First: A story about Mary. This story is a compilation of events that happened to several students, but have all been lumped together. When Mary arrived at the airport she had packed all her luggage in a huge suitcase on wheels and just barely missed paying a $50 overweight penalty. The second day in the new country, Mary complained that her hair straightener did not work. She did mention that the day before it had worked, but was warmer than usual and smelled funny. On the fourth day, as we were taking the subway to the train station, the handle on Mary's suitcase broke from the weight and she had nothing to drag her bag with. That day she also left her purse on the train when we got off and by the time we got back to look for it, no purse. Inside her purse was all her cash, credit cards, new camera, and her passport. We were able to get her an emergency passport and loan her money to finish the trip. When returning to the U.S., she left her cell phone at security. Then, because the flight was oversold and she wanted to go back to pick up the phone, she was at the back of the boarding line and was involuntarily bumped from the flight. Mary did not have a good time.
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| Train Travel |
- Travel as lightly as possible. If possible, pack everything into one, carry-on sized bag. If not, make sure your carry-on bag contains everything you will need for the first four days of your trip. In case the airline looses your luggage you will not be inconvenienced and you may find that with a little washing, you really only need those items for the entire trip.
- http://www.onebag.com/
- http://www.travelite.org/
- Practice with your luggage. Pack all your items into the luggage you are bringing with you and take it for a two mile walk around town. Include some stairs. Try running while carrying your luggage. Most other countries do not provide convenient escalators and elevators everywhere you want to be. You may find yourself smashed into a train car with 100 other commuters. Personally, I have gotten rid of all luggage with wheels and it all goes on my back.
- Practice with your clothing. How are you going to clean your clothes (if at all)? How long do they take to dry? Even in Europe, most people do not own driers. They hang their clothes to dry and if your jeans do not dry when hung overnight, you might not want to bring them, or you many just decide to wear wet pants. Speaking of wet pants, May Term is the rainy season in much of northern Europe. If you are too lazy to hem your pants, I suggest doings so before the trip. One year I had a young lady who's pants wicked water all the way up to her waistline.
- Research your 3-1-1 rules. You will want to bring your toiletries with you on the plane so that you have them in case the rest of your bags are lost.
- (3) Each of your liquids, creams, and pastes must be in a container that only holds 100 ml (3+oz) or less. It is against the rules to take a nearly empty tube of toothpaste using the argument that there is less than 3 oz remaining. Same thing for that 1/4 full bottle of shampoo. This is especially important for those of you with expensive products. I have seen people cry when they agent throws away their $40 bottle of acne cream. If necessary, buy more shampoo wherever you end up.
- (1) All your liquids, creams, and pastes must fit inside 1 QUART sized zip-lock bag. Not the gallon bag one of my students brought once. Of course, she brought the gallon bag because her big bottle of shampoo didn't fit in the smaller bag. Now, all your toiletries that do not fall into this category do not have to fit in the bag. If you are not a light packer, you can use a second baggie for your toothbrush, hairbrush, razor (safety razors are allowed on the plane), solid soap, solid deodorant (not roll on - that falls into the liquid category), etc.
- (1) You are only allowed one quart bag with liquids per passenger. The bag is required to be taken out of your luggage and placed in a bin to be scanned separately when going through security, so be sure you pack it on the outside or in your purse for easy access. You may want to bring an empty water bottle with you through security. You can fill it with water from the fountain on the other side of the x-ray machines. If you don't like the taste of chlorine, splurge and get a filter bottle. Just don't expect it to make unsafe water safe to drink. The cheap filter bottles are strictly for improving the taste of the water.
- http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/3-1-1-carry-ons
- Practice Patience, Politeness, and Persistence. Not everything is going to go smoothly. When you and your classmates run into a bump in the road, these three rules will help you get back on track. You are not at home. You are visiting someone else's home and you will have the best time if you practice good manners. It also doesn't hurt to be prepared.
- Electronics Advice. Research what type of electrical plugs and voltage are at the country(ies) you are visiting. Know the difference between a plug adapter (cheap) and a voltage adapter (expensive) and which you need for which of your devices. The easiest and safest solution is to leave it at home.
- Most of my travel electronics have Input:100-240V which means the device will run in the US (110V) and in Europe (220V) and all I need are plug adapters. If you do not have a variable voltage device and you plug it into a European wall socket you will create an expensive brick.
- Speaking of expensive bricks, if you do not want a $1000 cell phone bill, decide what you are going to do with your communication devices. My solution is to completely turn off the phone part and only communicate using wifi. Be careful with that as well. About 8 years ago one of my students learned that the internet in his hotel room was not free and was charged by the minute while the computer was plugged in, including when he was out of the room or sleeping.
- Finally, when you get to your new location, be sure you change the time on your devices. A little bit ago I had a student who used his phone as a wake-up alarm. He didn't have it connect to the local towers (smart), but that meant it didn't change time zones (whoops) and he didn't realize it was the middle of the night until after he had showered and dressed.
- Money Advice. Make sure you call your banks and let them know when and where you are traveling. Make sure your debit card has a four digit pin. Research getting a credit card without a foreign transaction fee (3% that gets added to everything you purchase outside of the U.S.). Keep a small amount of local currency in a wallet/purse. Pack that wallet with the understanding that it may be stolen but that it is really useful to have easy access to some money. Instead, underneath all your clothes keep the majority of your money, your passport, and a back-up plastic card (debit or credit). You will never access this during the day except when you are transiting the boarder and need to show your passport. Once you have done this, you will immediately stash it back under all your clothes. If sweat bothers you, put everything in a sandwich bag to protect it.
When I travel, I bring a backpack that everything fits into, yet it satisfies the carry-on limits. In total, everything I carry weighs less than 25 lb. However, I am prepared to take out a small amount and check the rest if there is no room in the overhead bins. Instead of bringing a separate backpack, I have started carrying one of those grocery bags that packs into itself. It makes me look less like a tourist. As a college student, you are in the perfect age group to wear a backpack without standing out. I bring one extra pair of pants and one extra pair of shoes to reduce weight, yet to give me flexibility for laundry and wet shoes. I hope this is helpful.
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