Tips for Traveling Abroad

After a very busy season traveling for some incredible destination weddings, I am so excited to be home with my babies and see the galleries coming in to share with you all! This week, I’ll be sharing some sneak peeks of the events from the 2024 wedding season, and some exciting blog posts as well! Stay tuned! In the meantime, I thought I would share a few things I found SUPER useful while traveling in Europe over the summer! Most of these are logistical things you can do to make your time abroad more enjoyable. So buckle up for some helpful tips!

1. Purchase an e-SIM in Advance.

The last thing you want is to arrive in an unfamiliar country and have no access to basic things like texting and GPS. Knowing that you can just plug in your hotel address into Apple Maps or text your tour guides from What’s App makes the whole experience of being overseas waaaay less stressful! You may need to check with your phone provider about the logistics of this one, because some carriers don’t allow you to use an e-SIM unless your phone is paid off and unlocked. If an e-SIM is not an option for you, then you’ll be stuck using your cell provider’s data roaming plan for $10-12/day per phone line! That adds up quickly if you’re planning to be gone a couple weeks!

That’s why I recommend using an e-SIM if you can. An e-SIM allows you to toggle back and forth very easily between your service providers, and switch to your e-SIM as soon as your plane lands overseas. An e-SIM is super cost effective as well. You can purchase data-only plans or data and calling plans for any number of GB/data and length of time, from one week to 60 days! For our 9-day trip, we purchased a 25-GB plan, and didn’t use half of it, but it was only $21.99! Much more economical than a regular data-roaming plan! I do recommend getting a Data + Calling plan, in case you need to call home for a bank emergency or something similar. Click the link here to shop e-SIM plans!

2. Research Transportation Options Carefully!

So we got adventurous, right? And decided to basically rely on public transportation or walk in both Italy and Greece. This worked SUPER well for us in Rome, but not so well in some parts of Greece. For example: in Rome, the public transit is super efficient, timely, and reliable. We purchased a Metro pass that gave us access to all the buses, trains, and subways in the area for the duration of our visit, and we quickly became comfortable traveling this way. The system is well organized and we made great use of this economical transportation. Copenhagen was very much the same, and we had no problems!

But in Greece it was a different story… We waited over an hour for one particular bus, and the bus schedules were much more sporadic (buses running every 60-90 minutes rather than every 5-12 minutes.) So if you missed a bus or the buses were running behind, it was hard telling how long you might sit at a bus stop! In Rome, this would have been a smaller problem, because it was fairly easy to walk everywhere. But in Greece, particularly in the islands of Corfu and Santorini where we spent a significant part of our time, the mountainous terrain made for some very… special… walks from place to place. Suffice it to say that next time we’re in Greece, we WILL be planning to rent transportation of our own! lol

Now the fun part of renting transportation is that you can choose anything from an e-bike or scooter to a traditional car rental. In Rome, we spent a day on e-bikes and LOVED it! We cruised around the city and took the bikes out of town to visit the aqueducts and catacombs, which made for a lovely day with the wind in my hair! 10/10 recommend!

If you decide to go with a standard car rental, be aware that many cars overseas still use standard transmission rather than automatic. And please don’t get ambitious thinking that you’ll “just brush up” your manual transmission driving skills while you’re navigating the narrow, winding roads going up and down steep hills in Greece. Also, take into consideration what parking will be like wherever you decide to stay. The roads can be very narrow, even just footpaths, especially if you’re choosing to stay at an Air BnB in a more residential neighborhood away from the tourist spots.

3. Communicate Travel Plans with your Bank; Bring Local Currency.

Most of the time, I would recommend going to your bank ahead of time and letting them know of your travel plans and purchase some of the foreign currency you’ll need. Exchange rates in the airport can be horrific, and ATM withdrawal fees can be insane. Some banks will reimburse your ATM fees/card fees, and some others charge a heavy exchange rate themselves. Do a little research to see what’s the best way, but make sure you have some funds spread across a few different accounts and carry cash with you as well. Some shops and taxi services in Europe take cash (euros) only, and you don’t want to be left in a bind if one of your accounts DOES get frozen and a card declines! My husband was very smart about this, and it literally saved us so much grief when one of our cards did stop working! You’ll also want to have some cash on hand to tip personal drivers, wait staff, boat captains/crew, etc.

While this topic isn’t really a fun one, it can make or break your traveling experience. You do NOT want the stress of dealing with unexpected money issues!

4. Book your Tours and Excursions in Advance!

While this may sound obvious, you wouldn’t believe the number of people we saw standing in line for HOURS to gain admission to popular attractions like the Parthenon or the Colosseum! If you’re going to Rome, you gotta know it’s something you’ll want to see, so get your tickets in advance. It will save you precious time (who wants to spend vacay standing in line in the heat??) and money as well! Ticket prices are lowest when purchased as far in advance as possible! Some guided tours sell out quickly, so if that’s something you’re interested in, definitely plan to book early!

I hope these tips were helpful for you! I plan to post more from these incredible trips in the coming weeks. And hey–don’t forget to carve some time out of your trip to quit the “sightseeing” and just wander. Get lost in the newness of the incredible places and explore off the beaten path! Some of the best restaurants, shops, and nightlife are found away from the crowds and provide the best memories! What are your favorite memories from traveling abroad? Do you have other helpful tips I’ve left off my short list? Leave them in the comments below! Happy traveling!