What to Tell Your Family Before You Go Overseas

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Casey and I leave for Scotland in just a few days, so my grandmother “Mimmy” called me up with a few questions before we hopped on our 7-hour-plane flight.

“This would make a great blog post,” Mimmy told me. “‘What to tell your grandmother before you go overseas.'”

And she was right! When you are leaving you’ll have a million things on your mind — what to pack, how to store your visas and special documents, how to open a bank account — that you might forget about keeping your family in the loop.

So before you travel abroad, give your family this info.

Your Address

Shipping things abroad might be pricey, but you never know if your family might want to send a letter or care package. Plus, just in case of a real emergency, it’s good for them to know where you’ll be living.

How to Communicate

I’ll have to do a follow-up post on the best ways to keep in touch with your family, but you should show your parents and grandparents how to download and reach you on “What’s App” and Skype, or let them know not to text your new international phone number unless you have international texts. Give them an emergency contact and of course, remind them of what time zone you’ll be in!

How to Send Money

I’m only including this because Mimmy asked so she could send us birthday and Christmas spending money (which is extremely generous!) and I wouldn’t tell anyone unless they asked. But your family might like to know if they can send American checks, or if they should use a service like PayPal or Venmo instead.

Your Travel Schedule

If you are going abroad, chances are you’ll have a layover or a lengthy travel day (or two), and plenty of time “offline.” You should let your closest family members know your travel plans and try to update them as you can. Even if you can’t stay in touch the whole way, it might give them peace of mind knowing your itinerary.

So there you go! Anything else you would like to know if your family member was going abroad? Or anything else you told your family before you left?

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