So you’ve decided to go traveling. Exploring the world is always a fantastic experience, and everyone should do it if they get the chance. International travel allows you to immerse yourself in new cultures and ways of living. You will try exotic foods and have incredible adventures before coming home with a wealth of wonderful memories to last you the rest of your life. Travel can change a person for the better. It breaks you out of your comfort zone and makes you more confident and knowledgeable about the world.
But it’s hard to find the time and the money to get away for a significant period. Most people restrict themselves to the occasional weekend break and a longer summer vacation each year. But people in the modern world have jobs, families, houses, and financial responsibilities. It’s hard to take care of things back home when you’re on the other side of the planet without a wi-fi connection.
Your responsibilities may be the one obstacle preventing you from enjoying a worry-free international adventure, but this shouldn’t be the case. As long as you plan ahead and employ the right strategies, you can travel in peace while keeping your life ticking along comfortably.
To help you out, here are three important things you should take care of before traveling.
Your home
If you live alone, and you’re leaving your house unoccupied, it’s understandable that you might be worried about security. Burglars are often highly intelligent, and if your home is obviously empty for a long period, it will be a prime target. There’s a good chance you’ll come home to find all your valuables missing. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to keep your home secure while you’re away. If you have a neighbor with whom you’re on good terms, give them a spare key and ask them if they wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on your property. Tell them you’re going away for a while and ask them to check in now and then and alert the police if they see anything strange. They should also pick up your mail, as an enormous pile of letters by the front door will tell any opportunistic thieves that it is unoccupied.
The best thing you can do is to install better security. A locksmith can upgrade your doors and windows to make it harder for a thief to break in at night. A comprehensive home security system is a highly effective way to deter potential burglars. They come with a range of different functions but are often equipped with cameras, motion-activated lights, keycode pads, and burglar alarms. Although they come at a cost, you can’t put a price on your peace of mind.
Your family
If you are going away by yourself for a long time, you will likely need to have a serious conversation with your family. If you live with a spouse or partner, this will be the hardest talk to have. They will be understandably upset that you are leaving, and concerned about taking on all the household responsibilities by themselves. You should hash all out the issues and worries each of you has, and take the time to come to an agreement. They should have access to an emergency fund in case they need to pay for an expensive service and can’t contact you to help them out. Make sure you leave on good terms with no unfinished business or unresolved arguments.
Your finances
It’s easy for financial responsibilities to tie you to one place. You may have mortgage payments, your monthly rent, gym memberships, legal fees, and a whole range of other regular expenses that you have to take care of while you’re away. But you don’t want to spend your trip dealing with your life admin, and you might not always be connected either. The first thing you should do is streamline your finances. Cancel or pause any memberships before you go away, set up direct debits that come out of your bank account automatically each month. This means you can let your affairs take care of themselves without having to spend too much time thinking about them.
For more serious issues, it may be worthwhile to consider giving a loved one general power of attorney. This means that they are legally able to take care of your financial and personal matters and make important decisions for you. Of course, you will need to make sure that you wholeheartedly trust this person to do so, but it can make your life a lot simpler while you’re abroad.
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