• Cell phones and data plans
  • Domestic plans abroad:
    • AT&T/Verizon - daily use fees
    • Sprint/T-Mobile - Free slow speed with daily/weekly upgrade fees
    • Google Fi - High speed at normal price
  • Get a local data plan
    • Often cheaper than domestic plan abroad
    • Takes time and can be difficult in some places
    • May make changing countries hard
• In-flight entertainment
  • Download videos (YouTube, Netflix, etc) - Battery life!
  • Books vs e-books
  • Podcasts and audiobooks
  • Drawing and writing
  • Spoken games like 20 questions or would you rather.
• Getting to the airport
  • Car
  • Uber/Lyft/Taxi
• Passports and other documents
  • Make sure you have at least six moths remaining
  • Check your destination for visa requirements
  • Make copies, including digital copies
  • Have a plan for regaining access to your digital life if your electronics get lost
• Airport Security & Immigration
  • Be ready to take off your shoes, jacket, etc
  • Laptops and electronics out (may be searched)
  • Premium Ticket = Short lane
  • Global Entry/Pre-Check
  • Entering the country
    • Only answer questions they ask
    • Searches
• Putting it all together: Final plan
  • To hit your budget, you may need to run a bunch of simulated trips
    • How do you simulate trips
      • Look at point-to-point pair-wise trips on different days
      • Find the days with the best prices
      • Try to gather information on any restrictions
      • Build your trip around the good priced days and your restrictions
    • Inter-modal transportation is helpful
    • Road trip?
  • Look for good days/times to travel.
    • If you’re not tied to a school schedule, consider late May or early September
    • Winter is usually cheap. If you have a good coat, you can go where you need.
  • Save everything on your phone
  • Print out the boarding passes and confirmations for the most important parts of your journey.
• Enjoy the journey
  • Airports often have cool stuff
  • Airplanes are amazing
  • The little things of travel are really cool

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References & links

Pre-Check & Global Entry