Each and every one of us has different preferences when it comes to traveling: Some prefer all-inclusive vacations and the peace of mind that comes with them, others love city breaks and still others love outdoor adventures. The topics listed here are therefore only intended to serve as an inspiration as to what you should think about when you travel in order to ensure that your minimum (digital) basic needs are met while traveling. And last but not least, you should bear in mind that the further you travel, the more you should take care of these four topics:
- backup of important documents
- health care insurance
- secure (mobile) Internet
- secure payment
So let’s get started, here are valuable tips for every stage of your journey, be it within Germany, the EU or overseas.
Ensure reliable access to your travel documents
No matter where you are going, the documents that confirm your identity are of crucial importance. So make sure you have your identity documents with you, such as an ID card or passport and, if necessary, a valid visa. More importantly, make digital backups of these documents and keep encrypted copies of them in a cloud repository. You can also store the copies locally on the mobile devices you take with you, but these can also be lost or stolen, so you definitely shouldn’t do without cloud storage. This way, you always have access to your most important documents, even if the physical documents are lost.
Take care of your health while traveling
You should not only prioritize your health while traveling, but it is even more important to be prepared for travel, as you cannot count on your usual medical care when abroad. So make sure you have enough medication with you for the duration of your stay. It is also worth creating a digital emergency passport containing important medical information, ongoing treatments and emergency contacts. There are both Android and iOS apps for this and they also work when your smartphone is locked. If you have chronic illnesses, you can also get yourself a physical health passport. To do this, write down the most important information (preferably in English) and carry it in your wallet.
You should also make a note of your most important emergency contacts. However, it is advisable to inform these people in advance that you want to use their data for this purpose. You should also know the telephone numbers of your emergency contacts by heart, as a mobile phone can quickly get lost.
Last but not least, comprehensive international health insurance is essential when traveling. Even if you can enjoy basic medical care within the EU with the European Health Insurance Card, this does not cover repatriation costs, even if repatriation is medically advisable. This means that you need to ensure you have the appropriate health cover. These are generally relatively inexpensive and are worthwhile for as little as one trip abroad per year.
Secure, mobile Internet while abroad
We are very dependent on the internet these days and even more so when traveling. Having a EU phone plan and traveling within the EU, there are no major issues in this regard, as no roaming charges have been imposed since 2017. However, your local EU network operator may limit your data volume when abroad. It may therefore be worth considering using an eSIM (electronic SIM) to be able to use your own SIM as an eSIM and, if you are abroad, buy a physical, prepaid SIM card and run all your data consumption via this SIM card.
If this is too inconvenient for you, you can usually use one of the many open Wi-Fi networks that you can find on the go to access the internet from time to time. However, the security of the connection is very important here, as you don’t want some script kiddy, sitting in the same café and on the same open Wi-Fi network, to gain access to your passwords. Encryption of your communication within open networks is therefore very important. You should always run all your connections via a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
A secure VPN encrypts your communication and protects your data from prying eyes. However, you should do a little research into what trustworthy VPN providers are. This is because the operator of the VPN server may be able to read all your data. There are also some supposedly free providers that install malware when you install their VPN client and abuse your computer as a botnet… This blog post on the subject in English by ProtonVPN can give you a good orientation on this issue: https://protonvpn.com/blog/best-free-vpn/ . I don’t recommend ProtonVPN, just the article. See for yourself which provider you would choose based on the criteria described.
Secure payments abroad
Fortunately, making secure payments abroad is relatively easy within the EU because you can withdraw money in local currency (yes, there are also EU countries without the Euro 😉 ) and pay in local currency by card or contactless. However, always make sure that you select the “pay in local currency” option if this is offered by the ATM or payment terminal. This way you will get the currency at the best current exchange rate. However, if you are traveling overseas, you should take a closer look at which credit card you want to use to pay and withdraw cash, as there are many differences from country to country. I therefore recommend that you seek advice from an independent source on this matter.
You can also make use of the “Card Control” function on your credit cards. This allows you to specify which vacation destination is activated for payments with your credit card.
And finally, you should always have a certain amount of cash with you, especially in countries where payment by credit card is not widespread. For that, you should find out in advance what budget is sufficient for a particular vacation destination in relation to the duration of your stay.
Of course, there is a lot more to think about on vacation, but with these four topics: Securing important documents, preparing for medical emergencies, ensuring secure internet access and making secure payments, you have laid the groundwork for a relaxing vacation, even if something should go wrong at some point.
Checklist:
- Make digital backups of your most important travel documents and store them in encrypted form in cloud storage.
- Write down the telephone numbers of emergency contacts and ideally memorize them.
- Take all necessary medication with you and create a digital emergency passport.
- Arrange international health insurance.
- Check roaming options or use an eSIM in addition to a local physical SIM card.
- Use a VPN for secure Wi-Fi connections on public Wi-Fi networks.
- Check your choice of credit card and always pay in local currency.
- If necessary, use the “Card Control” function on your credit card.
- Take enough cash with you for countries without widespread credit card acceptance.