Going Overseas? Don’t Forget These 5 Things

Are you headed overseas for an extended vacation, work-related project, or school exchange semester? If so, it’s important to know what to take with you. Life in other nations is often quite different than in one’s home country. The differences pervade everyday life and range from what people eat, how they treat each other socially, what they wear, and how to spend free time. The old saying about doing as the Romans do while in Rome still applies in the digital age.

Be ready to encounter new and unusual travel trends and situations. There’s no need to prepare yourself for every possible challenge. That would be impossible. However, travelers can explore some of the most common things that tend to pop up among veteran internationalists, long-time explorers, backpackers, diplomats, students, and businesspeople. There’s no definitive list, but the following suggestions are an ideal starting point.

Power Converters and Surge Protectors

Unfortunately, there are no global standards for electrical outlets in homes and businesses. While the situation is much better than it was a generation ago, people who traverse Asia, Europe, South America, the US, Australia, and remote regions on any continent often face problems obtaining ordinary electricity. The problem is not so much one of availability.

Instead, it’s about connecting your device to the outlet in the wall. Travelers can solve this age-old problem by using a universal power converter. The devices are inexpensive and can solve your plug-in challenges in almost any spot-on earth. An ideal companion item is a surge protector for things like computers and entertainment equipment. In developing nations, the electrical grids don’t have as much built-in surge deterrence as in other nations. An ordinary surge shield, like the ones people use for home computer or video panels, can protect your PC from getting fried by a power surge.

Medical Travel Insurance

Even if your trip is only going to be a short one, consider obtaining medical travel insurance if the journey includes cosmetic surgery procedures, dental work, fertility treatments, or any other type of elective surgery. One of the other advantages of this kind of financial protection is that policies can include accidental illness or injury of your traveling companions. This additional coverage can also extend to stolen belongings, injuries, or transport cancellations that are not your fault.

High-Grade Air Purifiers

Travelers often overlook the question of air quality in their destinations. Getting access to clean air, at least while you sleep and spend time indoors, is of vital importance to people who value their health. Fortunately, it’s possible to use hospital-grade air purifiers to get the job done and sleep easy every night, no matter what part of the world you happen to be in. Because the best products on the market, like Airgle medical air purifiers, are fully sealed and able to remove particles 100 times smaller than the best HEPA 13 air filters, they come with the industry’s highest CADR (clean air delivery rate), which means users can sleep with confidence and full protection against unwanted particulate matter. It’s wise to check online resources to learn more about the air quality of the place you’ll be living while overseas. Then you can decide on a plan of action for making sure that the air you breathe will be the cleanest possible.

Electrical Charging Devices and Connectors

There’s only one assured way to keep your mobile phone charged up for longer than a day or two of frequent use. In remote regions and outside the big cities in developing countries, you simply must carry one or more charging packs. There are multiple products on the market that can store large amounts of electricity for all sorts of devices. But they work best for phones. Depending on how rural of an area your destination is, consider carrying as many as five charge packs and replenishing them as often as you can.

Water Purifiers

Camping stores sell several grades of water purifiers. Some are powerful enough to render untreated stream water into consumable liquid. Others are add-ons for standard faucets but are recommended for anyone who must drink tap water in remote areas. It’s best to obtain several water purification products and take them with you wherever you travel. Waterborne illnesses are common in many developing countries.