First Time Traveling Abroad? 5 Important Beginner Tips

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If it’s your first time traveling abroad, you may be feeling overwhelmed.

That’s why we’ve put together these important beginner travel tips to help you plan your trip.

Just follow these simple steps below, and you’ll see just how simple planning a trip abroad can be.

trip planning - first time traveling abroad

CONTENTS – In this article, you will learn some essential tips for your first time traveling abroad, including:

What You Should Know About Planning a Trip Abroad
Advance Planning and Budget
Booking Flights Early
Finding Accommodations
Packing the Essentials
Leaving Some Room for Spontaneity
Final Thoughts on Your First Time Traveling Abroad
Next Steps

Planning a Trip Abroad: What You Need to Know

Planning a holiday should be a joyous occasion.

That’s because it involves spending time planning all of the fun and exciting things you get to do with the family in new and amazing locales.

But more often than not, planning a trip is somewhat stressful.

This is especially true when it’s your first time traveling abroad.

It’s even more so, with the rising cost of living threatening holiday budgets across the land.

What do you need to know about holiday planning that could lighten the load for you?

Advance Planning and Budget

An evergreen piece of advice for any big event or trip is to start your planning as early as you possibly can.

You may already think you are planning far enough in advance, but start even earlier than that!

In the case of a your first time traveling abroad, planning early allows you to budget more audaciously.

Five or so months before your trip, you have time to put a little more money aside for spending. And, this allows for doing things you might not have otherwise had the money for.

As such, your holiday budget can be catered to the things you’d like to do, as opposed to the things you can currently afford.

Settling on your destination and general plans also gives you the best chance of securing your flights and accommodations.

This brings us to the next tip for your first time traveling abroad.

Booking Flights Early

Your natural next step is to secure your transport for your holiday.

Booking flights can be a stressful experience at the best of times, let alone with the difficulties many passengers are currently facing at the airports.

Booking early gives you peace of mind.

It ensures that your holiday plans will not be derailed by difficulty sourcing plane tickets.

Booking early can also get you a much lower price on plane tickets than their usual rate.

Premiums are added on as the date of travel nears, with the effect of punishing the underprepared.

Save your money, and book early!

Finding Accommodations

The same philosophy most definitely applies to booking accommodations.

Wherever you decide to travel, there will be hotel and holiday let locations that are in particularly high demand.

That might be due to accessibility, season, or proximity to beaches and urban centers.

These will be the first to fill up. Unfortunately, that leaves you with narrowing options for accommodations.

They will also be the first to inflate in price, so book early, to get your pick of the beds at the best price.

You might also be able to leverage your situation to get unique discounts on accommodation. As an example, there is a Premier Inn discount code NHS workers can use to subsidize their holiday stay.

This could be a lifeline for families on smaller budgets.

If you are traveling to a location such as London for a mini city break and your hotel isn’t quite ready then you could make use of a luggage storage facility. Luggage storage in Victoria station gives you a nice central location to leave your bags and start exploring right away.

There is no point hanging around waiting for your hotel when you could check in later and take in some of the sights while you wait.

Plus, there is always something happening in London so you will never be bored, you may even decide to take a spin on the big wheel.

Packing the Essentials

Lastly, in all the excitement of planning your travel, you won’t want to forget to pack the essentials.

Documents first; you’ll need your passport and visa, and any travel insurance documents, kept together for safety.

If you’re European and traveling within Europe, don’t forget your your health insurance (EHIC) card.

A pre-paid debit card can be useful for day-to-day expenditures.

Don’t forget a portable charger to ensure you’re never without a phone battery.

And of course, you’ll need an outlet converter so you can use your computer and other devices. A universal adapter comes in handy and works in many countries of the world.

Allow for Scheduled Tours and Spontaneity

Up until now, all of the planning steps we’ve discussed above help you build a framework for your trip.

And, you’ll want to spend some time planning out your activities and tours. After all, you don’t want to miss out on the best things to see and do your first time traveling abroad.

But you do want to leave some space in your plans for spontaneity.

Whether than means pulling off the road when you see a beautiful scene, or changing your itinerary to spend more time at a stop you’ve fallen in love with – allow for it.

Flexibility is key here.

And when you balance out planning with some serendipity, your first time traveling abroad is going to be all the better!

Final Thoughts on Your First Time Traveling Abroad

If you really want to see the world and this is your first time traveling abroad, it’s understandable planning your trip can take some time.

But if you follow these steps and be open minded to learning, you’ll feel more comfortable with international travel in no time.

Your first trip overseas or over land to a new country will not likely be your last.

Next Steps

You’ll discover more tips for first time international travel by reading these articles next: