Travel preparations to travel the world

• Organize your first 2-3 nights. It is nice to stay spontaneous and go with the flow.
• Learn a few words (e.g. thank you, sorry) in the language of your next destination. A nice way to conjure a smile on somebody’s face.
• Check the weather / season. Adapt your clothes.
• Do a small research for each country/place what you would like to visit.
• Buy your first transportation. Check if you need an onward ticket to enter (e.g. US). If you do not know how long you will stay in a country buy an onward ticket and cancel it. Most airlines have a 24-hour cancelation policy so you can purchase a ticket, print it, and then cancel it. Another option is to purchase a cheap bus ticket to another country.
• Extend the expiration date of your passport and credit cards if needed.
• There exist a few vaccinations which are really recommended in some countries. Call the tropical medicine for further information. It is expensive but normally it is just once in your life.
• Save in your email, dropbox or google drive: Transportation tickets (if not on an app), Hostel reservations, Insurance information, Contact info for credit card companies, Emergency contacts and important addresses and a list with passwords (coded) plus a scan of your important documents (passport, personal ID, driver’s license and international vaccination card)
• Check if you need to deregister from your home country. For example I have to when travelling longer than three months.
• Buy an international travel health insurance; if you feel safer. I have this one: https://versicherung.statravel.at/reise-krankenversicherung (not valid in North Korea, Iran and war zones)
• Learn a new language: duolingo.com (free. exist as app as well). It is fun and addictive. You learn the orthography, auding and translating (no speech practices) and the possibility to repeat the learned words.