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Its travel season and it is time to make some plans. Most people know where they are going, where they are staying what they want to see. If, however, you are going for an extended period of time (2 weeks to 6 months), it is always good to have a long term plan.
Many times we take everyday tasks for granted and we don’t give it a second thought as to where your favourite coffee shop is or where you can find an ATM.
🏡 Where to Stay: Top Accommodations
🥾 Explore: Tours & Experiences
🚙 Hit the Road: Car Rental Deals
🛫 Get Away: Find Flight Deals
🎒 Shop: Travel Essentials
Here is a list for you to consider when you are going to be re-located for an extended period of time.
1. Find out about public transport. Train schedules, subway passes, bus routes. If you are there for a while might as well travel like the locals. Most metropolitan cities have apps for their transit services.
a. Try: CTA for Chicago, Rocket Man for TTC in Toronto, MTA subway time for New York
2. Locate closest ATM, bank and currency exchange
a. Global ATM locator for: VISA, MasterCard US, AMEX
3. Locate a few budget-friendly restaurants nearby. Walk around the neighbourhood to see where the locals eat. Ask around someone will lead you to a gem or at great experience at the very least.
a. Try: Trip Advisor, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Zagat
4. Find a green space, park or seawall where you can get some exercise. Check the Parks and Recreation section of the city that you are visiting. Maybe join a running or walking group.
5. Determine where the nearest grocery store, farmers market or street market. Buying local and fresh is always the best option. Getting to know business owners in your local area is always helpful.
6. Find a source of WIFI nearby. When you are writing, contacting family or Skyping you need that source to ‘your’ world or home so be sure and source those out.
a. Useful: Starbucks US, Starbucks Canada, Tim Horton’s (I’m Canadian after all – not all locations have WIFI)
7. If your phone is unlocked consider getting a local simcard for your phone. This will make local calls cheaper and easier for people to get a hold of you. Better then ‘till we meet again…”
8. Locate the nearest hospital, walk in clinic, emergency dentist. You just never know when you may need some help. Better to know what is located near you. Don’t mistake the Children’s hospital just because there is a big ‘H’ out front.
9. Register at your local Embassy. Best to be safe than sorry.
a. Canadian Embassy Locator, American Embassy Locator, UK Embassy Locator, GoAbroad.com (locates any embassy around the world)
If you are traveling for a few weeks or a few months. Make sure you have a few of these bases covered will make for a more enjoyable trip. Take the few minutes it will take to get this info when you get to your destination. It will make the adventure that much sweeter…
🥾 Explore: Tours & Experiences
🏡 Where to Stay: Top Accommodations
🚙 Hit the Road: Car Rental Deals
🛫 Get Away: Find Flight Deals
🎒 Shop: Travel Essentials
nice information
Hi Margarita,
You’ve got some great tips down here!! Tripadvisor, Yelp, Fodors, Frommers, Zagat, Lonely Planet, UrbanSpoon..they’re all super helpful in their own way.
I work for a travel start-up called “mygola” (http://www.mygola.com/) based in the US and India. Essentially, mygola lets you plan amazing uber-customized trips in just 15 minutes. You can choose from the world’s largest collection of beautiful hand-curated itineraries for trips taken by the real people (some of whom are hardcore travelers). you can tweak the itinerary as you see fit – add your hotel, change days, add co-travelers to your trip plan, share your trip on Facebook and Twitter to get comments and advice from friends etc. And you can carry this itinerary with you while you’re traveling, and get recommendations on-the-fly at your destination.
I thought you and your readers might want to check out mygola and give it a spin. Would be great if you did 🙂
Sneha.
I travel a lot and these are great tips. Money exchanges are always a hard thing to find for some reason. And I always look for great places to try local food.
I use those resources regularly for finding eateries. They’re super reliable!
These are fantastic tips! They make a world of difference if you are traveling for an extended period of time. Definitely also helps you save a lot of money and time.
This is all great info for me as we are considering taking our son to Europe for the first time.We get nervous because of his nut allergies so the hospital reminder is important.
Besides all of that, it was great to meet you in Chicago! And our exercise was all that walking we did.
Cheers! Mitch
It was great meeting you too. I hope our paths cross again.
I’ve used Yelp a lot this summer in my travels 🙂 Great tips.
Thanks for dropping by Heather. I have to admit, I use Trip Advisor more but that is because I love writing reviews on there. Do you write reviews on these sites?
So true! We just got back from a trip and locating a CIBC to deposit in was a bit tricky. Great post!
I hate having to pay banking fees because you cannot find a local bank branch. I should have added that… let your bank know you are away for a few months so they don’t think the card is stolen.
those are great tips; it would not have occurred to me to locate an ATM before travelling, but it makes sense that you should. Thanks for the great post
I tend to just use my debit card so its good to know that you can get cash advances from your credit card. Never hurts to plan. thanks for dropping by!
Great advice. Especially about checking in with your embassy. You never know.
Yes, I think sometimes we forget how useful it is to have an embassy or consulate near by. Thanks for dropping by Candace!
I was under the impression I already commented here because I saw this post earlier and loved it, so my apologies. This is brilliant. More people should do half this stuff and travel would be so much less stressful.
I did not see your comment so thanks for coming back and commenting. I have to admit, some good planning ahead of time can be time saving later on. I am working on other traveler tips so stayed tuned.