- Student years are the best time to travel because you don’t have a lot of responsibilities to deal with yet. Though even students have to tie up their loose ends.
Tips for Tying up Loose Ends Before Traveling
Anyone who’s ever traveled knows the adventurous feeling you get when booking tickets and accommodation, planning the itinerary, and reading guides about your destination (what food to try, what places to visit, etc.). You start getting even more excited at the airport gate, going through passport control and taking your seat on the plane. Such an unforgettable feeling!
But, you need to make sure everything runs smoothly both on your trip and back home. Let’s figure it out together!
7 tips for getting unfinished business done
Deal with college. First of all, you need to decide how long you will travel for — a few weeks or months. Depending on that, you’ll have two options: to take a semester off or travel on summer vacation. But, if it’s just a week trip during studies, you have to discuss it personally with each professor.
To take a six-month break from college, you need to handle it with the school’s administration and prepare all necessary papers. It is a possible but complicated process, so think twice whether you need it.
To go on a short trip, you need to ask your professors about the options you have. If it is not during the exams, you can turn in all the necessary assignments in advance and get time for traveling. But your professors are making the final call here.
If you have some unfinished tasks, you can accomplish them fast without compromising on quality. Remember that there are may algorithm-like ways to complete most of the assignments. For example, you can use the PEEL paragraph method for essays or IMRAD for lab reports.
Next essential step is medical checkup. There are two reasons for that. First, there might be some dangerous infections in the country where you want to go, so vaccination might be required. The second reason is to make sure you are completely healthy and nothing unpredictable will happen to you on the trip.
Also, if you need to take some peels regularly, make sure you have enough with you to last the whole trip. Many countries don’t allow pharmacies to sell drugs by prescriptions that are written by foreign doctors. To be on the safe side, you can also take a legally binding document that proves your condition.
Prepare all the papers you need to travel. First and foremost, find out what documents you need for the country (whether a visa is required or just an international or a regular passport is enough).
Often, visa acquisition is quite complex because you will need to collect all sorts of documents (bank statement to show that you have enough money, a valid passport, a return ticket, etc.), but for different countries, these requirements might vary. Once you have all the papers ready, you can go to the embassy or do it online.
Do you have pets? Read this paragraph if your answer is yes. You can take your dog, cat, or guinea pig to travel with you, as well as a parrot, fish, and a rabbit. But, the rules and health requirements vary from country to country. Hence, check those in advance and consult your local vet if needed.
If you don’t want to take your pets with you, you can ask someone to look after them. It’s great if your relatives agree to help you because usually, you can trust those who are close to you. However, if you cannot find such a person, there are specialized hotels for animals. Try to find one of them in your city. It is essential to make sure the staff there will take good care of your pet (check living conditions like sleeping area, food, leisure, etc.).
Figure out the overseas transactions conditions. Of course, you can just take your credit card and travel where you want, but there is one thing you should pay attention to — when you use the card abroad, your bank can charge 1-3% fee for overseas transactions. That’s without taking into account the double conversion fee, which is also something you need to be aware of before purchasing that cute cat figurine. You should clarify this information and change the service terms if possible.
Sometimes, you’ll have to notify your bank about the trip, because they can regard your card activity as suspicious and freeze it.
When you resolve all issues with your credit card, don’t forget to buy some local currency beforehand just in case.
Check the rates of international calls and data roaming. Of course, almost every country has access to the Internet today, but mobile services can be handy if there’s poor or no connection to the Web in your destination country. Just call your mobile operator and ask about their international tariffs.
Create an atmospheric playlist for your trip. First of all, make one to listen to while on the plane, something ambient or electronic for example. You will experience an incredible meditation-like condition of your body and mind while going high through the clouds. The second playlist is for the journey, but you should choose the songs mindfully because they will become part of your memories and mood creators. For that, you can use the app you’re used to or try something new and creative tools that build a playlist for you based on one song you enter.
Hope you will tie up all your loose ends to enjoy the trip to the fullest!
