose the best card for you.

At least $200 cash in US Dollars or Euros

US Drivers license (in case you might rent a car)

International Drivers License (This is required to rent a car in most countries that do not use the Latin Alphabet, and you can get this by mail from AAA for just $20)

Ten passport photos for visas-on-arrival (these are becoming less needed as countries switch to e-visas)

I keep this stuff printed out with a paper clip:

Flight itinerary both into and out of the country (some airports won’t even let you in the door without proof of a booked flight, and some countries won’t let you on the plane without proof of an exit flight booking!  I once had to book a one-way flight out of South Africa on the spot at check-in to avoid being denied boarding.)

Booking of your first hotel/hostel (even if it’s fake.  Some countries won’t let you in without proof of lodging.)

World Nomads Travel Insurance policy info (If you can’t afford Travel Insurance, you can’t afford to travel!)

Digital Packing List:

There are some things you need to have “packed” digitally in the cloud.  You need to be able to access these items even if every physical object you have is gone.  Keep these in your Google Docs, or email account, or anywhere you could access from an internet-connected device.

Picture of your passport ID page (to get a replacement if lost, and to be able to fill out forms with your passport info even if it is not on your person)

Pictures of each current/future visa (in case passport is lost)

Picture of all your credit and debit cards, front and back (if you lose them, you’ll know the numbers, and who to call.)

A time-stamped photo of your bag and all of its contents (If anything is stolen, you’ll have proof of ownership for your World Nomads Travel Insurance)

A picture of any prescriptions for critical medication (to get refills, though most meds are available without a prescription outside the US)

Things that do NOT make it onto my international travel packing list:

• Several pairs of shorts. – Quite simply, grown men do not wear shorts in most of the world.  Even when it is 90 degrees out, adult males do not wear shorts in pretty much all of Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia.  If you want people to laugh at you behind your back, wear your Gap cargo shorts across Africa.  You could even be arrested for wearing shorts in some muslim countries.
• Zipoff pants. – The look stupid as pants.  They look stupid as shorts.  You wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them at home.  That’s a false economy of utility for me.
• Packing cubes – If you need ways to organize your stuff into smaller bags of stuff, you brought too much stuff. 
• A DSLR camera.  I’m not a pro photographer.  My Pixel 3XL takes really good pics and I have it with me at all times.  A big camera is a flashing red light that screams “I am a tourist, and I have expensive things”  I like to be able to walk down any dusty dirt road and say hello to people, and look like I am carrying nothing of value.  Maybe I actually have the equivalent of 6 months wages for a Zambian in my pocket, but my sandals, t-shirt, and carefree smile says “broke backpacker”.
• An umbrella.  I find that rain is often accompanied by wind.  Wind is the enemy of the umbrella.  A good rain jacket like the Marmot Precip works much better then an umbrella, and is lighter and smaller.

When you are ready to book your trip, be sure to use the best booking sites:

Book Your Flight:

Find your flight using Momondo.com. It is the best airfare search engine, as it finds the cheapest flights, and will find ALL the flights. (Here’s the proof.)

Book Your Accommodation:

Choose your lodging using Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Get Travel Insurance:

You can’t afford to travel without travel insurance.  Car accidents, illnesses, and theft do happen. It could save your life. I never travel without it. I use World Nomads.

THANKS FOR READING

Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you buy anything, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to stuff I use, love, and recommend.  I don’t accept bribes to endorse garbage. Your clicks help keep this site alive.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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A connected smartphone is the most valuable travel tool in your backpack.  You can use it to find your hotel with Google Maps, call an Uber, check-in for your flight.  But without a locally functional data plan, you won’t be able to do any of that the moment you land in a foreign country.  So what should you do?  The easy answer is; Google Fi has the best international phone plan.   But, there are several ways to use your phone abroad, so lets go over them from worst to best:

Terrible Option for the Best International Phone Plan:

You Do Nothing. You pay up to $4000 for 2GB of data!

Let’s say you don’t bother signing up for an “international plan” with your cell phone provider.  You own an expensive phone that you got from your provider for “free” and have a monthly payment plan, so it is “locked”.  “Locked” means that your provider (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon) effectively owns your phone, and it is impossible to put another providers SIM card in it and get it to work.  If you are in this situation, you are pretty much out of luck.  No cell service, no international plan, and no ability to pop in a local SIM card.  Even worse, you may get some signal bars on international roaming which will allow you to run up a massive bill that could amount to more than your entire vacation!

If this is your situation, your only recourse is to immediately put your phone in AIRPLANE MODE, and then enable WIFI.  This way you can at least use your phone on hotel wifi, with no chance of running up a bill.  Remember, cell phone apps constantly download data automatically in the background, even if you are not using it.  A phone left on, actively connected to cell towers, and untouched for a week, can still run up a big data bill.  Without a purchased global roaming plan, both Verizon and AT&T charge about $2 per minute for international calling from Europe, and $2 per MB of data!!  If you spent all day on your phone downloading movies, and uploading photos, it would be possible to run up a $2000 bill in just one day!  There are many better ways to get one of the best international phone plans.

Bad option for the Best International Phone Plan:

You own a LOCKED phone, and sign up for a major provider’s “Global Roaming Plan”.  Up to $300 for 2GB.

These rates will still be very high no matter which provider you use.  AT&T, Verizon, Sprint all have international plans you can sign up for.  With these plans you won’t have to pay crazy amounts, like $2 a megabyte, but the options are still terrible.  Both AT&T and Verizon offer a $10 a day global roaming plan, which allows you to use your normal data and voice plan abroad for an additional $10 each day you use anything.    When you include Sprint Global Roaming, all three plans compare as about the same price.  That means you are effectively paying $300 extra per month.  This is not the best international phone plan.

One exception is T-mobile’s ONE Plan which allows you to text and browse the web from most countries without roaming fees.  But it really only provides the bare minimum mobile internet access at deathly slow speeds of about 256kbps or 2G.  It is a great choice for travel to Mexico or Canada, as you’ll get the same unlimited data plans & calling service as you do in the US.  Outside North America, I would replace it with a local SIM as soon as possible.

A Mediocre Option for the Best International Phone Plan:

You own an UNLOCKED phone, and you purchase an “International SIM card”.  $40 for 2GB

This will allow you to use your mobile cell phone in many different countries.  The rates will vary country by country.  Be sure to verify that the country you are visiting is covered, and at a reasonable rate.  These companies buy up data/minutes from local cell service providers worldwide, and then charge you a premium to use them.

Here are some of the most popular, ranked by how much they charge for a SIM with 2 gigabytes of data;

• WorldSim $33.75
• GoSim $35 to $178 depending on the country
• GigSky  $39.99 but good for only 15 days

In my view, worldwide sim cards are a bad deal.  You still have to go through the hassle of ordering it and activating it, just like you would getting a SIM in-country.  And yet, they are more expensive than a local in-country SIM.

*** ROADBLOCK ALERT FOR USA TRAVELERS***:  There are two main types of cellular data networks in the world; CDMA and GSM.  In the US, Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular use CDMA.  AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.  Pretty much the entire rest of the world uses GSM.  Some phones can connect to both networks.  So what does this mean for you?  If you purchased your phone directly from Sprint, Verizon, or US Cellular; there is a high possibility that it is CDMA ONLY.  This means that your phone is a useless brick everywhere else on Earth. Seriously.  Even if your CDMA phone is “unlocked”, it can’t connect to a GSM network.  If you have such a phone, and plan to start traveling, it’s time for a new phone.

Cheapest Option for the Best International Phone Plan:

Buy a local SIM card on arrival.  $5 to $20 for 2GB.

The cheapest way to communicate and get mobile internet access abroad is usually buying a local SIM card.  You cannot do that if your phone is locked, so pay off that new iPhone ASAP!

You want to buy a local sim card as soon as possible upon arriving in a new country.  Often there are kiosks in airport arrivals terminals. You pick out a pre-paid plan that works for you, and the agent will put the sim in your phone and activate it on the spot.  Now you can walk out of the airport with access to all the critical things you need like hailing an Uber, and Google Maps to find your hostel.  

You might be shocked at how cheap and easy these local SIM plans can be. I have paid as little as a dollar a day for data plans in some African countries.   You may have to provide a copy of your passport and fill out some forms.   Many countries want to know who has what phone number in order to track and stop terrorism.  Some simply want to be able to spy on their own population.

Besides being the cheapest way to access data, with a local sim card, you get a local telephone number.  This is really important if you want to receive calls.  With a worldwide SIM or an International Plan, you’ll be able to call people.   However, in a developing country cell phone minutes are precious.  Nobody is going to call you back if you have a foreign phone number.

If you run out of minutes or data, you can usually top-up by purchasing extra data on little scratch-off-code tickets at convenience stores.  And before you start buying SIM cards, make sure you are using a credit card that gets you maximum bonus miles.  To learn how, check out my page: Nine Steps to Flying Free Worldwide

The Best International Phone Plan:

Sign up for Google Fi.  $20 or less for 2GB in 164 Countries!

I highly recommend that anyone planning to do a large amount of international travelling switch their service provider to Google Fi.  With Google Fi, you don’t have to sign up for a pricey “International Plan”. And you don’t get worthless 2G data speeds internationally like T-Mobile’s “One”, you get data at whatever the top speed the local cell towers can offer, which is always at least 3G, and usually 4G.  

It offers two plans;  With UNLIMITED data plan you get unlimited data use, in 164 countries, as well as unlimited voice and texting for just $70 a month, plus taxes. After 22GB of data use, your data is slowed, but who uses 22GB a month??  You also get Google One membership with 100GB of storage in the cloud.

With the FLEXIBLE plan, you pay $20 a month plus taxes, and $10 per GB of data used, with data above 6GB FREE.  Basically, if you go over 6GB a month, your bill is $80 plus taxes, and you would have been better off choosing UNLIMITED.  For people who are always under 6GB a month FLEXIBLE is the right option.

With both cell phone plans, you CAN also use your phone as a hotspot tether.  There is NO contract, you can cancel at the end of every month.    And you don’t get worthless 2G data speeds internationally like T-Mobile’s “One”, you get data at whatever the top speed the local cell towers can offer, which is always at least 3G, and usually 4G-LTE.   International voice calling rates are reasonable too, usually not more than 21 cents a minute, and free over wi-fi.  And if you are looking for a family cell phone plan, the more phones you add to your account, the cheaper it gets per phone.

I was with AT&T for years, but their international cell phone plan is massively overpriced, so I switched to T-Mobile.  I had heard T-Mobile had “free” data in 200 countries.  Well, that’s technically true, but its 2G data.  Does anyone even know what 2G is anymore?  Well, let me tell you, it’s like using that AOL dial-up CD your dad got in the mail in 1993.  Not much fun.  I spent 20 minutes trying to upload one picture to Facebook in Belize.  This year I switched to Fi, and it has made traveling so much easier.  I used to have to scramble to buy a new SIM card in the airport of every new country.  Now I just use my phone normally.

At home in the U.S., Google Fi uses the cell towers of both T-Mobile and Sprint, switching between whichever has the best signal, so you have more cell coverage than just about anyone else.  I have a Pixel 3XL, which is built specifically to use Fi, but most Android and iPhones also work with Fi.  If you sign up through my referral HERE, you’ll get $20 off your first bill, and I’ll get $20 off my next bill. Everybody wins!

App Alternatives to “Calling Home”

There is no longer any need to have “minutes” on your mobile phone plan with the many apps available.  You can easily circumvent traditional cellular calling when overseas using one of these:

Skype

Skype remains the most popular video chat and voice app.   You don’t need the person you’re connecting with to be on Skype as well.  With affordable Skype credits, you can call any regular phone number.   This may be the best way to keep in touch with grandma.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a household name all over the world.  It has completely replaced “texting” in countries where MMS messages are charged by the message.   And it has video-chat just like Skype.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook bought WhatsApp and incorporated the technology into Facebook Messenger.  It does most of the same things.

Facetime

If you have an iPhone, you can video chat anyone else on an iPhone for free over wifi.

THANKS FOR READING

Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you buy anything, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to stuff I use, love, and recommend.  I don’t accept bribes to endorse garbage. Your clicks help keep this site alive.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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“The Best Travel Sites to Save You Money” gives you a quick list of the single best websites to book the cheapest flights, the best hotels, and awesome tours.

Friends who know my crazy travel lifestyle are always asking me,  “What travel sites do YOU use for flights, hotels, tours, etc.”  I finally decided I ought to put it all in one place.

There are soooooo many travel booking websites out there it’s easy to become overwhelmed with options.  I hope this simple list can cut through all the noise.   

Why trust me?  I’ve traveled (frugally) to over 100 countries on every continent but Antarctica.  I’ve ridden in Ubers in Kenya, and I’ve stayed at AirBnB’s in Ukraine.  I’ve spent nights at hotels through Booking.com in Djibouti, and driven around Iceland using RentalCars.com.  I’ve been on bike tours in Serbia with GetYourGuide, and found the meeting point using Google Fi phone service.   After years of trial and error, I keep coming back to just the following companies/websites:

Get the best credit card to earn travel rewards:

The best personal credit card to get travel rewards is the Chase Sapphire Preferred VISA.

Why?  To start off, it has a phenomenal sign-up bonus.  When you spend $4000 over the first three months, and pay the $95 annual fee, you’ll get 60,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points. Those points are worth $1200!   Ultimate Rewards are the universal multi-tool of travel reward points. You can transfer them at a 1-1 ratio to United Miles, Southwest Points or to 11 other travel partner airlines and hotel chains.

They can also be used like cash to book tickets with ANY airline at 1.25 cents per point.  I like this flexibility, because I don’t have miles on EVERY airline.  Sometimes I need to book a one-way flight on Air Serbia, and I can use Chase Ultimate Rewards.

You earn 2x points on any purchases related to travel or dining.  That’s a nice way to earn points quicker.  I mean, you do travel and eat, right?

You get primary rental car insurance when you use the card to book your rental car.  This means you can always decline the supplemental insurance, and Chase pays for the car if you wreck it!  This is a very valuable perk, and one that only a couple of credit cards offer.  It’s worth it to keep the Sapphire Preferred long term just for the peace of mind this provides.

You get trip delay / cancellation / interruption / baggage delay insurance.  You never know when this could come in handy.  I haven’t used it yet luckily.

It’s really the best personal travel rewards card out there.  If you sign up through my referral link here, you’ll get me a referral bonus too.  Mahalos!

The Best Travel Sites- Find the Cheapest Flights:

I generally get all my flights for free through credit card signup bonuses, so I’m seldom searching for flight deals.  Check out my post How to Fly for Free.

On the rare occasion that I can’t get where I want to go for free, I’ll check Momondo first. Momondo searches the budget airlines that some of the big search engines do not.   If that doesn’t work for me, I use Kayak.   Also, remember that Southwest Airlines refuses to let those sites sell their tickets, so if Southwest might be an option for you, you’ll have to search their website separately.

The Best Travel Sites – Find the best way to get around:

When I’m renting a car, I check two sites for the best deals, Rentalcars.com and Turo.

Rentalcars.com is the best international rental car booking site.  They are the world’s biggest car rental booking service, with local rental companies in 167 countries, and over 50,000 locations.  They generally match or beat any other booking engine’s prices.

If I’m not happy with the price of rental cars in a given city, maybe due to a shortage of cars, or high taxes, I’ll check out what is available on Turo.  Turo is sort of the AirBnB of cars.  People rent out their own personal cars.  I’ve had only good experiences with it so far.  One of the best was when I really needed a pickup truck to haul lumber to my cabin in Maine.  Rental car companies wanted $89 a day. I found a guy on Turo who rented me his truck for $30 a day!  

If I’m not renting a car, like in a big city where parking is outrageous, or in a developing country, where I don’t feel comfortable behind the wheel, my #1 go-to choice is Uber.  Uber is cheaper than taxis.  You don’t need cash or credit cards, just your phone.  It’s especially useful in developing countries where there might be a language barrier to explain where you want to go, or a hassle factor in getting ripped off by taxi drivers.  I have recently used Uber successfully in such places as Kenya, South Africa, Belarus and Ukraine.   If you’ve never used Uber, sign up for an account here, and you’ll get $5 off your first ride, and I’ll get $5 credit too.  Thanks!

The Best Travel Sites – Find the Best Deals on Hotel, Hostel, Apartment, and Home Rentals:

I use two sites when I am searching for lodging, Booking.com and AirBnB.

Booking.com is the best place to search for hotels and hostels.  This is the best site to find the cheapest deals, no matter where on Earth you are going.  There is no reason to use any other search site. Booking.com is by far the biggest, and it’s getting bigger and acquiring more companies each year.   You can find everything from thousand dollar Paris suites, to $10 a night guesthouses in Asia.  One great feature is that many of the properties offer free cancellation within a certain window.  If you are staying in popular destination, you can book a room way ahead of your trip, and then cancel later if plans change.

I also always check AirBnB to search for private home and apartment rentals.  I find myself choosing AirBnB’s over hotels more and more each year.  They are especially convenient when traveling with my family and needing 4 beds and more space then a hotel room.  AirBnB’s also seem to be proliferating in cities where hotels rooms are unreasonably expensive.   In a place like Iceland, tourism has exploded, and they can’t build new hotels fast enough.  But people are entrepreneurial, and AirBnB’s have filled the gaps.  Just be aware that not all AirBnB’s are created equal, so there are specific steps you should take to get the smoothest experience possible.  If you’ve never used it before, sign up for Airbnb here, and you’ll get $40 off your first stay, and I’ll get $20 too.  Everybody wins!

Pro Tip:  The reviews on Booking.com and AirBnB are all REAL reviews, by actual people who stayed at the property.  You can trust them.  TripAdvisor reviews are increasingly fabricated both positively and negatively by property owners…  And don’t even get me started on the corrupt business practices of Yelp.

The Best Travel Sites – Find the Best Tour Deals:

I only use one site when looking for tours in a new city: GetYourGuide

GetYourGuide is the best source to find tours at the best prices wherever you are going.  They are a tour consolidator, so they provide a one-stop-shop for booking with local tour companies.  You can read real reviews (not faked like on Tripadvisor) by people who actually purchased the tour. The tour prices are always the same lowest price, just as if you booked directly with the local tour company.  And you can cancel any tour more than 24 hours ahead of time for a full refund.  

I am mostly an independent traveler, and not interested in multi-day group bus tours, but I do love guided city walking tours, bike tours, and pub crawls. GetYourGuide is where I go to book those for every trip.

 Get the Best Travel Guidebooks:

My favorite travel guide depends on the destination. 

For most of Europe, I go with Rick Steves.  I really like the way he plans out an itinerary based on the number of days you have.  He cuts through the crap, and gives you honest opinions on what is worth seeing, and what is skip-able.  Rick has been doing the travel gig for over 40 years now, but he’s still got it.

For many of the off-the-beaten-path locations like Africa and parts of Asia, you can’t beat Bradt Guides.  They are really well researched, and cover history and culture extensively.  Bradt takes on countries where no one else is even attempting guidebooks.  They could just mail it in, and still make sales as the only game in town, but instead they put out an in-depth quality product.

If neither Rick Steves or a Bradt Guide are available for my travel destination, I choose Rough Guides.  They have great maps, are up-to-date, and are enjoyable to read.  Their guides seem to run about 50% larger than Lonely Planet for any given destination.  They put a lot of info and hard work into every guide, and I’m always happy to tear into one before my trip.

My 4th choice for a guidebook is Lonely Planet.  Their content has gone downhill for years, it’s thin, often out-of-date, and their maps are terrible.  Nevertheless, they make a guidebook for almost every country, so they are sometimes the only option.  The quality varies massively between destinations.  Some guides are very good.  Some are just recycled bad info from the previous edition 5 years ago.  

I never buy any of the other guides like Fodors, Frommers, Insight Guides, DK Eyewitness, or Lets Go.  Fodors and Frommers seem to be written for 70 year olds.  Insight and DK are just glossy picture books with not enough real information.  I’m actually not sure if Let’s Go even exists anymore?  They were huge in 1990.

 Get the Best International Phone Plan:

Google Fi has the best international phone plan. 

Google Fi is so incredibly convenient, every frequent international traveler should switch to it.  It allows you to use your same data plan, at the same domestic usage price,  in 164 countries! 

It offers two plans;  With UNLIMITED you get unlimited data use, in 164 countries, as well as unlimited voice and texting for just $70 a month plus taxes. After 22GB of data use, your data is slowed, but who uses 22GB a month??  You also get Google One membership with 100GB of storage in the cloud.   

With the FLEXIBLE plan, you pay $20 a month plus taxes, and $10 per GB of data used, with data above 6GB FREE.  Basically, if you go over 6GB a month, your bill is $80 plus taxes, and you would have been better off choosing UNLIMITED.  For people who are always under 6GB a month FLEXIBLE is the right option.

With both plans, you CAN also use your phone as a hotspot tether.  There is NO contract, you can cancel at the end of every month.    When traveling, you get data at whatever the top speed the local cell towers can offer, which is always at least 3G, and usually 4G/LTE.  International voice calling rates are reasonable too, usually not more than 21 cents a minute, and free over wi-fi.

I was with AT&T for years, but their international plan is massively overpriced, so I switched to T-Mobile.  I had heard T-Mobile had “free” data in 200 countries.  Well, that’s technically true, but its 2G data.  Does anyone even know what 2G is anymore?  Well, let me tell you, it’s like using that AOL dial-up CD your dad got in the mail in 1993.  Not much fun.  I spent 20 minutes trying to upload one picture to Facebook in Belize.  This year I switched to Fi, and it has made traveling sooo much easier.  I used to have to scramble to buy a new SIM card in the airport of every new country.  Now I just use my phone normally.

If you sign up through my referral HERE, you’ll get $20 off your first bill, and I’ll get $20 off my next bill. Whoo-hoo! Everybody wins!

The Best Travel Sites – Get the Best Travel Insurance

I only use one company for my travel insurance; World Nomads

Travel Insurance is a must for every trip.  You wouldn’t go without health insurance in America and risk a six-figure emergency room visit would you?  Likewise, you don’t want to be hurt or sick or robbed abroad, with no help available. World Nomads provides comprehensive insurance, at reasonable rates, with excellent customer service, and a sparkling reputation in the travel community.  

For example; in 2017 my wife and I spent three weeks in Africa, including a risky activity of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.  We were able to get an extremely comprehensive policy that covered just about every possible disaster, even emergency evacuation costing $500,000, for just $7.66 per person per day.  It’s well worth it.

Recap of The Best Travel Sites I use:

Credit Card: Chase Sapphire Preferred VISA.

Flights:  Momondo and Kayak

Ground Transport:  Rentalcars.com  or Turo and Uber

Lodging:  Booking.com and AirBnB

Tours: GetYourGuide

Guidebooks:  Start with Rick Steves

International Phone Service: Google Fi

Travel Insurance: World Nomads

THANKS FOR READING

Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you buy anything, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to stuff I use, love, and recommend.  I don’t accept bribes to endorse garbage. Your clicks help keep this site alive.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

If you enjoyed “The Best Travel Sites to Save You Money”, please share with your friends:

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Best travel apps 2019 – for Entertainment on the Road:

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video – for movie time when I’m burned out.

Podcasts – I always have a dozen or so of my favorite podcasts downloaded.  These are a great way to spend a couple of hours, and take up a heckuva lot less storage space than a movie.

Pandora – When you wanna listen to the radio, but not the radio stations of the country you are in.

White Noise – I’m used to sleeping with a fan going.  Sometimes a room is TOO quiet, and I’ll turn on the white noise.

Best travel apps for Communications:

Google Translate – This app is just amazing.  You can have a complete conversation with someone who does not speak your language.  You just select the two languages that are to be translated, and take turns pressing “talk”, speaking, and then seeing the translation written out in both languages.  It doesn’t always understand speech perfectly, but you can see what it thinks you said, and if it is wrong just hit delete and then speak again, maybe using different words.  The app gets it about right 80% of the time.  It requires internet access for the speech to translate feature.  Google Translate also has several major languages you can download and then use offline for type-to-translate.

Google Voice – I can forward my US mobile phone to my Google Voice number.  Then if I am out of the country for a month, people can leave messages on my Google Voice account, and I can get them from anywhere.

Facetime – the best way to have video calls with other people on an iPhone.

Facebook Messenger – another option for free texting, and video calls.

Skype – Still the leader for cheap voice calls and video calls to anyone from anyone.  The best way I’ve found to call grandma, if grandma doesn’t have an iPhone.

WhatsApp – While seldom used in the US, where everyone has a paid monthly telecom plan, WhatsApp is the #1 means of communication in many developing countries.  All you need is wi-fi and then you can send texts and video chat for free.  For people in countries where buying minutes and data is a major expense, this is the way to go.

TorGuard VPN – You are going to have lots of time stuck in airports or coffee shops with nothing to do but surf on free wi-fi.  You do NOT want to be checking your bank account on that open-to-anyone free wi-fi.  Or perhaps you find yourself in one of the lovely police states of the world that block Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.  You must have a VPN, and according to the Wirecutter, TorGuard is the best budget VPN there is.

When you are ready to book your trip, be sure to use the best booking sites on the best travel apps:

Book Your Accommodation

Choose your lodging using Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Get Travel Insurance

You can’t afford to travel without travel insurance.  Car accidents, illnesses, and theft do happen. It could save your life. I never travel without it. I use World Nomads.

Need Some Gear?

Check out my Worldwide Travel Packing List for the best travel gear for your adventures.  I’ve already read all the online reviews, and tested it all out, so you can just click and buy the best stuff.

THANKS FOR READING

Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you buy anything, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to stuff I use, love, and recommend.  I don’t accept bribes to endorse garbage. Your clicks help keep this site alive.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

If you enjoyed “The 42 Best Travel Apps 2019”, please share with your friends:

The post The 42 Best Travel Apps 2019: Download Em Today! first appeared on Worldwide Wilbur.

I love traveling, and I LOVE planning trips too! 

In the planning phase, the options are unlimited, and I find that an intoxicating feeling.  I can go anywhere!  I can do anything!  What shall I do?  After years of roaming worldwide, I know just where to find the information I need to make decisions.  Here are the steps I follow, and the sites I use, to know how to plan a trip successfully.

How to Plan a Trip:

How to Plan a Trip – Step 1: Decide where you want to go:

Maybe you have a dream destination in mind?  Maybe you don’t know where you want to go, you just know it involves jungles, temples, and beaches.  Or perhaps you prefer ancient castles, cobblestone paths and good beer.  Peruse my destination guides.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 2: Research costs and plan the length of your trip.

The best one-stop-shop for comparing costs in different destinations is the outstanding website: Price Of Travel.  This site lists actual costs based on concrete price data for the cost of backpacking in different destinations.  It tallies the daily cost of: a hostel bed, three cheap meals where locals would eat, one public transport ride, three beers, and entry to one tourist site.

Here you will find that 10 days spent backpacking at hostels in Zurich, Switzerland will set you back about $1,184.  For that same price, you could spend 17 days in nearby, and equally lovely, Salzburg, Austria.  Or you could spend an ENTIRE MONTH just a few miles up the road in gorgeous Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic.  Or for something completely different, for that same $1,184, you could afford to live in hostels for 65 DAYS in historic Hanoi, Vietnam.

Keep in mind we are comparing apples to apples here; in all of the above cases, you are sleeping in a dorm bed, eating cheap street or market food, having 3 beers for your nightlife, and seeing one touristy museum or castle or whatever each day.  Your standard of living is the SAME in each example, but the cost of living is very, very different in each location.  Even if you don’t want to stay in a hostel, or only eat local street food and markets, this site gives you a sense of the massive difference in cost of living between different places in this world.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 3: When is the best time to go?

This is a really important consideration.  One that I have forgotten to my detriment a couple of times.  I planned a Mediterranean trip in February thinking that even in winter it would be kinda warm there.  Wrong!  Your first stop in making this decision should be WeatherSpark.com.  This site gives extremely detailed weather statistics for everywhere on Earth.  You’ll find out important things like that in August it rains all day, every day in Douala, Cameroon.  Or that in July, it gets below freezing each day in Queenstown, New Zealand.    You should also look up when are the festivals in the place you are going.  For example, traveling in the Middle East during Ramadan is not so great.  People are fasting, and not much is going on in the daytime.   Imagine if you booked a trip to Munich in mid-October, not realizing Oktoberfest is actually the last week of September.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 4: Start saving money, get a travel rewards credit card.

Now that you know how much your trip will cost (not including airfare), you can plan how you will save for that goal amount.  As for airfare, you can start checking Momondo.com looking for the cheapest fares.  You should also try working towards getting there for free, via frequent flyer miles.  I’ve traveled to over 100 countries, nearly always flying for free.  Read my post How to Fly for Free to see how I do it.  (Hint: many, many travel rewards credit cards)

How to Plan a Trip – Step 5: Do you need a visa? 

You can look up visa information on dozens of websites, and for some countries (especially African countries) you’ll find conflicting information.  Even on the country’s OWN OFFICIAL WEBSITE you might find conflicting information.  But, there is “One Site To Rule Them All.”  Timatic is the site that EVERY AIRLINE ON EARTH uses to decide if you can get on the plane.  When you check in for an international flight, the lady at the check in counter is plugging your home country and destination country into Timatic to see what documents you need to get into that country.  Whatever Timatic tells her, is what you are going to have to have, or you will be turned away from the flight.  It won’t do you any good to plead; “But the Burkina Faso website says I CAN get a visa on arrival!”  If Timatic says you can’t, that’s that.  The airline doesn’t want you taking up a seat on their return flight just because you got denied entry. You would normally have to pay for a Timatic subscription, but you can check it for free on the United Airlines website and Star Alliance website.

If you do need a visa BEFORE you arrive in the country, get going on that right away.  It shouldn’t be a problem with most countries, but there are a handful that are slow in responding, and even a few that might just say no!  Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Eritrea come to mind.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 6: Plan a rough itinerary for your trip.

So let’s say you’ve decided you want to travel to Berlin, through the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria.  Does it matter to you where your trip starts and finishes?  Would you be just as happy to start in Berlin and end in Vienna, or vice-versa?  If you are trying to book with frequent flyer miles, seats can be hard to find.  You should plug-in every destination city that reasonably fits into your planned itinerary.  Maybe you can get a seat into Berlin, but not one out.  Ok, that’s fine, now try to get one out of Budapest.  Or Vienna.  Or Prague.  Just keep trying every possible combination of cities until you get flights that you are happy with.  It helps if you have miles accumulated on multiple carriers.  Maybe Delta has lots of flights into Berlin, but only United has flights out of Budapest.  The more variables you have to work with, the higher your chances of success.  Don’t be the guy who just plugs in a search for a roundtrip ticket to one city on one airline, on one particular set of dates, finds no seats, and thinks “Oh, frequent flyer tickets are impossible to book.  Forget it.  I’ll just pay for a ticket”.  Using miles takes some research, some flexibility, and some determination.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 7: Book your flight.

Ideally you want to book your flight for free using the frequent flyer miles you accumulated in Step 3.  If that’s not possible, you want to go to Momondo.com to get the best fares to anywhere in the world.  It is the best flight search website, as it searches all the fare aggregators as well as airlines. The best time to book your flight has scientifically been proven to be about 70 days out, on any day of the week, at 5am.  Seriously!

How to Plan a Trip – Step 8: Book your accommodations.

If you have a short trip, and you know exactly where you are going each day, go ahead and book all your accommodations now.  Waiting will just allow your first choice spots to get sold-out.  If you have a trip longer than three weeks; you should allow yourself some flexibility.  You don’t know which stop you’ll love so much you can’t leave.  In this case, just book the first few days.

• If you have really maximized the travel rewards credit card game, you might have many free nights saved up with Hilton, Marriott, and IHG properties.  If so, you should find out which of those chains have properties in the places you are going, and take advantage of the free nights.  When I backpacked across Africa, I stayed in ramshackle $12 guest houses all through Madagascar (which has NO international chain hotels), but then at $100 a night Holiday Inns in Zimbabwae, just because it was free with points.
• If you can’t swing rooms for free, You want to be looking for hostels and hotels on Booking.com.  Booking.com is the best overall platform for finding budget hotels and guesthouses. They have the biggest inventory and best deals.

• Before you book, you should also see what is available on AirBnB.  I always check it out, and find it especially useful when staying in very expensive locations.  The local people are often struggling with the cost of living in those cities as well, and renting a room or apartment from a local helps everyone.

If you’ve never used it, sign up for Airbnb HERE and get $40 off your first $75+ Airbnb stay!

How to Plan a Trip – Step 9: Plan how you are going to get around.

There are many options to get around this big world:

• Flying is the fastest and easiest.  But you don’t see anything that way.  Airports are all the same.  Nevertheless, if you must fly, make it happen on Momondo.com
• Train travel is my favorite.  Big windows to look out of.  No bumps or potholes.  No drunk drivers.  You can get up and walk around.  Night trains have comfy fold out beds, and save you paying for a hotel night.  You wake up in a new place, feeling refreshed.  I’ll choose a train every time.  The ultimate authority on any train journey, anywhere; is The Man In Seat 61.  You won’t need any other website than his, trust me.
• Cars are fun sometimes.  You can fit four people in most of ’em, so if there is four of you, it might be the way to go.  Rentalcars.com is the undisputed heavyweight champ of finding the best car rental deals.  Another site worth checking out is Turo.com.  Turo is “The AirBnB of Car Rental”.  You can rent someone’s personal car from them, usually for much cheaper than a commercial car rental agency.  Some Turo hosts can throw in free or cheap extras like tents, sleeping bags, beach gear, etc.

If you’ve never used Turo, sign up HERE and get $25 off your first Turo rental!

• Taxis are the most common way for travelers to get around worldwide.  Uber has disrupted the taxi market in many cities and is growing every year.  I LOVE using Uber in foreign countries.  This past year I used it all over Kenya, South Africa, Belarus, and Ukraine.  In all of these places I would surely have paid much more for each ride going by taxi and getting screwed with the “tourist price”.  With Uber, I don’t have to haggle, and I don’t have to explain where I need to go to someone who might not speak English.

If you have never used Uber, sign up HERE to get $5 off your first ride.

• Walking is going to be a major part of your transportation.  Make sure you have the right backpack and shoes.  Read my Worldwide Travel Packing List for tips.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 10: Solidify itinerary – plan activities for each day.

Now is a good time to buy a Travel Guide, so you can start deciding where exactly you want to go, and what you want to see and do.  I tend to just buy whichever guide is most highly rated on Amazon for my destination.  I prefer paper guides to Kindle, but I’m trying to change that…  My two most purchased are Lonely Planet and Rough Guides.  Rick Steves guides are always the best for budget travel.  Bradt Guides are great for off-the-beaten-track places, especially in Africa.  You can also check out my Destination Guides.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 11:  Pack your bag.  Do you have all the gear you need?

The weather of your destination will decide what you need to pack, but above all, aim to PACK LIGHT!  I travel with a 45 liter backpack, and a 17 liter daypack, and that is plenty for any trip outside of Antarctica.   Don’t buy the largest backpack in the store and fill it to the brim!  It will make you tired and sad.  Read my Worldwide Travel Packing List for a comprehensive list of everything you need to pack, and what you DON’T need to pack.

How to Plan a Trip – Step 12: Plan How to Stay Connected: 

When I land in a new country, I want to get mobile data access immediately.  One way I achieve this is by using Google Fi as my telecom provider.

I highly recommend that anyone planning to do a large amount of international travelling switch their service provider to Google Fi. Google Fi allows you to use your same data plan, at the same domestic usage price ($10 per 1GB, with data free after 6GB) in 164 countries!  With Google Fi, you don’t have to sign up for a pricey “International Plan”. And you don’t get worthless 2G data speeds internationally like T-Mobile’s “One”, you get data at whatever the top speed the local cell towers can offer, which is always at least 3G, and usually 4G.

I just switched to Fi, and it has made traveling sooo much easier.  In developed countries like Western Europe, Japan, and Korea the cost of Google Fi is about the same as getting a local SIM card, so I can skip that whole hassle and just use my phone like I would at home.  In developing countries where data is super cheap, I’ll still get a local SIM to save some money and have a local number.

At home in the U.S., Google Fi uses the cell towers of both T-Mobile and Sprint, switching between whichever has the best signal, so you have more cell coverage than just about anyone else.  I have a Pixel 3XL, which is built specifically to use Fi, but most Android phones and iPhones also work with Google Fi. If you sign up through my referral HERE, you’ll get $20 off your first bill, and I’ll get $20 off my next bill. Everybody wins!

In places where Google Fi doesn’t offer coverage, that usually means buying a local SIM card as soon as possible, preferably in the airport arrivals area.  Before I take off, I always check out this amazing website – Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki.  It lists all the telecom providers in every country on Earth.  It tells you who has the best coverage, and which is cheapest.  For more info, check out my guide on how to Get Cheap Mobile Phone Service Worldwide.

The post How to Plan a Trip to Anywhere on Earth first appeared on Worldwide Wilbur.

It’s true, I’ve flown to over a hundred countries, nearly all for free.  I haven’t paid for an international flight in a decade.   How is this possible?  Easy.  I have gone through 130 credit cards between my wife and I and our businesses over the last eight years.  I once held 32 cards at once a couple years ago.  That’s 32 cards that each gave me big flyer-mile sign-up bonuses.  That’s how to fly for free all over the world.  Including epic flights like from Hawaii to Africa, four times in the last four years.

My friends ask me how I do it.  When I tell them, I see their eyes glaze over.  They are thinking “Oh, that sounds like some kind of scam I better not get involved in.  I don’t want to destroy my credit.”  I try to convince them that’s not at all the case, but sometimes people are just gonna believe whatever they want to believe.  This blog post is written to convince you to see the light!  This post explains, in a complete, excruciatingly-detailed plan, exactly how to fly for free.

There are no drawbacks to this plan, no hidden catch.  If you follow this nine-step plan, you will know how to fly for free.  The only reason more people don’t follow the plan is that it requires:

DISCIPLINE to pay off your cards in full, on time, every month.

ORGANIZATION to keep track of which credit cards you have, when they are due, etc.

COURAGE to trust that the plan works and will not affect your credit score in the long term.

 How to Fly for Free Worldwide; in Nine Easy Steps:

 How to Fly for Free – Step One: Sign up for frequent flyer programs.  

You should sign up for every airline that serves your home airport.   All these programs are free to join, and you will earn points/miles towards free flights with each paid flight that you take.  You should also sign up for the hotel programs of any hotel chain you ever stay with. There are dozens of loyalty programs all over the world, but here are most of the major American programs:  

Airlines

• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• Delta Sky Miles
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

• Accor Hotels Le Club
• Best Western Rewards
• Club Carlson
• Choice Hotels
• Fairmont President’s Club
• Hilton HHonors
• Hyatt Gold Passport
• IHG Rewards Club
• La Quinta Returns
• Loews YouFirst
• Marriott Rewards
• Omni
• Ritz-Carlton Rewards
• Starwood Preferred Guest
• Stash Hotel Rewards
• Voila
• Wyndham Rewards

Rental Cars

• Avis Preferred
• Enterprise Plus
• Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
• National Emerald Club
• Thrifty Blue Chip

Keep track of your miles

Once you start earning miles and points, you’ll want to have a spreadsheet listing:

• The name of the loyalty program
• Your loyalty account membership number
• Your logon information (user id/password)
• How many points/miles you have
• The expiration date of those points

I do this via an excel spreadsheet, but there are websites that will keep track of it all for you such as Points.com.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Two: Set a Goal.  Where do you want to go?  

Decide on your dream destination.  Then log into your frequent flyer accounts, plug in the dates you want to go, and find out when seats are available, and how many miles you need.  Perhaps you find it takes 80,000 miles on United, 120,000 on Delta, 100,000 on American, and Southwest doesn’t fly there.  Now you know that your goal is to earn 80,000 United miles.

Be flexible

If you are dead set on going somewhere the week between Christmas and New Year, you are going to be very limited in your options.  Revenue-earning ticket purchasers all want to travel that week too, making free flights hard to get.  Award availability is limited, so the flexible flyer benefits the most from travel hacking.

Consider different airports  

Consider flying into one city and back from another.  If you are planning a month-long trip around Europe, does it really matter which city you start and finish in? Find the best free flights first, and then make your itinerary fit those flights.  Maybe you want to see Tokyo, but flights to Osaka are half the miles, so it is worthwhile to fly to Osaka and take a bullet train to Tokyo.  There are many ways to be flexible and get value out of your miles.

Plan ahead

You also want to book flyer miles tickets as far out as possible.  If you know you want to go to Paris in July, start looking for seats the previous August.  Most airlines make tickets available 330 days out.  The longer you wait, the fewer free flights worldwide will be available.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Three: Calculate how much you spend every month.

Include every single thing that can be paid for with a credit card.  Gas, groceries, movies, cable bill, phone bill, restaurants, etc.  If you spend at least $1000 a month, that allows you to qualify for some pretty fantastic credit card sign up bonuses.  Many cards offer an excellent bonus for a spend of $3000 over the first three months.  A spend of less than $1000 a month will limit the card bonuses you can afford to get.  In that case, perhaps you can delay some spending, and squeeze a bunch of spending into one three month period.  Most cards give a bonus for a minimum amount of spending in the first three months.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Four: Check your credit score.

There are multiple websites which will do this for free.  My favorite is CreditKarma.com  You’ll want to be above 600 to get entry level cards, and above 700 to qualify for the best travel rewards cards.  If you are not currently above 600, put the rest of this plan on hold, and look into how you can raise your credit score first.  It might take 6 months or more, and then you can try for the best cards.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Five: Create a Business.

To really excel at getting free flights in the card churning game, you MUST be able to apply for business credit cards as well as personal credit cards.  This is much easier than you might think.  You do NOT have to have a licensed, state-registered business to get business credit cards.  Simply come up with a business name and use your own social security number as the “Business EIN” when you complete the application.

You probably already have a business

There are many things you may already do that qualify as a business.  Do you ever sell things on Ebay or Craigslist or Etsy or even yard sales?  That is a business.  Do you have a side gig like driving for Uber or Lyft, or AirBnB-ing out a room, or renting out your car on Turo?  That is a business.  Anything you do that generates money (legally) outside of your 9-5 job is a business. Give that business a name, and voila! you have a sole proprietorship business which you can use to apply for cards.  For example, my mother has sold a few quilts she makes on Etsy.  Her ‘business” has brought in just a few hundred dollars.  But she has applied for and received over a dozen business credit cards for that business, and collected over a half million flyer miles.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Six: Pick the right credit card and apply. 

Picking the right credit card for you depends on your immediate travel goal and your long term travel goals.  If you are just dipping a toe into the waters of credit card bonuses; go ahead and pick whichever airline card offer a bonus toward your goal flight.  But, if you really want to maximize your haul of points and miles, you do need to prioritize getting certain cards in a certain order.  Specifically, you need to apply for Chase cards first.  Chase Bank offers some of the most valuable spending bonuses in the game.

Understand the Chase 5/24 rule

Chase also has the strictest standards of qualification for their cards.  Chase will only approve your application for most of their cards if you have been approved for less than 5 personal credit cards over the last 24 months.  This is widely known in the credit card churning game as the “5/24 rule”.  So, if you go about getting a Citibank AAdvantage card, and then a Delta AMEX card, and maybe a Bank of America Alaska VISA, and a couple others, when you start looking at getting a United Explorer VISA you will be out of luck due to the 5/24 rule.  Strategically, your first few applications should be only for Chase business cards, as they do NOT count against the 5/24 rule, and then your first five personal card applications should be for Chase personal cards.

Only once you have “used up” your “under 5/24 status” should you then move on to other bank’s cards.  The only exception to this would be if you live somewhere where you never fly United or Southwest, which are the two domestic airlines partnered with Chase.  Since United is represented in every major airport in the US, that seems unlikely.

Annual Fees are often worth it

You must be prepared to apply for cards with an annual fee.  You need to be willing to make a small investment to get a big return.  It may seem like a risk to have to spend $95 the first month for an annual fee on a card, but if the miles bonus is worth $700, it is well worth it.

The Worldwide Wilbur Card List

Chase Business cards first, Chase Personal cards second

If you are going to get big returns; following are a list of the cards you should apply for in strategic order of most valuable to least valuable.  Chase business cards are listed first as they DO NOT count against your 5/24 limit, but you DO have to be within the 5/24 limit to get them.  Chase personal cards are listed second as you will want to fill up your 5/24 limit before moving on to other bank’s cards.

Most valuable cards first

I have listed cards in the order I would recommend to folks who are new to the travel hacking game.  I have ranked airline cards higher than hotel cards intentionally.  You can always scrimp on lodging costs when you travel, but you can’t negotiate airfares.  I consider air miles to be much more important to achieving worldwide budget travel.

Feel free to skip

If a particular card has a minimum spend that is too much for your budget, just skip on to the next card.  If you have no interest in earning points with a particular airline or hotel chain, just skip to the next card.  For some cards, you can click on the card name to go directly to its application page.  I may receive a referral bonus if you apply through these links. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Wondering how I came up with the valuations of the cards?  First off, you must understand All points and miles ARE NOT EQUAL!  You can click on the “calculated value” column title to see all valuations on the phenomenal website “The Points Guy”.

Card Name / Bonus / Three month spend / Annual Fee / Minimum Credit Score Needed* / Calculated value

CHASE BUSINESS CARDS

Chase Ink Business Preferred VISA  / 80,000 Ultimate Rewards Points / $5000 spend / $95 / 750* / $1505

(YOU MUST WAIT 30 DAYS BETWEEN CHASE BUSINESS CARD APPLICATIONS)

United MileagePlus Explorer Business VISA / 50,000 United Miles / $3000 spend / $0 / 650* / $700

(YOU MUST WAIT 30 DAYS BETWEEN CHASE BUSINESS CARD APPLICATIONS)

Southwest Premier Rapid Rewards Business VISA / 60,000 Southwest Miles / $3000 spend / $99 / 670* / $801

(YOU MUST WAIT 30 DAYS BETWEEN CHASE BUSINESS CARD APPLICATIONS)

Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business VISA / 75,000 Marriott Points / $3000 spend/ $99 / 650* /  $576

CHASE PERSONAL CARDS

Chase Sapphire Preferred VISA / 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points / $4000 spend / $0 / 700* / $1000

United Quest MileagePlus VISA  / 40,000 United Miles / $2000 spend / $0 / 650* /  $560

United MileagePlus Explorer VISA  / 40,000 United Miles / $2000 spend / $0 / 650* /  $560

United Club MileagePlus VISA  / 40,000 United Miles / $2000 spend / $0 / 650* /  $560

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier VISA  / 40,000 Southwest Miles / $1000 spend / $99 / 670* / $501

World of Hyatt VISA / 40,000 Hyatt Points / $3000 spend / $95 / 700* / $585

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless VISA / 3 Free Nights up to 35,000 Marriott Points each / $3000 spend / $95 / 650* / $580

IHG Rewards Club Premier Mastercard / 80,000 IHG points / $2000 spend / $89 / 670* / $391

NON – CHASE CARDS

Citi ThankYou Premier / 60,000 ThankYou points / $4000 spend / $0 / $1020

CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select / 70,000 American miles / $2500 spend / $0 / $980

Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite / 50,000 American miles / $2500 spend / $0 / $700

Hilton Honors American Express Business  / 125,000 Hilton Points / $3000 spend / $95 / $655

Hilton Honors American Express / 85,000 Hilton Points / $1000 spend / $0 / $510

Alaska Airlines Business VISA Signature / 40,000 Alaska Miles / $1000 spend / $75 / $465

Alaska Airlines VISA Signature / 30,000 Alaska Miles / $1000 spend / $75 / $465

 How to Fly for Free – Step Seven: Meet the minimum spend and get the signup bonus.

Put ALL your spending on the new card  

I don’t care if you have some other card that gives 3x cash back on gas or whatever, your new card is giving you much more than that per dollar when you calculate the signup bonus value.  Only use cash and write checks where credit cards are not accepted.

But don’t spend MORE

You may be hesitant to use your card for all purchases because you worry about racking up debt. Remember, no one is encouraging you to spend MORE than you usually do, or can afford to do.  You just need to put your NORMAL EXPENDITURES on your new card. All of them.  Until you meet the minimum spend.  You also need to pay off that card in full every month.  If you are carrying a balance, the massive interest payments will wipe out any benefit from the frequent flyer bonus.

You must create a spreadsheet of your credit cards.

It should list all of this information:

• The card name: “Bank of Wherever, Air Antarctica Super Miles Premier Card”
• Credit Limit: $5000
• When you applied for it: January 12, 2019.
• The date you must complete the minimum spend: April 12, 2019.
• The signup bonus: “50,000 Air Antarctica miles”
• The annual fee: $95
• And once you cancel it, that date must be recorded: Cancelled on January 4, 2020.

I use an excel spreadsheet for this.  It has 53 cards listed on it.  That’s how many I’ve gone through over the last 4 years!  You will need this information.  Some day you will want to get a card, and have to check to see if you already had it, and if so, how long ago, and do you qualify to get the bonus again?

 How to Fly for Free – Step Eight : Watch for the bonus to appear and then cease using the card.

It may take up to a month for the signup bonus to show up in your loyalty account.  Once you have it, you are all done using that card.  You should tuck it away in your sock drawer.  Do NOT cancel it yet. You want to keep it for at least a year, because cancelling a card after you have only had it for three months will anger the banking gods.  You must keep it at least until the next annual fee is due.  Keep checking your bill each month.  When the annual fee pops up on your bill, it’s time to decide if the card is worth keeping for another year.

Cancel when the next Annual Fee is due

Some cards offer card anniversary benefits that offset the annual fee.  Southwest, IHG and Marriott cards all have annual bonuses like this.  It may be worth keeping these cards. If not, call the number on the back of the card and tell them you want to cancel the card.  They may offer you inducements to keep the card.   The inducements may or may not be worthwhile.  Often they will effectively offset the annual fee.  If the card service agent asks why you are cancelling the card, you can simply and truthfully say “The annual fee is due, and I have other cards I have been using more frequently.”  Eventually the agent will agree to close the card and they will remove the annual fee from your bill.  At this point you can cut up the card.  You should mark on your spreadsheet the date you cancelled the card.

 How to Fly for Free – Step Nine: Go back to step six and repeat INDEFINITELY.

Keep getting new cards, meeting the minimum spend, then discontinuing their use.  Cancel them when the annual fee comes due.  A diligent card churner can accumulate a massive amount of miles this way.  Now you know everything about how to fly for free.  You may never have to buy a plane ticket ever again!

When you are ready to book your trip, be sure to use the best booking sites:

Book Your Flight:

Find your flight using Momondo.com. It is the best airfare search engine, as it finds the cheapest flights, and will find ALL the flights. (Here’s the proof.)

Book Your Accommodation:

Choose your lodging using Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Get Travel Insurance:

You can’t afford to travel without travel insurance.  Car accidents, illnesses, and theft do happen. It could save your life. I never travel without it. I use World Nomads.

Need Some Gear?

Check out my Worldwide Travel Packing List for the best travel gear for your adventures.  I’ve already read all the online reviews, and tested it all out, so you can just click and buy the best stuff.

THANKS FOR READING

Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you buy anything, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to stuff I use, love, and recommend.  I don’t accept bribes to endorse garbage. Your clicks help keep this site alive.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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The post How to Fly for Free: The Worldwide Wilbur Way first appeared on Worldwide Wilbur.

Some important questions first-time international travelers always ask,  “Should I exchange money before I travel.”  “How do I know the exchange rate?”  “Where should I get cash?”  “Should I use credit cards or debit cards?”  In this post, I’ll answer all these questions, and more.

Let’s look at the many options accessing your money internationally – from worst to best:

Should I exchange money before I travel? – The Worst option: Travelers Checks.

It was very nice of your grandma to give you that $500 travelers check for your big summer trip, but good luck cashing it.  Travelers checks have gone the way of dial-up internet, cassette tapes, and incandescent lights.  That is, they all still exist, but nobody wants them.  You should be able to cash them in a major city, but outside of that forget it.  They are inconvenient to the point of uselessness, the worst way to access your money in foreign countries.

Should I exchange money before I travel? – The 2nd worst option: Ordering foreign currency from your local bank.

Your bank might provide this service, but there will be a cost.  They might say the transaction is “commission free”, but that just means that they are taking it out of you on the exchange rate.  No bank has time to ship currency around for nothing.  And besides, you don’t need to be carrying a big stack of cash around for your whole trip.  That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Should I exchange money before I travel? – A Poor option: Bringing a stack of U.S. Dollars with you.

This is only a slightly better choice, as you will likely be able to exchange the dollars at a much better rate when you are overseas (pretty much the whole world wants US dollars).  Again, you don’t want to be carrying a big stack of cash around for your whole trip.  Too much risk of theft or loss.

Should I exchange money before I travel? – A good option for some purchases: Use a credit card with no foreign exchange fees that earns you travel rewards.

A frugal traveler should have several credit cards that earn flyer miles, and most of these cards do not charge foreign exchange fees, meaning a bill in a foreign currency is paid by the card at exactly the market exchange rate in US dollars, with no extra 3% fee tacked on.  You should use a credit card for all significant purchases where fraud seems unlikely.  I would define that as all your airline tickets, car rentals, most hotel stays, some tours, and any purchase from an upscale establishment that you would judge unlikely to skim your card.  I would not use a credit card at small shops and restaurants for small purchases.

In some countries, credit cards are still not in wide use.  For example, try paying for a big night out on the town in Laos with only a credit card.  It will be pretty hard to do when the power/internet goes out to the whole town for 6 hours.   To learn how to get the most bonus miles out of your credit cards, check out my page Nine Steps to Free Flights Worldwide.

Never use a debit/ATM card to pay for anything while abroad.  Debit cards do not offer the same protections as credit cards.  If your debit card gets skimmed, thieves can clean out your bank account, and you will NOT get that money back.  If your credit card gets skimmed, you can flight the charges with your bank, and you are likely to get every penny back.

My credit card was skimmed at a shoe store in Stansted airport.  We didn’t know until we checked the bill a couple of weeks later and saw $5500 in fraudulent charges.  All we had to do was sign a legal document identifying which charges were fraudulent, and the bank refunded us all that money.

When paying a credit card charge abroad, always choose to PAY IN THE LOCAL CURRENCY.  You will undoubtedly be offered the “opportunity” to pay in your own currency by a cashier with the credit card machine at some point.  Just Say No.  It is a scam that just adds a hefty conversion charge to your bill.

Should I exchange money before I travel? – The best option: Withdraw local currency from an ATM.

This is the easiest way to handle money while traveling.  Nearly all developing countries, and some rich countries, are cash economies.  You’ll want to get cash from an ATM every few days, and carry only the amount that you might spend that day on your person.  Leave the rest in your hotel, locked in a safe if possible.  

When you get cash from an ATM in a foreign country, you get that local currency at the exact market exchange rate of that day.  You don’t have to worry about finding the “best” rate as you would when searching for a currency exchange kiosk.  You got it.  

Avoid ATM fees: In some foreign ATM’s, the local bank will charge you an ATM fee.  Your American bank likely will also charge you a fee for using an “out-of-network ATM”.  For that reason, it is in your best interest to get the maximum possible withdrawal amount each time you use the ATM.   And FYI, maximum withdrawal amount vary wildly across the world, and are generally unrelated to your home bank’s maximum daily withdrawal amount.

One exception to all this advice is the dreaded “Euronet Worldwide” ATM.  These miserable garbage machines seem to be spreading like wildfire.  They are most commonly found in airports BEFORE you clear passport and customs, and in front of popular expensive hotels.  They don’t work quite like normal ATM’s which just give you the correct “market rate of the day”.  Instead they charge massive transaction fees, AND will give you a “choice” of rates, with scaremonger wording like “Would you like a guaranteed rate of blah-blah-blah, or a non-guaranteed rate to be determined later?”  If you choose the “guaranteed rate”,  the only thing that is guaranteed is that you just got screwed.  Amsterdam has banned these, and hopefully other cities will soon.

There are a handful of banks that do not charge out-of-network ATM fees.  A High Yield Investor Checking Account through Charles Schwab eliminates all foreign transaction fees, AND offers ATM rebates.   Seriously, Schwab charges you NO FEES, and they REFUND YOU THE OTHER BANK’S FEE!!  Their ATM card is accepted worldwide.  I have had their ATM card for two years and I love it.  All travelers should get one.

Contact your bank before you go on travel.  Tell them where you will be going, and ask them to not block your card for what they may construe as a suspicious foreign activity.  

The old fear of a foreign ATM “eating” your card is mostly non-existent.  It’s never happened to anyone I know.   It IS very common for a foreign ATM to “spit out” your card and refuse to accept it.  When this happens, you should not panic. Just move on to another ATM from a different bank.  You may have to try several before one works. Remember which one worked and stick with that bank the rest of your time in country.  

Be aware of how widely disbursed ATM’s are in the country you are visiting.  In rich countries, you will find an ATM in every tiny town. In developing countries, ATM’s may exist only in the capital city.  Ask around. You may need to load up on cash BEFORE heading out to that beautiful beach town 8 hours away.  

DONT use a credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM if you can avoid it.  You’ll be charged a hefty cash advance fee of 3-5%, AND immediately start accruing a high interest rate on the cash you withdraw, likely in the 25-30% range!                                                                                                                  

There are ATM’s in ALMOST every country in the world.  Some notable exceptions;

• Eritrea – A few ATMs, but none will work with foreign cards. Bring USD
• Iran – Plenty of ATMs, but none will work with foreign cards. Bring USD.
• Japan – Many Japanese ATM’s do not accept foreign cards.  Find a 7-11 convenience store. Their ATM’s will work.
• North Korea – No ATMs.  Your tour guide will exchange money for you.
• Somalia – At last count, they had one ATM.  Better hope it likes your card.
• Venezuela – has a corrupt monetary policy by which the government sets a laughably poor official exchange rate for the Bolivar.  If you used an ATM in Venezuela you would be throwing away 99.9% of the value of your dollar. Your only option here is to enter the country with all the USD you need for your trip and exchange it on the black market within Venezuela.
• Zimbabwae – As of 2018 Zimbabwae is literally running out of cash, and you cannot get any cash out of their ATMs.  You MUST bring all the US Dollars you will need for your time into the country when you arrive. The US Dollar is the accepted currency in Zimbabwae.  You will need small bills, and can find people to break larger bills into ones for a small tip.

Know the exchange rate.

You need to know the up-to-date exchange rate before you pull cash from that ATM.  You can download the XE.com app to your phone that will track whatever currency you will be needing.  I like to create a cheat-sheet of the exchange rate expressed in the foreign currency.  For example, my sheet for Ugandan Shillings would look like this:

5,000 UGX   = $1.32

10,000 UGX  = $2.64

50,000 UGX  = $13.20

100,000 UGX = $26.40

After looking at the sheet for a day or two, I’ll have it memorized, and no longer need it.

How to buy foreign currency from an international currency exchange kiosk:

If you are travelling from country to country, you’ll eventually be exchanging money.  You’ll find yourself at a border with a stack of cash from the country you left, and you’ll want to exchange it for the currency of the new country you’ve arrived in.  It is important to keep your wits about you when doing this, or you can easily get fleeced.

• Step One: Try to avoid currency exchange in the first place.  Don’t withdraw $300 worth of Euros the day you are leaving Europe.  Try to plan it so you spend your last bill as you get on the plane/bus/train to the next country.  Also, be sure to spend all your coins over the last day or two in country.  No exchange desk accepts coins, and you don’t want to be carrying around a bag of loose coins for months.
• Step Two: Calculate the exchange rate.  You should use the XE app on your phone to calculate the exchange rate between the currency of the country you are leaving and the country you are entering.  Do this before you cross the border.  Know what number you “should” be getting.  Of course all currency traders are there to make money, so you should expect to lose a small percentage when exchanging.  2%-5% is reasonable.  10%?  No way!
• Step Three: Find out from locals beforehand what options you will have for exchanging your cash.  For example; if you are leaving South Africa with a stack of Rand, there is no urgency to exchange that cash with some creepy guy running up to you at the border.  The S.A. Rand is the most widely accepted currency in Southern Africa, and you can exchange it in many banks in all of the neighboring countries.   For a different example; lets say you are leaving Rwanda with a stack of Rwandan Francs.  You better exchange those Francs near the border.  Rwanda is a tiny country, and few people travel there, so very few currency exchange kiosks are going to carry its currency.  You’ll struggle to exchange that cash in Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam.  So, you’d better make a deal with whomever you find at the border.
• Step Four:  Window shop the currency rates of the exchange kiosks.  You can’t expect to get the EXACT market exchange rate off XE.  Those exchange kiosks exist to make a profit.  It’s up to you to decide how much profit seems fair to you for the service they are providing you.  If you know you should be getting 100 dirhams for your shekels, and a kiosk is offering 98 dirhams per shekel, you are losing 2% of your money in that transaction.  That’s not too bad.  A 5% loss would be about the most you should accept.  And since you did a good job budgeting your ATM withdrawals, you’ll never be exchanging more than $100 worth of cash right?
• Step Five:  When you make the transaction, WATCH YOUR MONEY.  Assume the exchanger is going to try to cheat you.  Make it clear how much money you are handing him.  Watch him count it.  Watch him count what he is handing you back.  Count it yourself.  Count it twice.  This is not the time to take a phone call or play minecraft.  There are lots of money exchange scams, and there are lots of honest brokers.  You never know which is which.

Protect Yourself from theft

Protect your cash: 

I try to travel with the minimum cash necessary.  If I know I have daily access to ATMs, I never carry more than two days worth of spending money.  If I’m heading out into small villages for a week, I might have to carry a weeks worth of cash.  Sometimes a weeks worth of my spending money equals an entire years income of a local.  This makes me a target.

When I am in a hotel:  I always use the hotel safe if there is one.  If not, I use a number of hiding places:

• at the bottom of my disgusting dirty clothes drybag
• in a pair of folded up socks
• inside the frame of my backpack (not in an obvious exterior pocket)
• somewhere in the walls or ceiling of the hotel room

When I am moving from town to town;  I keep everything in a travel pouch hooked on my belt loop, and hidden inside my pants.  I can’t be pickpocketed.  If someone wants to put a knife to my neck, they can have it.

Protect your bank accounts:

It is of the utmost importance to plan ahead for possible loss of cards or cash through theft.   I recommend having:

• at least two checking accounts (with two separate ATM cards) so if one card is lost or stolen, you can still get cash.  I have three accounts.
• at least two credit cards, so if one card is lost or stolen, you can still get a plane ticket home.
• at least $200 in either USD or Euros in emergency cash, because if all else fails, US dollars will be accepted by someone to get you what you need.
• Never access any bank account or credit card account on an unsecure wi-fi signal!

These items should be kept hidden in two different places.  Perhaps put an ATM card, a credit card, and $100 cash in your daypack, and the other ATM card, credit card, and $100 cash in your hotel safe or on your person.  When I am staying in a room with no safe, I hide my passport, cards, and cash in the strangest place I can find in the room.  When I am traveling from city to city, they stay in a zipped, un-pick-pocket-able location somewhere on my body, never in a bag. 

These are my strategies for protecting my money. 

And here is my track record using these strategies:  After traveling to 100+ countries; I’ve lost a grand total of $40.  I was mugged at knife-point once in Quito, Ecuador.   Luckily, I had brought with my only the amount of money I might need for the evening.  I had $40 in one pocket, and another twenty in one of those tiny jeans pockets that is inside the regular pocket.  The mugger held a knife to my neck with one hand, and went through my pockets with the other hand.  He found $40, and a laminated copy of my passport (which he tossed on the ground).  He didn’t find the other twenty-dollar bill.  It was a very scary moment, and it affected me for a few months.  But financially, it was nothing.

I’ve never had anything disappear from a hotel room.  Never.  Whether that is due to my excellent hiding places, or that maids are way more honest than anyone else in society, I’ll never know.

I’ve never been pick-pocketed.  There have been a couple of attempts, which I recognized and headed off before they got close enough.

I’ve never had a bag stolen.

I have had a credit card skimmed.  In a shoe store in Stansted Airport, London.  They ran up $5500 in charges within 24 hours.  I didn’t notice until weeks later on a rainy day in an internet cafe in Romania.  I was panicked, like the feeling of all the blood leaving your body as I read my credit card statement.  However, it all worked out fine, and the credit card bank refunded me every penny.

If you follow these tips, you’ll know the right answer to: “Should I exchange money before I travel?”

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