It’s crunch time! In my last blog post I talked about the processes of finding a destination and flights. In this post, I’ll talk about more nitty-gritty stuff on my checklist that needs to be taken care of before I’m on my way to being a beach bum on Isla Holbox, Mexico!
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Once I know my destination and travel dates, I buy travel insurance for the entirety of the trip. Each time I’ve traveled internationally, I’ve compared different agencies but always find that WORLD NOMADS offers the best price for the type of coverage I need. They offer different tiers of coverage, depending on what you’ll be doing. For example, if I’m planning to do some skydiving, bungee jumping, survival trekking, etc., I’ll need a more comprehensive (and more expensive) policy. In all my travels, I’ve gotten the ‘Standard’ coverage and have been happy with the company’s customer service.
DOCUMENTS
- Passport: Months ago I made sure my passport won’t expire OR have fewer than six months before expiration by my travel date. Many countries require that time span before they’ll let you in.
- US Drivers License: I’ve often been asked to provide a second form of photo ID when traveling abroad. This, too, needs to be current.
- Visas: Mexico doesn’t require a visa for US citizens. When I travel to countries that do, I check the requirements online. Most of the time you can get your visa and pay for it upon arrival at their airport customs stations. Just make sure you have enough empty pages in your passport for their official visa stamps!
Oh, the places we’ll go! - Emergency Contact Information: I create a paper ID with people’s names, relationship, and their contact info so that if something happens to me, my daughters can be reached by anyone who is helping me. Likewise, I send my flight details, travel insurance policy number, and accommodation contact info to my daughters.
MONEY MATTERS
- Currency: Once I researched online travel blogs and recommendations from fellow travelers on my favorite website Girls Love Travel, I decide how much cash I should have in the local currency. At my bank I ordered Mexican Pesos and picked them up two days later. How much? On this trip with my major costs of flights and accommodation already paid for with my credit card, I’m taking the equivalent of $50 US dollars per day. Things are cheap on Holbox, folks!
- TIP! I’ve learned that smaller denominations are usually better, especially in small towns.
- Credit cards: I research whether or not credit cards are accepted readily at my destination. If I’m going to a small town not on the usual tourist path, they might no be! If they are, I want to know what fees are involved if I use them.
- Debit cards: It’s also important to learn about the availability and dependability of ATMs on my travel routes and destinations. If that $50 per day in cash I’m planning on turns out to be wishful thinking, I want to be able to withdraw more from an ATM. I’ll need a debit card for that and many trips ago I discovered that having a Charles Schwab Checking checking account is the way to go. Not only does Schwab not charge a fee when I use the card abroad, they also REFUND to me any fees the local banks charge! It’s a very nice homecoming to see the statement with all those $$$ paid to me!
PHONE
- International Coverage Areas Planning for communication now makes me wonder how anybody traveled BEFORE cell phones! 😉 I checked my carrier’s international coverage and confirmed that my plan does include unlimited text and data at my destination. For Holbox that wasn’t straightforward. There were conflicting reports from travelers online about carriers not working there, saying that the only carrier that worked was Mexican company, Telcel. I ‘chatted’ online with T-Mobile to get the final word and was happy to find out that yes, T-Mobile’s coverage includes Holbox. If it hadn’t, I would have needed to get a local SIM card
at the Cancun airport to put in my phone if I wanted to be able to text or use data from it.
- What’s App: I love this app, even though some phones and plans include free international calls now without it. If you and the person at the other end of the line have What’s App numbers, you can call each other free. This is really useful for communicating locally at your destination. The owners of my accommodation included their What’s App number in their first welcome email.
LUGGGE/WHAT TO PACK
- Weather . I check Accuweather.com repeatedly to see what the weather is predicted to be at my destination. Since Holbox is offering only super-hot temps and humidity now along with some intermittent showers, my packing job will be a breeze: shorts, lightweight shirts, sandals, and a sun-blocking hat for clothing.
- Stuff to Take: For this trip, reef-safe sunblock, insect repellant, a thin, microfiber beach towel for the beach. (I got one of these, but am still deciding whether to take it. I AM going to a beach town after all, so I imagine little shops will have such things!)
Should I pack this? - Luggage: A rolling carry-on bag and a backpack are my friends. Different airlines have different requirements for carry on luggage, but my 20-inch rolling bag for the overhead bin and my backpack for stowing under the seat in front of me are plenty—whether it’s a seven-week Ecuador adventure or this five-night beach party.
This is my handy roller carry on. - Backpack: If your backpack has a strap to slide onto the roller bag’s telescopic handle like the one in the picture below, that’s an extra bonus. It leaves you with one hand free as you move through airports.
Traveling, whether with someone or solo, is one of the greatest opportunities we have. Researching what to have and what to know before you go makes those travel experiences full of happy memories.
Remember: when packing, LESS IS MORE!
Check in next week for quick reports from Holbox Island, Mexico. I’ll be posting when I can and have something to share. Thanks for joining me on this solo adventure!