As cliche as it is, I do believe traveling young might be one of the most important things you can do for yourself if you stumble across the opportunity, teaching you invaluable things about your personality, values, and the people around you in nuanced ways.
This past August I had the privilege of traveling to Switzerland with one of my close friends from home, having my uncle in Zurich as our home base, and organizing our time in the alps all ourselves. Being procrastinators and constantly busy with work over the summer, however, we pretty much rolled in with zero preparation, despite having had the trip booked for a whole 8 months prior. As fun as the resulting spontaneity proved to be, it also led to a lot of narrow escapes and lessons learned, which I’m now happy to pay forward as anecdotal advice. So for your next international trip, if you’re anything like me, you might want to pay a little extra attention to the following:
International Phone Plan: Read the Fine Print
Let’s begin with something that seems obvious: an international phone plan. Chances are most people already remember to set this up prior to a trip, and so did I, in theory.
In my case, however, issues surfaced in the details of my plan–so here’s a reminder to spend time looking into the exact features and areas of coverage for your line, because when your service unexpectedly doesn’t work ⅔ of the time, or only actually works for calls and texts, it can be frustrating like nothing else. Beyond missing updates from friends and family and other social responsibilities, it also made navigation tough for us at times–far from ideal when all of our plans revolved around complicated train connections to get from place to place, and trail maps directing us to where we’d sleep at night. Knowing that, learn from me and always take the extra step to double-check your service plan.
Intentional Planning: Don’t Skip It
When we booked a one-way bus ticket to Paris just for fun, the unbridled possibilities for the next 24 hours were certainly shining bright. With no real prior plans, we defaulted to a few tourist attractions at first, and aimlessly explored for hours on end, just enjoying the warm sun and the soft early-fall scenery.
Moments like this, roaming the streets, created the sweetest and funniest memories, but the lack of intention in our course also caused us to miss a lot of areas and activities we would’ve wanted to check out had we known about them; there is truly no pain like finding a vintage store that looks like your personal heaven right as they’re locking the doors, and stumbling across the perfect happy hour spot moments from the end of it. Looking back, I’d have done the day a lot differently, but our time there had already slipped away.
Thus, this quick trip taught me that actually putting effort into researching what you want to see will save a lot of time and missed opportunities–I promise you can check off intentional destinations and still enjoy slow, aimless exploration in the in-between.
If you happen to be visiting England or Spain soon, check out this art lover’s guide to London or a guide to flea markets in Barcelona for a few easy & intentional activities!
Schedules & Timing: Be Generous
As someone chronically late and a little disorganized, this practice has always been a struggle. From frantically packing my bag just 45 minutes before leaving for the airport to relying on borrowed camping gear that hadn’t been used in 10 years, not leaving myself with time between commitments to thoughtfully check and prepare things has led to a lot of items forgotten and close calls.
Beyond the rushed packing aspect, sticking to a schedule and being cautious with time proved especially relevant to the backpacking section of our trip. One morning, having left our first campsite way later than intended and missing a few trains on the way, we ended up starting our second hiking section way too close to sunset. Not only did we have to rush up a hard trail and have passers-by comment on how “ambitious” we were to continue on, but we ended up reaching our destination in absolute darkness. This particular ridge featured just one narrow, rocky trail and very limited flat areas, meaning that a lack of light was not ideal. Though we were lucky enough to stumble across the very last available spot to camp, we easily could’ve had to turn back and hike all the way down had all of them been full by the time we arrived.
Finally being able to pitch our tent, just accompanied by a town’s beautiful twinkling lights far below us, was a relief and awe-filled moment that I’ll never forget. Despite the happy end to this night, however, our poor timing could’ve easily left us in a dangerous situation. For that reason, let this be a reminder to always stick to important schedules when abroad, and make sure to leave yourself with ample time for mistakes along the way.
Unrealistic Expectations: Change your Mindset
Next up are high expectations–an issue especially relevant in our time given the unrealistic representation of experiences so easily derived from social media.
Going into this trip, for example, my friend and I had already created a perfect vision of our time in Switzerland, influenced by 7 months worth of meticulously curated Pinterest boards and TikToks sent back and forth, with endless dreams of everything we’d achieve in just a week. Though such romanticized visions can be entertaining and fun, they can also lead to unnecessary disappointment. In our case, we’d long been fantasizing about the cool people we’d meet, and the effortless friends we’d make in bustling mountain-top huts and along the most stunning of trails – in reality, the only other hikers we encountered were the Swiss elderly that would lap us like it was nothing while we were fighting for our lives.
Though this unexpected crowd was a little disappointing at first, we quickly learned to appreciate their unique conversation and crucial advice, and it certainly taught me that approaching travel with a more forgiving and receptive mindset can really make all the difference in experience.
Rules & Regulations: Research Them
As a final piece of advice, don’t underestimate the importance of looking into the rules and practices of any systems you might be using while traveling abroad–we took a tough loss by not paying attention to how ticketing on Swiss public transportation worked.
Following a few lucky train rides in blissful ignorance, my friend had to deal with a very unforgiving ticket inspector and pay a fine the equivalent of around $115 for buying a ticket after the ride had already begun–something you can usually get away with on the MBTA, our hometown system. Safe to say, this cost was not fun when our summers were entirely spent working to finance this trip.
Though a system as strict as this might be more specific to Switzerland, it’s certainly a good reminder that it’s always worth looking into the rules and regulations of wherever you’ll be, and avoiding mistakes as painful as this.
Final Thoughts
Despite many of these points perhaps seeming self-explanatory, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to fall into traps of procrastination and forgetfulness, especially the first few times traveling and organizing a trip on your own. If there’s one takeaway from my experience, pay attention and be thoughtful in how you approach travel, but do remember that travel will never be perfect, and that’s often what makes it most memorable. As much as our mistakes weren’t ideal, they still proved valuable lessons that might not have otherwise stuck, and bonding experiences that quickly became the funniest jokes between us–I truly wouldn’t have had it any other way.