In this guide we give you tips on how to save money for a vacation, but also how to save a lot of money during your trips. In this way, you may be able to significantly extend your stay. Let’s start with our savings tips before your adventure starts.

Saving for Travel

Before you go on a trip, it is of course important to have a basic amount of money at your disposal. Accommodation, living expenses and flights to the destination must be covered before you can finally start. It is also important not to forget the running costs at home. It plays an important role whether you are only planning a short stay of 1-4 weeks or whether you want to travel longer. We will now explain both scenarios and the possibilities for cleverly implementing them in more detail.

Saving for a Short Trip

Traveling for a short time is the most common and easiest thing you can do. Employees in particular often cannot help themselves. The advantage is obvious: For a short trip, you hardly need to worry about your job and raising money shouldn’t usually be a problem either.

As an employee, a bonus, holiday or Christmas bonus is often enough and the big adventure can begin. Quickly hand in your vacation to the boss and off you go. Since you usually have between 25 and 30 days of vacation available in Europe, it is also not that difficult to travel for a month or even two months, as long as you plan your vacations on bridge days and public holidays. Overtime can also help to get the necessary money or be converted into free time.

Of course, it always depends to a certain extent on the mindset of your boss, but as a rule, many superiors understand their employees’ vacation requests. We ourselves worked for a company for a long time, where 4 weeks vacation was not a problem.

A particular advantage is that you continue to get your salary during your paid vacation and you are therefore also on the safe side financially… As you can see, a permanent job is a good background for traveling carefree and forgetting everything else.

But if you are a student, traveling may not be that easy… Then it is best to follow our tips for preparing for a long-term trip, even if you only plan to be on the road for a short time. Alternatively, it always makes sense to talk to your parents about your plans, they might support you in your project if you can tell them some good reasons why traveling would benefit your life and personality.

The experience you gain while traveling is definitely worth its weight in gold, it makes your personality more interesting, and it is not uncommon for applicants with travel experience to be highly regarded by HR managers, since they have also gained their own experience away from the university campus.

Tip: As a student, consider a semester abroad or an internship abroad. This often costs you nothing at all and is a great opportunity to further your private and professional/school education.

Save for Long-Term Travel

It is often long-term trips over several months that cause the greatest problems in financial terms. It will then no longer be possible to work and even the vacation days will hardly be enough to be on the road for several months. Quitting your job is often the only option, unless you are a student or can manage your own time as a freelancer/self-employed person.

Here we explain step by step how you can properly save a large sum of money and make your long-cherished dream of a long-term trip to Southeast Asia or around the world a reality.

Quit Your Job

Many people shy away from radical and definitive steps such as resigning. On the one hand, we can understand when you have built something up and enjoy your job. On the other hand, you will never get out of your routine and discover new things! Many employees have little joy in their job anyway and only stay in their employment out of laziness and fear – if that’s the case with you, then you should definitely not hesitate and change something in your life. In general, we have summarized several variants and options for you here in order to “properly” quit your job or to get free time for a nice long journey to self-discovery.

The most important step: Create a separate bank account!

For us, opening a completely separate account is the most important and first step to laying the foundation for your big journey. This newly created account is only for your travel savings and must be isolated from all other cash flow for now. In any case, the account must be free of charge, ideally it should even be with a bank other than your house bank and includes a credit card with which you can later withdraw money worldwide free of charge. This is the only way you can really separate your finances properly and have to overcome some hurdles to spend the money.

The free Revolut account with debit card is a great option to open such an account.

The opening of the account is particularly well done. All you have to do is download the app to your smartphone and use your cell phone camera to confirm your identity – that’s it! Zero paperwork!

Why to open a separate bank account?

• You can manage your budget away from running costs
• Nothing will be debited from this account (contracts etc.)
• The account balance corresponds to 100% of your future travel budget
• Every single amount that is paid in increases the travel fund and the motivation to save

Save a lot of Money for Travel – Tips

After you have opened your separate account, it is time to gradually fill it with money. First of all, you should transfer all your previous savings and free capacities to the newly opened account, as a kind of basis. If you don’t have any savings, that’s no problem either! Here we show you how you can really save large sums for travel relatively quickly.

Sell Your Car

The car is the biggest cost hog for most people. Insurance, tax, maintenance and upkeep costs for petrol all add up. It is not unusual for this to add up to several thousand dollars a year. Not even considering the depreciation! When you sell your car, you not only save a lot of money, but you can also free up a large sum immediately. If you really want to travel for a long time, there is probably no way around selling your car.

Cancel the Cell Phone Contract

The good old mobile phone contract – indispensable for many, but in our eyes often extremely expensive. Even small data packages cost a lot of money and many will probably pay between 50 and 100 dollars a month. If you now extrapolate that over the year, it comes to a good 600-1,200 dollars, which corresponds to your flight or the cost of living for several months in Southeast Asia… We therefore recommend that you cancel your contract at the next opportunity and get a prepaid card instead.

Party Less

In addition to the unpleasant consequences of alcohol consumption and the bad smoky air, it is above all the wallet that suffers from going out. No party starts for less than 50 dollars today, 50-150 dollars per weekend are quickly vanished! If you extrapolate that for the month or for the whole year, you can easily save around 5,000 dollars a year or even more if you are a regular clubgoer.

Cancel Other Contracts

Netflix, Spotify and other entertainment subscriptions are essential for most people nowadays, but once you’ve freed yourself from them, you won’t miss it. Why pay when you can get tons of videos and entertainment on demand for free on YouTube.

Unnecessary insurance (mobile phone insurance, legal protection) and home savings contracts are always worth considering to cancel. Just take a quick look at your account and look at the outgoing positions or debits that went to insurance companies that were never used and make a courageous decision to change something.

Stop Smoking

Smoking is an addiction and also extremely harmful! Stop it, save money and benefit from general well-being. Anyone who has normally smoked a pack a day saves around 2,750 dollars per year, which is extremely good for the travel budget.

Cook for Yourself Instead of Going to Restaurants

Admittedly, you can save yourself to death, but try to cook for yourself more often and go to the restaurant less. As convenient as eating out may be, you can save money by cooking yourself. Alternatively, you can simply go to your mom or friends more often.

Sell ​​Unused Things

Who does not know that? The expensive mountain bike hasn’t even seen the mountains yet, the DVD collection is gathering dust and you don’t have time for the game console anyway? Away with it! What you don’t use now and haven’t used for a while will only lose value.

The chances that you will ever seriously miss these things are slim. Make money from everything you can. This also includes books that have already been read, unnecessary furniture and decorative items, bicycles, sports equipment, hi-fi equipment and much more. The sooner you start decluttering and getting rid of old things, the sooner you will feel freer and the extra money in the account can increase your holiday budget enormously.

An unused mountain bike and a games console that hasn’t been switched on for months can add up to more than 700 dollars in your pocket in one fell swoop. A lot of money in Southeast Asia!

Of course, there are many other ways to save or to get money. Be creative, open a flea market stall or do whatever comes to your mind…

Save a Certain Percentage of Your Income

While you are still working before your trip, you now have to show iron-hard discipline and put as much as possible on the side. It is best to transfer a fixed monthly amount to your specially opened savings account. Every dollar you save now is available later on your travels and you can have a good time! Always keep this in mind and transfer as much money as possible from your Daily account to the Holiday account!

Prepare Properly for the Trip

In addition to the savings options already mentioned, you should also make sure you spend your money wisely. A number of expenses (such as flight & hotel) are unavoidable, but can be extremely influenced in your favor. From booking flights and hotels ahead of time to subletting the apartment, there are many starting points where just the right timing can save you good money!

Book in Time

Booking right on time is one of the most important ways to save money. If you book your flight too early, for example, there are no promotional offers yet, if you book too late, the cheapest seats are already sold out. The right booking time can also play a major role when booking a hotel. In general, you should always book accommodation well in advance if possible. This takes away a little flexibility from you, but protects you from nasty surprises. Accommodation is often quite expensive during the high season and is often fully booked. For example on Koh Samui in Thailand! If you want a hotel there over Christmas and New Year’s Eve, you need to reserve well in advance.

In general, you should observe the following rule of thumb for the right booking time with regard to flights:

• Flights from Europe to Southeast Asia are cheapest around 19 weeks before departure.
• Flights from Europe to South Africa are cheapest on average 19 weeks before departure. The cheapest month to fly is May (approx. 683 dollars), the most expensive December (approx. 892 dollars).
• Flights from Europe to the USA are cheapest on average 25 weeks before departure. The cheapest month to fly is February (approx. 572 dollars), the most expensive July (approx. 982 dollars).
• Flights from Europe to the Caribbean/South America are cheapest on average one week before departure. The cheapest month to fly is January (approx. 717 dollars), the most expensive July (approx. 907 dollars).

Note: Due to the Covid crisis, these statistics may vary slightly.

Use Error Fares

Error fares are so-called price errors in the system of airlines, hotels and on booking sites. It is not uncommon for extremely cheap flights to be snagged for just a few euros. There is no guarantee that you will get this flight at this price, but the airlines often grant cheap prices out of goodwill and for reasons of customer loyalty.

If you want to profit from error fares, it is super important that you are fast. It is not uncommon for these to only be available for a few minutes or hours and then already booked out or corrected.

Avoid High Season

Another way to save a lot of money: Avoid the high/peak season. It is often enough to arrive a few days or weeks after New Year’s Eve or Christmas and you’re good. Cheaper accommodation and more relaxed prices in general then prevail again. Even when big events or national holidays are coming up, accommodation is fully booked in many countries and in popular locations.

Traveling in the off-season (rainy season in Thailand, Bali, Vietnam, etc.) can also have many advantages. Tourist traffic is much lower, prices are more relaxed and nature is particularly beautiful and green.

Rent or Cancel the Apartment

Subletting your own apartment is a good way to prepare for a long-term trip and also gives you the opportunity to earn a small income. It is best to search in advance on relevant platforms and in Facebook groups for interested parties. If you live in a flat share, you can offer your room. For very determined people who definitely want to stay away for a year or even longer, liquidating the apartment is also an option. This frees up your monthly budget and you can increase your holiday budget even further by selling furniture.

Even if it may be difficult for many: Maybe there is also the possibility to move in with the parents for a while? So you can put a lot of money aside in advance and store your belongings there during the duration of the trip.

Insurances

While we have previously recommended that you cancel unnecessary insurance, there is one you definitely need! International health insurance is elementary and protects you and your family from financial ruin if something should happen to you. Your local health insurance does not cover you abroad and if you have even the smallest injury or fall ill, everything has to be paid for in cash. A simple broken leg or a week-long hospital stay due to dengue fever can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.

Not to mention the cost should something worse happen to you! Quite a few travelers have already moved naively to foreign countries and in the end could not pay their medical bills or are now in debt due to medical emergencies.

Therefore, take out international health insurance for the entire travel period. From our own experience, we can recommend SafetyWing, which transparently presents its services and exclusions and is also quite cheap. Regardless of whether it is a short or long-term trip, SafetyWing offers the right insurance package.

Conclusion: Although you cannot initially save by taking out international health insurance – if bad things happen, you will be saved from financial ruin and can take care of your health without having to worry about financial matters!

Do a Medical Check-up Beforehand

As already mentioned, you have to pay for all medical bills abroad first. It’s all the more stupid if you get sick right at the beginning of your trip and then have to deal with it. It is therefore best to have a check-up done while you are still insured through your job. So you can be sure that you are not missing anything.

A visit to the dentist is advisable, as many foreign health insurance companies exclude exactly this. It may also be advisable for female travelers to go to the gynecologist you trust in advance.

Cheap Travel – Money Saving Tips When Traveling

If you have now saved your sum X and the journey begins, you can still turn many screws to extend your trip or stretch the budget for more luxury. With the following tips you can save a lot of money when traveling, you just have to know how!

Travel with Hand Luggage Only

Traveling with hand luggage saves money, especially when booking flights with low-cost airlines such as AirAsia. If you can reduce everything to 7kg and get it compressed to hand luggage size, you can save yourself the fees for extra luggage. There are now even a number of clever backpack solutions that have specialized in the needs of backpackers.

Take Snacks on the Plane

Another tip for flying with a low-cost airline – meals and drinks are almost always not included in the price and have to be bought on board, which is expensive. If you take precautions, you can save some money and also have a lot of delicious things with you. Before boarding you should pack your drinks and snacks in your backpack. It has already happened to us that the cabin crew forbade us to take our own drinks on board when boarding.

Travel Together

Traveling together and thus taking a hotel room together, renting a car or sharing other costs for transfers is extremely easy on the holiday budget. If you don’t have a travel buddy and you’re traveling alone, it can be worth looking out for travel partners in Facebook groups, possibly only for partial stages.

Even if that’s not your thing, it’s always worth being open and talking to people. For example, upon arrival at the airport, you can be on the lookout for other travelers who also want to take a taxi. Just ask if you want to share the vehicle – hardly anyone has anything against saving money. This can also work for tours. The more participants come together, the cheaper it gets. Just ask around in the area or at the hostel if anyone would like to join the next island trip.

Eat Like a Local

Local food is extremely cheap, especially in Southeast Asia. So eat like a local, visit the small restaurants and try new dishes more often. These often cost only a fraction of the Western cuisine and are also much tastier. It is also important that you do not necessarily go to a restaurant that is at the top of TripAdvisor or that is overcrowded with tourists. Here you can be sure that the price level has now adjusted to tourist demand.

Go Like a Local

Choosing the right means of transport on site also helps to save. Often the taxi is the most expensive option! Just look around at how the locals get from A to B. Use public transport, including unusual ones such as the river boats in Bangkok. Uber and Grab can also save money. The taxi apps show the prices very transparently and protect against rip-off.

If you want to cover longer distances by bus and train, then we recommend the 12Go booking platform in Southeast Asia. There you can easily compare the connecting routes and options and the prices are displayed transparently! Omio is ideal for bus and train routes in Europe and America.

Sleep Like a Local

Sleep Like a Local means that you don’t always have to stay in a 5 star hotel. A simple guest house or hostel usually does the trick and is also much cheaper. You can also choose more remote neighborhoods and places where few tourists otherwise get lost. The prices there are often much lower. But always keep in mind that more remote areas often require more expensive transport, which ultimately could not justify the savings.

Avoid the Tourist Areas – Or Sometimes Not!

Those who avoid tourist areas can often save. But it is sometimes also advisable to travel to a tourist area, as there is often an oversupply of accommodation and there is a real price war. For example, rooms on Phuket in the main town of Patong are particularly cheap, as the large number of hotels simply does not fill up. It is therefore best to search online in advance in several places around your destination for your next accommodation.

Compare Prices

A price comparison is never a mistake, both at home and when travelling. Before you accept the room rate in a hotel, it is worth comparing on hotel search engine. For flights it is always advisable to carry out a price comparison. On AirGuru you can automatically search multiple websites for the cheapest flight offers.

House-Sitting

House-sitting is the latest trend when it comes to staying in great places for free. If you’re open to doing specific jobs or looking after homes and estates, then housesitting is a great way for you to save money when you travel.

Couch-Surfing

Even if couch surfing is a little too personal for us, it can be a great way to make new friends and stay for free around the world. People who are open minded and still looking for a local adventure might well consider couch surfing.

Negotiate

When on holiday, the rule applies almost everywhere: negotiate! Especially on markets and in tourist areas, the prices are often three to ten times higher and negotiations are mandatory to even get a fair price. As a rule of thumb: You can actually bargain and haggle for everything (taxi, souvenirs, clothes) except for food. Haggling is also inappropriate in supermarkets or large shopping malls.

Earn Money While Traveling

Many adventurers and travelers, once on the move, want to extend their trip. But with a limited budget and no income, this is difficult to achieve. Here we explain how you can earn some money while traveling.

Work as a Freelancer

In many countries, especially in Southeast Asia, but also in America, you are not allowed to work, and certainly not with a tourist visa. So if you want to make money, you have few options. On the one hand, you could travel to a work and travel friendly country like Australia and earn money there for a while. On the other hand, it is always not a bad income if you rent out your apartment or similar in your home country.

You can also try your hand as a web worker. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection. For example, as a freelancer you can earn your money anywhere in the world. Various platforms offer payment if you write high-quality texts for customers, do translations or take on other activities on the Internet.

Here is an overview of the best sites for online jobs:

• Upwork
• Textbroker
• Facebook Group: Freelancer and Jobs

Cost for a Trip to…

After all the tips listed here about saving for your vacation itself, you are now wondering how much money you need to be able to start your adventure. That’s why we’ve put together a rough overview of the costs for a trip to the respective country as a “normal traveler” in this section. Normal traveler means you will definitely not be staying in luxury hotels, but neither are you staying in shared hostels.

Note: If you travel with two people, you can usually halve the cost of accommodation, excursions and local transport (except for domestic flights and entrance tickets, of course).

Do you have any other tips on saving for travel? Leave us a comment below!

The post Saving for Travel – Complete Guide with 27 Tips appeared first on OnYourPath.

Travel preparation Step 1: six months left until the trip

You should start planning and preparing about 6 months in advance for a long-term trip. You will not believe this? We will now tell you exactly why you should start planning and organizing your trip so early. In this way you can also save money and avoid stress and hectic in the later preparation phase shortly before the start of your journey.

Check and refresh vaccinations

6 months before your trip starts, you should find out which vaccinations are required for the respective country or countries on your trip around the world. Especially in the times after the corona pandemic, there are many different regulations with regard to the vaccination status of travelers. While some countries no longer require any proof at all, in regions of the world you are on the safe side with 2 vaccinations. Still other destinations require a third vaccination in the form of a booster for entry.

But not only the vaccination against Covid plays a role. In any case, you should also have the vaccination status of the standard vaccinations (e.g. tetanus) checked by your doctor. They can also advise you which other vaccinations may be advantageous or even mandatory for your trip.

Since some vaccinations are so-called multiple vaccinations, you may need about 3 months for complete immunization. It therefore makes sense to deal with the topic about 6 months before you travel.

Cancel the apartment

Roughly speaking, it is usually worth terminating the rental contract for a travel duration of 3 months or more and spending the monthly rent on your trip. Alternatively, you can also sublet your apartment via AirBnB or otherwise during your absence. This way you can earn some money while traveling or cover the running costs.

Giving up your apartment is not absolutely necessary, you have to decide this point for yourself. It is also advisable from a financial point of view to check whether the effort is worth it for you personally or not… If you want to move around the world for a year or even longer, it is definitely worth terminating the contract and saving money!

However, you should also bear in mind that depending on the housing market, it can be quite difficult to find an apartment when you return. In this case, it would be good if you could stay with friends or your parents for a while after your return.

Create a savings plan

If you haven’t put any money aside for your long-term trip yet, then now is the best time to start. Set aside a large part of your monthly income, going to the limit of what you can handle. In the end, you don’t have to spend all your savings on your trip, but you have a good cushion that lets you sleep better at night.

For 6-8 months of travel you should have at least 6,000-8,000 $ on the side. However, it is also important to remember that with this budget you always have to spend wisely, even in Southeast Asia or Latin America.

Travel preparation Step 2: four months left until the trip

Around four months before the trip is the best time to save a lot of money when booking, last minute was yesterday and has hardly existed at least since Corona. Here we explain what you should book in advance as part of your long-term and world trip preparation.

Flight booking

As already mentioned, last minute bargains are a thing of the past. The best time to book flights is about 4 months before departure. It is important that you compare the flight prices with a flight search engine, this is the only way you can book the best flight deal. Which airline you choose depends of course on your preferences and the flight route. If you already have a lot of time and saving is a priority, it may also be worth considering flights from other cities than your nearest airport or booking open jaw flights with a stopover.

If you then want to get from country to country in a region (e.g. Southeast Asia) or need domestic flights, then a short-term flight booking is perfectly sufficient. The ticket prices in Southeast Asia and Co. are usually still extremely cheap 1-2 weeks before departure. So you don’t need to book flights for the entire itinerary 4 months in advance.

Tips for cheap flights:

• Airguru –> Long-distance and domestic flights
• Kiwi –> Unusual flight routes with stopovers to save money

Book accommodation

We have also had very good experiences with early booking when booking accommodation. If you’re lucky, you can still get a cheap price shortly beforehand, but you can usually get better deals if you book early. Find out whether there are holidays or other celebrations in the respective travel country in the month you want to travel, because prices usually rise extremely on these days. One of the biggest myths is that you get the cheapest price locally. That’s not true at all, on the contrary, at least in Southeast Asia. There, the walk-in price was significantly higher for every accommodation we stayed in than with an online booking via Agoda.

If you plan to stay in one place for a long time, then booking monthly through AirBnB or local Facebook groups and websites can be worthwhile.

If you want to travel permanently from place to place, then we only recommend booking the first accommodation after your arrival, you can then book all other hotels, hostels or rooms around 4-7 days before your onward journey.

We recommend the following platforms for booking accommodation:

• Agoda –> The best and largest booking site for Asia & Southeast Asia
• Booking –> The best booking site for Europe and Americas
• Hostelworld –> Ideal for hostels and cheap guest houses
• AirBnB –> Ideal for longer stays, homestays and apartments – unfortunately the platform is getting more and more a hotel booking website.

Apply or check passport

If you don’t have a passport yet, apply for one now. If you did one a few years ago, then check how long it is still valid. In many countries, the passport must be valid for at least 6 months BEYOND the intended length of stay in order to be able to apply for a visa. In the worst case, you will even be refused entry on site.

An example: If you want to stay in Thailand for 6 months, then your passport must be valid for 12 months at the time of entry. Six months validity for the period of stay and a further six months beyond the period of the planned stay.

Travel preparation Step 3: three months left

Slowly but surely your big journey is getting closer and closer. Now, as you prepare for your trip, it’s time to tackle the more tedious visa, financial, and insurance issues. We’ll now tell you everything you need to save yourself a lot of trouble during your stay abroad.

Apply for credit cards

One of the questions we get asked a lot is money. Many make the mistake of traveling with cash or just a conventional EC card on vacation. But that doesn’t work on long-term trips. EC cards from Europe are completely worthless abroad, they don’t work. Also, it’s definitely not a good idea to travel around with all your travel savings in your pocket. You should always have some cash with you, but no more than 200$ and an additional 50-100€.

The better and more practical solution are credit cards. Please also note that you will definitely need more than one credit card. We usually even recommend 3 different credit cards. The simple reason for this is that you can easily lose your card, it can be stolen or confiscated from a defective machine. With only one card you would now be completely helpless and broke. With your other backup cards you don’t have this problem and you can continue your journey without delay.

Since there are so many credit cards on the market, you can simply choose the one with the best conditions.

Revolut

Revolut is banking 2.0 and the app convinces with great functions. So you can manage your money in an extremely large number of currencies and also pay locally with them. So you save yourself the conversion fees. It is also possible to invest money in crypto, which could well suit the lifestyle of many travelers. The card and account are also 100% free, the bank is based in England and your deposits are protected against loss up to €100,000 via the EU. So, purely from the facts, everything speaks in favor of the card from Revolut!

Info & conditions

• Fee: free of charge
• Card: Visa
• Virtual Card: Yes
• Multi Currency: Yes
• Payment fees abroad: free of charge
• Withdraw fee abroad: 200€ / month free – after 2% of revenue

Click here to apply for the free Revolut card…

Apply for visa

Find out well in advance whether a visa is required for your chosen travel country or countries on your itinerary. As citizen of a developed country, you can enter many countries without a visa. In this case you will receive a temporary permit to stay. The duration varies by country, but in most cases it is between 30 and 90 days.

Only if you want to travel to countries that require a more complicated visa application is it advisable to start 3 months in advance. Even if you need several visas, you should work through the list in good time, as many embassies keep your passport for several weeks to issue a visa.

For travel destinations where you can go to the embassy in person and receive your visa immediately, it is usually sufficient to take care of it 1-2 weeks in advance.

If you want to have less stress with the visa, you can also put the issue in the hands of a visa agency like iVisa. They take care of everything for a small fee and the chances of a smooth process are much better. Some countries (e.g. Indonesia) require a local guarantor or inviter, a visa service also takes care of such things. We have had very good experiences with iVisa.

Travel insurance

Travel health insurance is mandatory! Under no circumstances should you travel abroad without it, because that would be simply irresponsible! In times of Covid-19, some countries even made international health insurance a condition of entry, so you will definitely not be able to avoid it. When preparing for a trip around the world, you should definitely look out for a suitable one.

A foreign health insurance does not cost a fortune and is available from just a few bucks per month.

Tip: SafetyWing is a worldwide travel insurance for travelers and digital nomads…

Now it’s getting serious: the last few weeks before departure

Are you looking forward to your trip? The most important things have already been done and from now on the time flies by. In the last few weeks before departure, however, you should definitely take care of a few small things to get off to a good start.

Cleaning out

The best thing to do is take a good look around your apartment and sell everything you no longer need. So you can kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand you muck out at home and at the same time you earn a nice pocket money that you can certainly use for your trip.

Even if you are giving up your apartment completely or storing your belongings, it is an advantage to have parted with some things in advance.

Download travel apps / set up offline maps

In order to be digitally up to date, you should ideally prepare your smartphone for the trip. Download the most important apps and put your phone in “travel mode”.

Google Maps: The most important app by far is Google Maps for finding your way around the world. Here you can also download offline maps and navigate anywhere using data. This has the advantage that you do not necessarily have to have an internet connection in the travel country.

XE Currency: The currency converter helps you deal with new currencies. The app can be used offline and you can convert the prices into your usual currency.

Google Translator: With the Google Translator you can nowadays translate or even communicate in several languages ​​very reliably. Be sure to download the languages ​​you might need on your trip offline. A corresponding function is available in the app.

Dropbox: Here you can store photos and videos in a cloud and retrieve them on any other device. If you ever lose your smartphone or it is stolen, at least you have saved the photos as a backup. We also advise you to keep copies of the most important documents there.

Bookmark OnYourPath: Last but not least, you should of course also bookmark our site. You can do this in your mobile browser, some even allow adding it to the home screen. You can use the reading bar (e.g. Safari browser or Opera) to save entire articles offline and read them without being online.

Safe copies of important travel documents

As already mentioned, we advise you to scan your most important documents and save them in a cloud (e.g. Dropbox). This way you can always access it if you lose it and, for example, it’s easier to apply for replacement documents. You should definitely save the following documents online:

• Passport
• Driver’s license
• International health insurance
• File with emergency numbers (e.g. hotlines to block credit cards etc.)

We hope to have helped you at least a little with these tips for long-term and around the world trip preparation. We wish you an unforgettable experience on your journey!

Do you have any other tips for preparing for a long-term trip around the world? We look forward to your additions in the comments section below!

The post Long-Term / Round the World Trip Preparation in 4 Simple Steps appeared first on OnYourPath.