What are your international traveling tips?

Passport, some cash in your sock, and a foreign beer. That’s all I ever needed.

dont do drugs in places you dont know.

check out the political system and how calm things are at the moment.

keep an emergency cash source or two.

@poisonedantidote It’s probably best to just not do drugs.. regardless of where you are in the world. XD

Sensitivity, patience and flewibility.

Keep your passport, extra cash and spare credit card in a money belt that you wear at all times. Cash that you will use that day you can carry in your wallet, and this is what you go into on a daily basis. Never take the money belt out in public. That sort of defeats the purpose of the money belt.

Talk to the locals. See what things they like to do, places they like to go. Ask them for tips for things to do “off the beaten path”.

Bring a camera, have fun and be safe!

@NaturalMineralWater yes, such as beer, that could get you jailed and even executed in some places :)

@poisonedantidote You’ve definitely been traveling to the wrong places.

Make a couple of color copies of your passport. keep one in your checked bag and leave one with family back home.
Make copies of the front and back of all your credit cards. You will them have all the phone numbers and account numbers if one gets lost or stolen
Take 2 credit cards and separate them. If you get pic pocketed from one pocket you will still have a back up credit card stashed somewhere else
Never wear white tennis shoes
get a good audio book on your iPod for the flight
Don’t drink the water unless you can hear the seal break on the bottle.

Great ideas everyone, thanks! I especially like the tip “never wear white tennis shoes” :) I am taking a VERY long journey over to Africa for 2 months so these tips will be helpful. Any more? Bring em on b/c I still have 3 weeks to go and am taking all of these steps right now.

@akmcg Africa? Where so?

Heading to Malawi via Johannesburg in S.Africa. Will also visit Zambia while there. Got my innoculations and such but was wondering if people had good ideas for keeping cash, credit cards safe, etc

@akmcg If I don’t know the situation of a city, I often keep just a little cash in the wallet, and the credit card elsewhere on the body. If I lose the wallet I might just still have the card.

You going solo?

Make sure everything you wear has been broken in well. You should have owned/worn the clothes you’re taking for at least three months, and this especially goes for shoes! Otherwise you’ll be chafed and blistered, which is no fun, and could cause you to get snippy. You don’t want to get snippy abroad, right?

Aprilsimnel- LOL! Good points about not breaking in clothes abroad. I will take my trust sneakers and sandals for sure.
Oratio- My husband is going with me so between the two of us we should have the cash and cards spread out pretty well on our bodies and in other safe places.

Does anyone have any tricks for washing fruits and veggies if the water source is questionable?

I just got back from a mission trip to Guatemala. We used a product called Micro Chlor that we soaked all our fruits and vegetables, and even our pots and pans in. it’s supposed to kill anything. I couldn’t find a place to buy it when I googled it though.

Ah, you can do the same thing w/ clorox but I thought people might have less chemically reliant methods by now but will look for that.