I’ve only recently been testing the waters with solo traveling abroad and as a woman, there’s a stigma among the general population that traveling alone as a weak <eye roll>, naive <eye roll> woman isn’t the smartest thing to be doing. Although, any experienced traveler will tell you while you need to be aware and mindful, there is no reason why a woman-identifying person cannot travel on their own. You’ll probably even find it empowering.
My first trip I figured I could hop into Mexico like nbd, with my passport and a general idea of where I’m going. While that is certainly possible, I dug into some of the plentiful resources out there and found a few other things to get in place before leaving if time allows. The list below has become my pre-travel checklist. There are endless websites out there from more experienced travelers with all kinds of lists: things to pack, reviews on destinations and more photos than the internet could ever need. But I needed a simple checklist that I can keep in my iPhone notepad and mark off as I get ready for my trip.
First, if you’re on Facebook, I highly recommend the group Girls LOVE Travel®. When thinking over a possible destination, my first stop is this group. I use the search feature to find any posts mentioning my destination and make notes of the tips and recommendations the helpful travelers before me have shared. This is where I get a little obsessive (in the clinical sense, not the “OMG, I’m so OCD!” casual sense). I organize all the recommendations I come across into different categories along with the notes and then weed through to dwindle it down as best as I can.
Once you have your destination solidified, flights purchased, passport on the ready, and some specific recs, start checking things off of your to-do list. This list is for the basic 1 or 2 week traveler, you lucky month+-longers will have way more needs, I’m sure. I WOULDN’T KNOW, lucky fuckers.
Use your own judgement for prioritizing:
- Get the necessary visa right away – Although probably common knowledge, it wasn’t something that was my immediate thought at first. But getting the visa for Brazil was a nightmare that dragged on simply because of technical difficulties and the incompetence of others. Cuba’s visa was a simple process and some airlines include it with the flight purchase but with Southwest there was an extra step and fee
- Check the recommended vaccinations if that’s your thing. I’m leery of unnecessary vaccinations but the thought of catching yellow fever in Brazil was enough to get me on that wagon real quick like
- Purchase travel insurance – I won’t travel internationally without it and this is mainly because of how often I saw the warnings of traveling without insurance in my travel groups. Typically your US healthcare won’t do you any good. I only have experience with World Nomads and fortunately I’ve not needed to file a claim. There are other recs out there for various needs but their user interface is easy (can’t get the Quality Assurance Analyst outta me if you tried), I think the prices are reasonable for not really shopping around, and they seem to cover everything one would need with decent limits.
- Notify the US Embassy of your travel plans with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Plan. You know the devastating Hurricane Maria? Many US travelers needed assistance from the US Embassy to get home. It’s just a little peace of mind someone official knows of your general whereabouts. I also get the phone number and address of the US embassy in the country I’m traveling to and have it saved in my phone’s notepad
- Plan how you will communicate while abroad to avoid crazy roaming charges or when service is limited. My AT&T plan offers some kind of passport plan for $10 a day, there are apps like WhatsApp that allow you to text over WiFi or IMO which is recommended for video calls. There are also portable hotspots* you can buy intended for travelers. Just make sure your phone is in Airplane mode while away with WiFi still on. Tell your friends and family not to text or call you outside of those wifi apps unless you have a good roaming plan, because if for some reason you come out of airplane mode and there’s a backlog of texts, they’ll come rolling in along with their high roaming fees. *never used it, just the first one that came to mind
- Get the currency before you leave the US. I think this can be done at all banks? Bank of America, as much as they are the devil himself, they make it really easy to do this online and then mail the money to your house. It’s super easy, the conversion rate is usually better and it’s nice to have some once you land so you can settle in faster and not have to stress over getting it done at the airport. And make sure your credit cards will work where you are going, mine will not in Cuba and give your bank of travel notice so they don’t think any out of the country charges are fraudulent and block your card (thanks, Bank of America, that wasn’t stressful at the foreign gas pump at all!)
- Download maps for offline use. Maybe what I do is overkill, but because I have made an organized list of recommendations, I plot them all on a google map and then when you download the offline map in the mobile app for your travel destination, your bookmarked locations should be on the map. (I also create layers and color code my bookmarks and this is probably when I’ve really ventured into crazy territory. To see what I mean, check out my Cuba map.) And THEN, once I have my google map all set up, I download the map file and then import it into Maps.me. Maps.me is supposedly more current and seems to be the traveler’s choice over google. So you could be way more efficient and start there, I’m just really comfortable with Google Maps and only getting the hang of Maps.me so I want backup for now.
- Make photo copies of all your documents and cards. This sounds like me being paranoid but it has been recommended multiple times. Photo copy your license, passport, front and back of credit cards and anything else you may need should you get mugged and end up with nothing. (don’t be scared but prepared!) This way you’ll have card numbers to cancel credit cards if you need to and hopefully make it a little easier to replace passports so don’t end up taking an extended vacation you weren’t ready for.
- If you are an itinerary person and have some must-sees on your list, I make a list of all possible locations and their addresses to have handy either in hard copy or on your phone notepad so you can access it without phone service. Much of this has been inspired by my Cuba trip where I know WiFi will be very limited and maybe not always when and where I need it. I also share this list with an emergency contact in the US so they have a general idea of my plans as well as contact info for where I’m staying.
- Schedule an Uber – in my case, this has been more cost effective than parking at the airport and less of a hassle to family when your flight is leaving at the crack of dawn. You can schedule one in advance so it’s one less thing to do travel day.
- Print copies of booking confirmations – so I guess I am paranoid about unreliable technology, I do work in IT. And although it’s not eco-friendly, I make sure to print flight confirmation, visa receipt (in the case you are picking it up at the airport), proof and summary of travel insurance, also AirBnB or hotel and car confirmations.
- All the little things. You know like pack, arrange care for your plants, make sure you have travel snacks, something to read, something to keep you comfortable on flights, camera, tech bag with whatever chargers and batteries you need, download music and movies to your devices, withdraw cash to keep in USD, paint your nails. I don’t know why that’s on all my travel to-do lists but it is. Some folks suggest taking photos of your packed luggage in case you need to file a lost luggage claim, you have record of what your contents were worth. I’ve not yet been that together to remember this.
Or you can be the spontaneous traveler I wish I was and just wing it. Here’s a more concise list without all my drivel you can copy and past into notepad to check off.
- Get the necessary visa right away
- Check the recommended vaccinations
- Purchase travel insurance
- Notify the US Embassy
- Plan how you will communicate while abroad
- Get the currency before you leave the US.
- Download maps for offline use
- Make photo copies of all your documents and cards
- Get addresses for your itinerary plans to have for offline use
- Schedule an Uber
- Print copies of important docs
- All the little things
With all of the boring but important stuff out of the way, you can now be as laid back on your trip as possible and enjoy the ride.
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