Before you go: an international trip checklist
Most travel problems that begin at home involve a document: a passport that expires too soon, a missing authorization or an insurance gap discovered abroad. Work through these steps in order, starting a few months before departure, and the problems no one can fix at the airport will already be solved.
Check your passport before you book
Look at the expiration date before you buy tickets. Some countries require a passport to remain valid for several months beyond your stay, commonly three or six, and some want one or two blank pages for stamps. Airlines check these rules and can refuse to board you if you fall short.
U.S. passports are valid for 10 years for adults and five years for children under 16. Routine renewals take weeks and expedited service costs extra, so check the State Department’s current processing times and renew early if you are close to a destination’s limit.
The passport card is not valid for international flights; it works only for entering the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda. Make sure the name on your ticket matches your passport exactly.
Confirm the entry requirements
Entry rules depend on your citizenship, your destination and sometimes the countries where you change planes. The State Department’s country information pages summarize requirements for U.S. citizens, but the destination’s embassy or official immigration website has the final word.
Even visa-free visitors increasingly need an electronic travel authorization approved online before departure, much like the ESTA that travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries need before flying to the United States. The United Kingdom, for example, now requires one of U.S. citizens. Apply only through the official government site or app, because look-alike sites charge extra fees for the same form.
Depending on where you go, check whether you need any of these.
- A visa, issued in advance by an embassy or consulate.
- An e-visa, applied for and issued online.
- An electronic travel authorization for visa-free visitors.
- Proof of onward travel or sufficient funds, which some countries request.
- A consent letter from the other parent when a child travels with only one parent.
Read the advisory and enroll in STEP
The State Department rates every country on a four-level scale: exercise normal precautions, exercise increased caution, reconsider travel and do not travel. Read the full advisory rather than the level alone, because it names specific risks such as crime, unrest or natural disasters, and some regions carry a higher level than the country as a whole.
Then enroll your trip in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free State Department service for U.S. citizens and nationals. It sends safety alerts for your destination and helps the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate reach you, or your family, in an emergency. Save that embassy’s address and contact details offline before you leave.
Plan for your health
Check the CDC’s travel health page for your destination, which lists recommended vaccines and medicines along with any travel health notices about outbreaks. See your doctor or a travel clinic at least a month before you go, since some vaccines need more than one dose or time to take effect. Some countries require proof of yellow fever vaccination on an official certificate.
Medicines need planning too.
- Keep prescription drugs in their original labeled containers, in your carry-on bag.
- Pack enough for the whole trip plus a few extra days in case of delays.
- Carry copies of your prescriptions that list the generic drug names.
- Check that each medicine is legal at your destination, since some common U.S. drugs are restricted abroad.
Choose insurance that fills the gaps
Travel insurance is several products. Trip cancellation and interruption coverage reimburses prepaid, nonrefundable costs if you cancel or cut a trip short for a reason the policy lists. Travel medical coverage pays for care abroad, and medical evacuation coverage pays to move you to an adequate hospital or back home, which can cost far more than the trip itself.
Start with what you already have. Your health plan may cover little or nothing overseas, and Medicare generally doesn’t cover care outside the U.S., although some Medicare Supplement plans include limited foreign travel emergency benefits. Some credit cards include trip protections when you pay with them. Read the exclusions for pre-existing conditions and risky activities.
Set up your money and your phone
Bring at least two cards on different networks and store them separately. Use a credit card without a foreign transaction fee, a charge that often adds a few percent to every purchase. At ATMs, your bank and the machine’s owner may each charge a fee, so fewer, larger withdrawals from bank-owned machines usually cost less. Know your card’s PIN, because some kiosks ask for one.
When a card terminal or ATM offers to charge you in U.S. dollars, decline and pay in the local currency. That offer, called dynamic currency conversion, usually comes with a worse exchange rate than your card network would give you.
For your phone, compare your carrier’s international plan with an eSIM data plan, which requires a phone that supports eSIM and isn’t locked to your carrier. If you turn off your home line, text-message login codes may not arrive, so set up an authenticator app before you go.
Copy your documents and speed up the airport
Copy your passport photo page, visas, itinerary, insurance policy and prescriptions. Keep a printed set apart from the originals, store a digital set you can reach from any device, and leave one with someone at home. If your passport is lost or stolen, those copies help a U.S. embassy or consulate replace it faster.
If you travel abroad more than once in a while, consider a trusted traveler program. TSA PreCheck gives you a faster security lane at participating U.S. airports. Global Entry, run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, speeds your return through immigration and customs and includes PreCheck. Both require an application, a background check and an in-person appointment or interview, so apply well before your trip.