Essential Travel Tips and Advice
5 Tips for Traveling Internationally With Your Phone
For your upcoming trip, you made a wise decision by purchasing the international calling plan from your carrier for $10 per day—not too bad!
However, after your trip, you check your phone bill and discover you've been charged over $5,000 in roaming data fees. This is extremely concerning.
Using your cell phone internationally should be straightforward, but it often isn’t. Should you stick with your current phone plan or buy a SIM card at your destination? Should you opt for a text-only plan, or will you need to make calls and use data as well? And how can you avoid unexpected fees? Read more...
The Easy 2025 Gude to Travel Visas for Americans
An American passport is like a golden ticket, granting access to nearly 190 destinations worldwide without the need for a visa prior to arrival. This includes most countries in the Caribbean, North and South America, southern Africa, and Europe.
However, there are new requirements to consider, such as the ETIAS for Europe. Additionally, applying for visas to countries like China, Russia, Australia, Pakistan, and Brazil can be complex, but we have all the information you need. Read more...
15 Items You Should Never Put in Checked Luggage
In 2021, the Transportation Security Administration seized 5,972 firearms at security checkpoints, as well as items like a cleaver, a can of bear spray, and a chainsaw.
As a savvy traveler, you would never pack such hazardous items in your carry-on bag. But what about in your checked luggage? What does the TSA allow, and what is prohibited? Read more...
Help! I Left My Prescription Medication at Home While on Vacation
After a long day of travel, you arrive at your resort and prepare to head out for dinner. You need to grab your blood-thinner medication to take with your meal, but it's not in your suitcase. As you frantically search, you suddenly remember leaving the orange bottle on the kitchen counter at home.
This is problematic because you're required to take your medication daily to reduce the risk of blood clots or stroke. So, what should you do now? Read more...
6 Reasons to Buy Travel Insurance
It's crucial to buy travel insurance for every trip because you never know what might happen when you're far from home!
Not sure if you need to insure your trip? Read more...
How to Prevent Jet Lag: Proven Tips from Experts
If you're a seasoned traveler, you're familiar with jet lag—but there's a big difference between minor jet lag and severe jet lag. Traveling from L.A. to New York, for example, might throw off your sense of meal times. But flying from L.A. to Tokyo can make simply functioning a challenge.
Jet lag symptoms include disrupted sleep, fatigue, irritability, digestive issues, and a feeling of mental fogginess. "Without any change in routine, the human body will adjust to approximately one hour of time change per day," explains Dr. Eugene Delaune, MD. "This means it can take travelers over a week to fully adjust to a new time zone when flying across an ocean without making some effort."
Dr. Delaune is a skilled medical professional advising Allianz Partners’ Assistance Team on critical medical decisions, including managing emergency medical evacuations, providing medical triage with referrals to local providers, and overseeing ongoing medical monitoring for ill or injured customers. Trained by the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Delaune served as a flight surgeon and later as a member of a Critical Care Air Transport Team, making him uniquely qualified to offer tips to minimize the effects of jet lag. Read more...
