Online Resources

Travel Documents

A passport is your official identification while overseas and is required for study abroad. It is important to note that applying for a passport should start well in advance of travel as processing may take up to two months.   Already have a passport ?  Please check the expiration date to ensure it will not expire for at least 6 months after the end of your international study program. If it does, you may be denied an entry visa.  The US Department of State website provides Passport and Visa information for American citizens traveling abroad, including application forms, instructions, fees and other requirements.  You will need to have a passport before you can apply for a visa (if required by your program).  Visa types, rules and regulations vary by program.

Health and Safety

Centers for Disease Control offers information designed to assist  travelers with recommended vaccines, immunizations, and other measures necessary to ensure your health abroad.

The State Department's Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management (ACS) informs the public of conditions abroad that may affect their safety and security. Country Specific Information, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings are part of this program.

Money - Conversions

Until you adjust to handling foreign money, print out a currency-conversion cheat sheet. A quick glance at the sheet will help you understand how much you're spending.

Money - Budget Travel

An International Student Identification Card (ISIC) can help you obtain discounts on travel, attractions, museums, accommodations and more.  You can apply online (ISIC) or complete an application (ISIC) and return it to the Global Connections office.  A color passport size photo is required with all applications.

There are several on-line travel guides for students and budget travelers.  Some  sites to start your planning include: Let's Go Guides, The Lonely Planet Guides, or Rough Guides.

Other Travel Tips by Budget Travel and Independent Traveler.com

Thwart Thieves: When you're driving a rental car on vacation, buy a local newspaper and keep in on the dashboard or on one of the seats. Burglars often target tourists but the papers will make your car look like it belongs to someone in the area.

What's in the bag: It's a good idea to keep a copy of your packing list with you when you travel. If the airline loses your luggage, the list will come in handy when you need to replace the contents.

Clean sheets: If you're planning a trip and will be staying in a questionable hotel, make a sleeping bag out of a king size bedsheet and bring it with you. Just fold the sheet in half vertically and sew the bottom and two thirds of the side closed.

Laundry secret: Pack a few Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets in a Ziploc bag if you plan on doing laundry while on vacation. You use one sheet per load and it washes and softens clothes and eliminates static.

Food Abroad: Eating safe while traveling We all know the basics of developing safe eating habits while abroad such as drinking only bottled water, avoiding ice-cubes and salads unless you can ascertain both have been prepared using bottled water. However there are a number of other practices you can employ to avoid catching any tummy bugs. Consider turning vegetarian temporarily on your trips. Most food-borne illnesses are caused by eating meat so you can avoid this by opting for the cooked vegetarian options or fruits and vegetables that you can peel yourself. If you must eat meat then make sure it is well done. Avoid eating products that go off quickly without proper refrigeration such as mayonnaise, seafood and dairy products.

Blend In: To avoid looking like a foreigner, buy a local sports team's jersey. On a recent trip to South Africa, I bought a shirt with the logo of the national rugby team. Each time I wore my Springbok jersey, everyone greeted me like an old friend or teammate.

Airplane Boredom Beater: After leafing through the airline's inflight magazine three times during recent flights, boredom on the plane seems to set in. Bring binoculars to peer out at the landscape below you.

Easy Money: In France, ATMs sometimes distribute 50 bank notes but many shopkeepers won't break them especially when you're buying a 2 euro pastry. However, if you make sure that your ATM withdrawals aren't divisible by 50, you'll get 20 euro notes. Fees add up so you don't want to take just 40 euros each time. Instead, request 130. Save the 50s for museum shops, which have no problem breaking large bills.Have Laptop, Will Travel? Some Tips to Keep in Mind.

Traveling with a computer Number one rule – whether taking a short trip with your laptop or moving with your computer - backup your hard drive before you travel. Accidents do happen!

Write down your computer’s serial numbers before you travel, and keep them in a safe (and separate!) place. This way, if your laptop gets stolen, you have them for local police to include in their reports – which are often necessary for getting your insurance company to pay up. Or, for help in getting stolen computers back, this product is apparently super-glued on the case of your laptop, and can't be removed without leaving a permanent mark: http://www.StopTheft.com

Wanting to save precious battery life while on the road? If you don't need sound and can turn it off, then do so. Same goes for lowering monitor resolution and reducing screen brightness – every little bit can help save energy. Also, consider removing any external hard drives or devices when not in use. Even if your computer’s not accessing them, they could still be using power.

If your laptop has a warranty, be sure to find out about any ‘fine print’. For example, if it crashes while you’re traveling in countries where there are no official repair locations (most of Africa, for example), you may be tempted to take it to a local repair technician. But if your warranty’s still valid, you might want to think twice, because if the backstreet wizard doesn’t manage the fix and you then try to send it back to the company when you get home – if they can prove your computer’s been opened up by someone not from their company (for example, if screws are missing or the area around them is scraped) the warranty may become invalid.

Problems with your laptop overheating? Rather than buying a bulky external fan-cooler to sit underneath it, try using bottle caps (like the kind on bottled water) – just put one under each corner when your computer’s on a flat surface, and it’ll help air circulate underneath it. It might even lengthen the life of your computer – especially in humid climates!