Stride Five: Things you should not forget before traveling abroad

There are a few things I have been reading about that you should not forget before traveling abroad! 

1. Check the electrical outlets in the country you are traveling to before you leave 

                 I purchased my electrical outlet converters at Target for under $10.00. There was a set with a variety of converters for various countries around the world! Also, if you are a girl or like to use heat producing appliances, then you need a separate converter for a higher voltage. At Target this converter cost about $20.00 

International Electric Converters

2. Make copies of your passport 

Make a copy of your passport to leave at your house, in your suitcase, and keep your passport on you at all times while abroad. I also received a great tip from the UC International Office to make a photo copy of your passport and send it to your Email so you will always have a copy readily available.

3. Make copies of your credit card

Make copies of any credit cards you are taking abroad and like your passport, leave one at home and keep one in your suitcase. I do not think it would be safe or necessary to photocopy your cards! If you need to cancel them for some reason, you will not need a picture of it! 

4. Register with the Department of State 

In case if there is an emergency abroad the U.S. Department of State will contact your family back at home. To register visit the website below:  

Department of State

5. Call your bank to let them know you are traveling abroad 

Contact your bank through the customer service line and tell them you are traveling abroad so they do not put a block on your credit card while you are away! 

6. Check your Cell Phone plan to see if you will be charged abroad for using your phone

Personally, I decided not to take my phone abroad because it would be too expensive to call and text. So as alternatives, I have decided to buy a Pay As You Go Phone while I am in Spain and leave my phone at home. Also, I am planning on Skyping with my family while I am away. You can download Skype for free with the link below: 

Download SKYPE!

7. If you are going to Europe, get a rail pass to travel 

I got my rail pass from Eurail. I found a pass on this website for France and Spain for 5 train rides for around $250.00. With these rail passes though, you have to watch because some have reservation fees for each train you need to take. These fees typically are just a few American Dollars though! They can be tricky though because you have to go through an outside agent to reserve your seats, you can not reserve them on the Eurail website! This was also a great website for students because for people under the age of 25 were classified as children so the ticket was given to you at a discounted price. 

8. Get your ISIC Card

Get your International Student I.D. Card from your study abroad office before you go! This costs $22.00 and is an identification card valid in 120 countries. This card can get you discounts as well ;o) 

Hope this helps, 

Lauren

Stride Four: 21 Days and Counting

THREE WEEKS!

I CAN'T WAIT! I can not believe I am going to be leaving the country and going to SPAIN in under a month! With only three weeks left to plan, there is ALOT left to do! So this Blog entry is kind of to tie up the loose ends of planning and purchasing travel books. 

Since I am a first time international traveler, I have invested in some very expensive, but useful, travel books! I sat in Barnes and Nobel, a store I admittedly do not go into often, and stared at the travel book section for about an hour and came up with a grand total of five books I thought would be good purchases.

 Side Note: When you are planning a study abroad trip, there are a lot of unexpected expenses. Such as travel books, but I will go on to tell you about a few more things I have invested in recently to make my trip to Europe a great one! 

 So back to travel books, I picked up a few. First and foremost, I am going to two countries where I am not fluent in language, so I picked up two travel size pocket phrase books in French and Spanish. I got the "Eyewitness" brand basically because they were the smallest and I am a small girl so I do not want to be lugging around HUGE "pocket" dictionaries all day. 

 

 Then, as I sat and stared some more at the travel books, I found three different travel books where I really liked the format. 

The first, was the LONDON travel book, I found the "Rick Steves' Pocket LONDON" Book. A friend of mine told me to check out Rick Steves because his is a whitty traveler with a lot of good tips. He higlights shopping, food, sights, and nightlife in each area. My personal favorite touch that Rick Steves Travel guides have are the what seem to be Hand Drawn maps! Which as sooo cool to look at! I found this pocket travel guide at Barnes and Nobel for $12.99. 

CLICK HERE : Rick Steves' Website 


The second book i found at Barnes and Noble was "Frommer's Paris Day by Day" which is yet another pocket size travel book. (Do you see a trend with the pocket size books ;) ) This is personally my favorite book I purchased. It was $12.99. Some of it's highlights include 22 different itineraries that you can choose between to plan a day in Paris, a waterproof map attached in the back, and highlights of local restaurants, hotspots, and hotels. Something that Frommers does that I really enjoyed too, is they list prices, addresses, and phone numbers for each and every place you visit.  With each itinerary, there is a map with the route outlined, how long you should spend at each location, and even pit stops for food at local restaurants and bars! How cute?! Regardless, I have really enjoyed reading through this book and picking and choosing which iteanrry was best for me and I recommend this travel guide brand to any one who is traveling for a short amount of time in a specific area! 

CLICK HERE: Frommer's Paris day by day Guide

The third book I found was of course SPAIN! Woohoo! I can't wait. This travel book, is unfortunately not travel size. Since I will be spending a little over a month in Spain, I thought it would be fitting to at least by a full size travel guide! So I had a recommendation to get the "Lonely Planet Discover Spain" book. This brand in-particular is great for college students traveling abroad because it gives itineraries for broad areas of a country. For example, "Discover Spain" has highlighted and planned a trip called "Basque Spain & Camino de Santiago." This is the area of Spain where I will be at during my studies, so I flipped to those pages and found out a few places I would like to go. Some of the ideas that Lonely Planet offered were: a Pintxo Crawl (tasting all of the local food and wine in San Sebastian), Bilbao's Museo Guggenheim (Guggenheim Museum), and Leon's Cathedral. This is a great guide if you are staying in a general area, have the means to travel, and really want to embrace the culture of a country or region! 

CLICK HERE: Lonely Plant's Website

Thanks for Reading! 

   Lauren