The home of the CN Tower and the Raptors basketball team, the city on Lake Ontario’s north-western shore has a lot to offer. Toronto real estate prices are expected to soar by nearly 10% throughout 2020. Toronto has a fantastic food and restaurant scene. Toronto was ranked the fourth most “livable” city in the world, this ranking was based on factors such as culture, healthcare, economic stability, education, the environment, and infrastructure.
Here is how to prepare for a trip out of the country.
Get a Passport
Before you can start collecting colorful stamps from all over the world, you need somewhere to put them first. Start your passport applications several months before your flight date, especially if you need visas from foreign embassies. While the passport process is usually pretty simple, sometimes bureaucratic matters get in the way and cause everything to take much longer than you thought.
Photocopy Your Important Documents
When you’re traveling, you need to bring your passport, driver’s license and a credit card or two. Unfortunately, if your ID or your cards get stolen, you could be in a world of trouble. To make sure you’re not at risk of being kept out of the country without proper identification, and to ensure you can call your credit card issuer promptly to report a lost or stolen card, make photocopies of all of your important documents and payment methods before you go abroad.
If your wallet is stolen or your passport gets lost on your journey, your photocopies, which prove who you are and show your passport number, will allow the U.S. embassy to quickly assist you. You can also reference your copied credit card info to easily obtain phone numbers for creditors and to have the card numbers handy.
Do You Need a Visa
As you book your trip, make sure you check to see whether or not you’ll need a visa to travel. A visa is a document issued by the country or countries you’re visiting, which grants you permission to travel there for a certain number of days. For most of Europe, the U.K., and many countries in Asia and Latin America, U.S. passport holders can travel without a visa or receive one on arrival. But, if you do need a visa and you show up for your flight without it you won’t be allowed to board the plane which will be a major bummer and loss of your hard earned money.
Read A Book About The Country
Before you travel to a new country, I recommend reading a good book about it, to learn more about history and culture before you arrive. This could be as simple as a Lonely Planet guidebook, or maybe a popular novel by a local author. Your on-the-ground travel experience will feel much more fulfilling if you already know some details about the area you’re visiting. Here are some tips for living like a local while on vacation overseas. You’ll still discover plenty of new stuff, but you’ll have a foundation to start on.
