BY DR. ELINOR GARELY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, TOURISMEXECUTIVES.COM (A DIVISION OF ETN PUBLISHING) | FEB 19, 2015
Traveling for a few days, even a week is not a big deal! Plant watering and bill paying can be postponed for a few days without credit scores dropping and plant death from malnutrition; however, travel for a month (or longer) and the planning skills of an Army lieutenant may be necessary.
Plan. Prepare. Protect
1. Pull up a map and consider England and Europe; determine the countries/cities to visit.
2. Call Rail Europe and talk with one of their travel experts for help in selecting train routes and schedules and ultimately a price for tickets.
3. Click on the Activities tab on the Rail Europe site and select the day trips (land and sea) that you want to enjoy.
4. Go to the Apple or Google online store and download free apps for city transportation maps. Be cautious about using these maps as they may need WI fi access and it may not be available on international streets. Even restaurants, office buildings and hotels may require login information that is available only from the business owner.
5. Check your passport: up-to-date or due for renewal? Governments and passport offices work on their own timetables. Make sure that there is enough time remaining so you do not get caught with an outdated piece of paper.
6. Hotels now require your attention. Select from established and recognized brands. Unless you are sure that your friend’s definition of comfort and location are synched with yours – be wary of WOM [Word of Mouth] recommendations. One person’s delicious peanut snack is another person’s trip to the hospital.
a. For boutique hotels that are unique to their locale look no further than the World Hotels site. Check the Rail Europe itinerary for city and dates, plug them into the World Hotels online booking system, and within moments hotel reservations are made and confirmed.
b. For elegant properties that hold on to old-world charm and sophistication with services fit for a princess or head-of-state, login in to the Kempinski hotel website. Repeat the process.
c. Looking for another option? Investigate the Radisson brand for rates and locations.
7. Train station pickup. A week to ten days before departure, contact the hotel at your destination to arrange train station pick up. It is no fun to get off the train and have to find a taxi driver. This hotel service is not cheap, but it is worth the cost.
8. Bills. Pay your bills forward. No one wants to pay late fees on credit cards and mortgages. Pay a month in advance for the month you will be away. Take your checkbook routing number with you – just in case a bill comes due – you can pay it online.
9. Credit cards. Some companies charge fees for every foreign transaction. These fees can add up to big bucks when you are spending for 30 days. Use a card that does not charge fees and then enjoy shopping, dining, attractions and events without worrying about those pesky fees from AMEX and Diners. Do have more than one credit card as a fallback position.
10. Credit card support. Before leaving home call your credit card company and determine the extent of services available to international travelers. Diners, for example, offers Personal Assistants for on-the-road warriors. Marketing and advertising makes this department look like they are a bridge between your problem and a manager/c-suite executive who will/can resolve the problem while you are on the road and do not have hours to spend on a telephone. Forget about it! The service is purely public relations hype and does not work. If you are locked out of your account, even your accountant will not be able to intervene with Diners.
11. Credit card information. Make a hard copy, a word document and a cell phone copy of card numbers, login information, International telephone numbers and email contacts so that you can access the company if your cards and wallet take off on their own or your in box starts getting alerts for charges that are not yours. Send a copy of this document to someone you trust – your cell phone, tablet/laptop might be included in the stuff that disappears.
12. Meds. Order them forward. Instead of renewing for 30 days, renew the prescription for 60 or 90 days – giving you enough meds to take on the trip, and enough pills at home to transition through your re-entry cycle. OTC [over the counter] meds to bring along: Multi-purpose cold and cough medicine, Pepto Bismol, Aspirin or Tylenol, Band-Aids, safety pins, vitamins and zinc, toothbrush and paste. While European pharmacies are chockfull of wonderful sprays and creams and pills, they may not match OTCs available in the USA. Be prepared.
13. The best laid plans go awry. Develop a daily itinerary: Dates you are traveling to/from; hotels (with telephone numbers, emails and addresses), things you plan to see and do, contact information, including a copy of your passport and credit cards. Send copies to close friends and family. Accidents happen. You are not planning to fall off the grid; however, it is better to let the police and everyone else know where you intended to be – even if you did not show up.
14. Visit your doctor and dentist at least 30 days before departure. You might find a cavity just waiting to give lots of pain, or a medical challenge that needs immediate attention.
● What you want to avoid is a trip to a hospital emergency room or try to find a dentist in an unfamiliar city over a weekend at 2 AM. It is unlikely that your homegrown health insurance will cover medical/dental issues outside of the USA; most international medical services can be paid for with a global credit card so make sure you have a large credit line.
● Make a list of the names, telephone numbers and emails for your personal doctors and dentists. If you have an emergency, the European medical team helping you may need to validate your allergies or other health issues before issuing meds or treatments.
15. Acquire trip/travel insurance. In the case you break something – or need an emergency operation or evacuation – you do not want to have to pay thousands of dollars for medical assistance. Spend a few hundred dollars before the trip rather than thousands later.
16. Packing. If you are going to travel by Rail Europe you want to pack as little as possible. The more you pack the more you have to pull and push through train stations, pull up stairs to get on the train and then heave the bags onto overhead shelves.
● Do not try to look like Ms. Piggy on holiday. Pack just enough so that you look professional and classy when you show up. This is not the time to try and compete with local talent who have access to their entire clothes closet.
● Unless you are a movie star or tycoon with staff to carry your bags, pack only what you must have and leave the sizzle and feathers in the closet for another time.
● To look like a local: A pair of black leather pants, a leather skirt, and jean leggings. Add a few body suits, a couple of silk shirts (they take up almost no room), two heavy-duty black sweaters that are stylish and washable, two pairs of flat walking boots and a pair of sneakers and one work-out outfit. Throw in 2 sets of underwear, a few pairs of socks and pantyhose – and you are done! Remember your rubber or plastic flip flops and a bathing suit – you never know when you will be near a swimming pool or want to jog in a nearby park.
17. For electronics, of course the cell phone (or two), a laptop or tablet, cables for all the electronics, a charger for the phones and laptop, at least two electric converters, a XCOM hotspot Wi-Fi and a RE camera. Bring a few extra batteries if any of your equipment uses them.
18. Add your usual makeup and accessories and you are good to go.
19. Apps. There is no free lunch, and there are no free telephone calls from/to Europe, unless your contacts are on Skype or Viber. If you are calling people without these apps, a fee is charged. You may just want to put the cell phones on Airplane mode and communicate through emails (if you can get Wi-Fi access). If you take the phone off airplane mode, you may get hit by your local carrier with roaming charges – that will make your bill look like you were putting down a payment on a Maserati.
20. Currency exchange. If you want to feel poor in a New York minute, take a few hundred US dollars and convert them at your bank or money exchange office for Euros and British pounds. There will be a transaction fee. It is best to take a few hundred Euros and British pounds (or whatever is the local currency) so that you can eat and buy transit passes or pay for taxis as soon as you arrive at your destination. Try to find a bank that will buy back any foreign currency that goes unused – without adding on another fee.
21. Think local. By all means, check the websites for your destination tourism offices and review recommendations for things to see and do; however, if you really want to find out what is happening and trending, check-in at a local YELP (i.e., YELP Frankfurt or YELP Munich) site. YELP is the pulse for what is trending and there is no government intrusion on what it hot and what is cold. YELP lets the locals speak for themselves.
22. Let them know. If you live in an apartment building, alert the superintendent and/or the building manager as to your departure/return dates. Provide contact names, emails and cell numbers of friends/family to call if there is an emergency (i.e., there is a flood in your apartment, or a burglar alarm starts to wake the neighborhood). Make sure that the building manager has a set of your keys so he/she can get into your apartment when necessary; it sure beats breaking down the door.
23. Home owners insurance. Does not matter if you live in an apartment or a house, when disaster hits you want to have your insurance kick in. Make sure that you are up-to-date with payments.
24. Clean out your refrigerator. The last thing you want to see when returning home is green mold taking over shelves or frost on steaks. Clean everything out before your adventure.
25. Unless you have special needs (i.e., only use Wen or a special dandruff product) save space in your luggage and do not take soap, shampoo and conditioner. Staying at 4- and 5-star hotels? These products will be available in your room. If you are not happy with the hotel offerings, then buy interesting products at a local store.
26. Now that you have put all the puzzle pieces together, your Execucar with driver should be calling you to “come on down” and head off to the airport.
