The Flight

The Flight

Your carryon should hold your fragile items, electronics, and valuables. Important paperwork, ID, cash, and other items that you will need immediately should be at hand.

At your seat you should bring support items. I had a pillow that was compact and I could fill with air at my seat and lean my face on and put my arms in. Magical! I will link to one like it HERE. My flight was 5hrs with a 2hr layover in Texas and then another 5hrs to London.

Unless you wear a watch regularly, don’t bring one. It isn’t that important just for two flights. Instead prepare yourself to have a dead phone battery. Bring portable batteries! I brought three of them and I could have used an extra (because of all the time I kept having to waste making sure they were all plugged in because I used them up so quickly). Make sure they are as compact and large capacity as possible. You won’t want to carry bulk around every day. Slim charger in your pocket is nothing however!

 Apps. For London I recommend WhatsApp or Kik (if you want to hide your real number) to talk over Wi-Fi for free. To travel City Mapper is perfection, you can search for walking, bus, tube, or Uber routes and times. I would recommend using widgets on your screen to keep track of your HOME time. It is easier than counting every time you want to know; you can check in the same time it would take to check your foreign time. This will also save you during your flight to calculate travel times while crossing time zones.

Don’t bring things specifically for your flight. You will have to drag these items all over your foreign country and unless you will be travelling extensively for your entire trip, don’t coddle yourself. You can survive a flight with your ear buds instead of heavy duty noise cancelling headphones that will be cumbersome and added weight on your way home. Your ear buds may get annoying but you can handle it, I promise.

Tissues. Virtually weightless and for some reason, I swear, everyone’s noses run on planes. These can double as toilet paper as well!

Comfortable clothing (be aware of weather)

Charge everything before you leave!

Bring an empty water bottle (TSA will stop you for carrying liquids but there are loads of places to fill this passed security). Keep hydrated and eat a balanced meal before travelling. It is tempting to eat taco bell as a quick option but it will come back to haunt you mid-flight. You don’t want to be in and out of the toilet with embarrassing issues. Be prepared with Beano, heartburn, or diarrhea medication!

Get up and stretch during flight. Blood clots are a worry even for those of us without circulation problems. I personally wore restriction socks (like diabetics wear) to ward against them because I had a window seat). Sitting for long periods of time can be dangerous, because you risk of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) rises. It isn’t going to hurt anything or anyone for you to do a couple laps around. If you are worried about bothering staff, ask them for a route and best time to accomplish this during flight.

The woman sitting across from me during my flight clearly had circulation problems because she would constantly stand up next to me and stomp her feet… she was in pain! It was horrid.

My flight to the UK and back (and flights while I was there) weren’t bad. I watched movies, tv shows, and such on the flight over.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask any questions in the comments below.

Happy Travels,

Elle

Steps to go Abroad

Steps to go Abroad

Depending on your university, degree, program, and country of choice these may be wildly different.

If you have your finances sorted it is a good idea to start allotting funds toward what you will need it for. In some programs and universities for example you will be provided a meal plan. This could be all three meals or one. You may have to purchase your pots/pans and kitchenware. Find out and list out what will be covered, what you need to prepare for it, and how you will pay if you need to. Planning is the key to success. Sometimes this can be difficult if you are applying for scholarships and gathering funds during this step. It will be difficult but not impossible. List things out in order of priority. If you need pots and pans while abroad you should contact a roommate to split or cover this expense (if they have already planned it).

Typically, the things you should prepare for through your university and/or program are:

a.       Meal plans

b.       Passport and fees

c.       Student visa/internship paperwork

d.       Commuting expenses

e.       Tuition exchange or payment

f.        Housing (homestay/dorms/external flats/apartments, or independently secure housing for yourself)

g.       Excursions included through your program, university (home or foreign), and independently

h.       Flight (to and from) or airport transit – welcoming reception
Purchase these no more than 3 months before leaving to save

i.         Where your on-site support will be through your program (if any).

j.         Any other assistance your program, universities, or countries may provide.

k.       Insurance while abroad (CHP for example)

l.         Communication (laptops/tablets/cell phones)
m.   Your Bank - Credit/Debit cards and currency
You need to alert them of travel plans, sort out fees and percentages taken when cards are used abroad. Make sure you monitor your bank statements while abroad! 

n.   Packing - what to bring and leave at home. You'll need to sort out medications and all the over the counter meds before leaving. Make sure you can travel with what you bring or that you can find it abroad. Certain toiletries (especially feminine items) maybe not even be available.

o.  Medical need. If you need assistance abroad this should be worked out months in advance. Prescriptions and care will need approval, clearly marked labels, and prescriptions. You should research what you can get abroad, what you can bring abroad flights, etc. Another possible obstacle will be the absence of items in your abroad country or different terminology or names for the items. In England Ibuprofen is called Paracetamol. When I needed to pick it up this made it easier for me to find immediately.
p.   Register with S.T.E.P and your embassy while abroad.

q.   Your Return - make sure and prioritize your return to your home country before leaving! It can be really stressful trying to find a sublet, register for the following semester, and everything while you are abroad.

And of your any personal expenses that you will have to cover, which could include appliances, toiletries, clothing, and other miscellaneous items.

Remember if there are snags in your plans along the way it isn’t the end of the world just part of the journey! Keep calm and carry on.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to leave them in the comments section below.

Happy Travels,

Elle