Tag: efficiency

So about a month ago I embarked on traveling across Europe for a year. Here is the checklist I used to prep before my departure:

Checklist

• Visit with family before leaving
• Reach out to friends to see if anyone wants to meet up abroad
• Complete taxes
• Pay any outstanding bills (hospital, friends, etc.)
• Cancel subscription based services that are not needed
• Remove outdated data/information on laptop to clear up space, shift over to external harddrive
• Buy/Test camera
• Buy/Test backpack
• Buy/Setup Eurorail pass 
• Book initial flight oversees (Flight from Chicago → Dublin)
• Book first 2 days at Hostel (to give some peace of mind when arriving)
• Call all banks to ensure accounts are not flagged when traveling abroad
• Ensure passport and license are up to date
• Ensure vaccination status is up to date
  • Recs for EU Travel: COVID + booster, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and rabies
  • Recs for Asia Travel: COVID + booster, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, rabies, cholera, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis
• Buy travel insurance – pay about $500 for 6 months through WorldNomads
• Ensure several checking accounts are setup, favorites listed below:
  • Charles Schwab – no foreign fees, no monthly fees, all insured, reimbursed for all ATM fees  
  • B of A – major bank that works with all the other banks and can fight for the best deals 
  • HSBC – ATMs all around the world, cheaper rates than other banks if you are not using their ATMs 
  • Worth checking nerd wallet for sign up bonuses 
• Ensure all Credit Cards are up to date:
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred Card 
  • Capital One Venture Rewards Card
  • Discover Card 
• Update phone plan
  • Switch plan from T-Mobile to Mint Mobile (since I’m not texting / calling abroad, all I wanted was to keep my phone number – which you can do for $15/month indefinitely with Mint through their plan)
  • Buy Airalo Data plan – get 100 GB of data for 180 days throughout +38 countries in Europe (https://www.airalo.com/europe-esim)
• Pack Clothes 
  • 14 boxers
  • 7 socks
  • 14 shirts
  • 1 pillow case
  • 2 tank tops
  • 1 pair of pants
  • 1 pair of khakis 
  • 2 pairs of shorts
  • 1 pair of swim trunks
  • 2 pairs of shoes (sperrys and sneakers)
  • 1 hoodie
  • 1 jacket
  • 1 beanie, 1 baseball hat
• Pack Appliances / Other
  • Laptop, electric shaver, kindle, phone charger, portable charger, hard drive, drone, camera and all their respective cords
  • Lock
  • Papers (passport, IDs, etc.)
  • Usual toiletries (toothbruth, toothpaste, nail clippers, towel, chapstick, deodorant, ear drops, eye drops)
  • Sleep care (eye mask, ear plugs)
  • First aid kit (consists of 3 bandaids, ibuprofen, antibiotic cream)
• Create general budgeting through Excel or Google Spreadsheet to calculate spending costs
  • Categories I included:
    • Up front costs, such as: Insurance, flights, Eurorail pass, etc
    • Average data/phone plan spend (per month)
    • Food (per diem)
    • Hostels / Hotels (per diem)
    • Activities / Entertainment (per week)
    • Average travel / transportation costs (per month)
    • Average subscription costs (Spotify)

sys.exit(“end of checklist”)

I understand that this list is personalized to what I needed, and as quite a unique individual (if I do say so myself), would not work for everyone. But I am still hoping that if you do end up traveling for an extended time, you can use this as a rough skeleton of some of the things to consider.