Useful things you should do before planning an international trip.

These things will save you a headache later. 

If you’re like most of the world’s population, you are interested in seeing faraway lands. Here are some of the most useful things you should do BEFORE planning an international trip, that will save you a headache later. If you are considering taking an international trip, we know you just can’t wait to start planning and booking amazing experiences. Slow down and take a little time in the beginning to make some important decisions. Doing this will help you focus on your priorities and goals with this trip, so you don’t wear yourself out with the planning part. 

When preparing to plan an international trip, you need to do more than just pick a location and some dates. We are custom travel planners and long-time globe trotters, and we can’t tell you how many people come to us overwhelmed with the options. Others want to do it all but only have 7 days and don’t think about jet lag. Having clarity and a strategy will help you get there with a bit less stress. 

Skip ahead to the section that matches your point in the pre-planning process for an international trip.

• Know before you go
• Dream big, focus small
• Get inspired
• Become a points person

Know Before You Go

Define your goals before planning an international trip

Before jumping into selecting a destination, it’s a good idea to define your goals. This will guide all of your decision-making. Who are you going with? How long can you go for? (Don’t forget to account for the travel time in each direction.) What do you want to spend your time doing? Sightseeing, tours, shopping, relaxing, outdoor activities, something else? Are you aiming to relax in a foreign place or see as much as possible? What type of traveler are you or your group? Will the trip be luxury, backpacking, budget travel, or somewhere in between? What’s your budget? What are your accommodation needs? Bare minimum, extra bathrooms, concerned about stairs, need for working space, etc. 

Understanding these goals will help guide all of your decision-making. From your destination, the number of destinations, and the amount of time in each place. To weather or not to book that 5-hour ice hike, full-day tour, spa day, or dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant. And even whether you want to use public transportation, hire a driver, or rent a car. Knowing these basics will help you make decisions faster when you begin the planning process. 

Make sure you can go on the trip

Before you get too far into where you want to go, make sure you know where you can go, when, and for how long. We aren’t talking about getting your boss’s approval (although you might need that). If you choose to travel internationally, check your passport. Be sure you have enough time left on it and pages for new stamps. Note that some destinations want you to have 6 months left on your passport even if your trip is shorter. Also, check to see if you need any vaccines where you are going, and if you need a visa. 

[stock photo of a passport in a purse]

The details on customs requirements for entering Europe and the UK

To help you think about requirements that might apply to your destination, we want to clarify that there are 3 parts to consider when entering a foreign country. Your passport, a visa, and the physical customs entry procedure.

Passport:

• You need one to enter foreign countries, period. 
• You need extra time left on your passport after your return date (usually 3-6 months).
• It is recommended that you start renewing your passport 6 months to 1 year prior to expiration. You may be able to renew online; otherwise, you will probably have to mail it in (this means you won’t have a passport while waiting for the new one to come). 
• Check the official travel, passport, or visa website for the countries you are visiting for details.

*For the European Union (EU), head over to the ETIAS site.
*For the United Kingdom, head over to the UK border control page.

Visa:

• A visa is further approval for entering the country you plan to visit (generally electronic, but sometimes requiring the submission and return of your passport).
• This is a secondary requirement for Americans traveling to many countries, but it is new when traveling to the UK and will soon be required when traveling to the EU.
• Citizens of the EU and the UK have needed a visa to enter the United States for quite some time.
• The UK began requiring the Electronic Travel Authorization visa (ETA) in January 2025. 
• The EU is set to begin requiring this in late 2026 (it is called the European Travel Information Authorization System: ETIAS).
• Both the UK and the EU require you to fill out an online form and pay a fee for your application.
• The ETA for the UK is £16, it’s good for 2 years. 
•  The new ETIAS system is going to cost €20. This will be valid for 3 years or until the end of the validity of your travel document (passport), whichever comes first.

Customs Entry:

Alright, finally, the 3rd piece of this is the physical customs entry. You’ve got a flight, a valid passport, and, depending on your destination, you’ve got the visa set up. When you reach your destination (or the first stop in that zone- UK or EU, for example), you have to go through customs. And if you are going through two zones, you will have to go through customs in each zone (UK or EU). If you’ve done this before, you know it can be a long line, and the goal is to smile and quickly get through the moment when they ask you questions and stamp your passport. Well, that moment is undergoing some big changes in the EU.

• On October 12, 2025, a new system began in the EU. When you cross over the European border of 29 European countries, you will go through the new electronic Entry/Exit System (EES).
• This will be a gradual 6-month rollout (to be completed April 9, 2026).
• The system is designed to quickly determine who you are and if you are authorized to be there.
• At customs, you will scan your passport, have your fingerprints scanned, and have a photo taken (take off your glasses and hats for this).
• This will not cost you anything except time. There may be delays as humans and technology adapt to this system.

We’ve seen this system in some of the airports that were testing it; it’s relatively smooth, but some machines were slower than others, and some travelers were slower to understand than others. There is nothing to do ahead of time; just know what to expect when you arrive.

Pro Tip: If you are planning to do a little work while traveling, DO NOT tell a customs agent this. If you say anything like ‘I might be checking some work emails, but it’s mostly vacation’ or ‘I’ve got a little work to do’ this will not get you cool points. It will lead to more questioning and the need for a work visa. It doesn’t matter if the work you are doing is not for a company in your destination. What matters is whether you are traveling to work or for vacation. Seriously, many digital nomads get turned back at customs for saying things like this.

Dream Big Focus Small

Fuel your wanderlust and get inspiration for where to go by exploring online. Doing this will help you get ideas for the places you want to go and the type of things you want to do. It will also get you excited to start planning soon.

Travel inspiration from our instagram page

• Flip through travel magazines like Travel Tips & Inspiration on Flipboard. 
• Search various travel hashtags and pages on Instagram, such as @twicethetraveler, alongdustyroads, nicoleo, beautiful.places, and visual_wanderings.
• If you’re thinking about Italy, head over to our travel inspiration page for photos to inspire your trip to Italy.
• Find YouTube travel pages and look for some specific to the destinations you are interested in. 
• A Google search for “best time to visit X destination” tells you what time of year to visit. Another search for “best places to visit in X destination” can tell you what you can’t miss while there. We once searched “best beaches in the world” and booked a trip to the Algarve Coast in Portugal. And another time, we chose to visit Malaga, Spain, based on photos of a nearby hike we had seen.

Take the inspiration a step further

Look to Instagram and Flipboard to find places to go, things to see and do, and what to eat. Don’t miss things you would want to see or do because you winged it and found out about them later. This is why we still haven’t seen The Last Supper… we’ve been to Milan three times since writing this and still haven’t managed to get tickets to this (it ain’t easy!)

How to find (and save) inspiration for your trip plans:

• Follow pages and hashtags on Instagram that target things you like to do in the place you are going. Follow hiking, foodie, photo pages, etc., for example, FoodiesInRome or HikeOn.
• Join Facebook groups for your destination. It’s a great way to get personal recommendations or have some of your questions answered about the location. Search Facebook groups using the name of your destination; the descriptions will help you find ones that may be helpful. Oftentimes, the people in these groups are not just travelers; they are proud locals.
• Then search for the places you find on Google Maps (these are restaurants, sites to see, parks to visit, etc.).
• Save the places you find on your Google Maps. Create a city list or use the star, heart, flag, or luggage categories. Then make a note (where you save it) to remind yourself why you want to go/do/see/or taste what you found.

Google Maps of Rome with saved locations of interest

Now you will have a way to find cool things to do, see, or eat during your trip. Allowing you to do things on the fly. You can also recommend them to others later with ease.  If you need help procuring your Google map, we’ve got you. Send us an email. If we have one for the city you are going to, we will be happy to share it with you.

Become a Points Person

If you’ve been surfing the internet and social media, looking at travel pages and blogs, you’ve certainly come across ‘travel hackers’. These are the people who have figured out how to get amazing upgrades for free. The truth is, they are most likely tapping into using credit card points and loyalty programs, and you should too!

Did you know that ‘travel points’ doesn’t mean that you get the points because you travel? It simply means that the points are, or can be used for travel. You can get points for every dollar that you are already spending. You will also usually get extra points for spending in categories that are considered travel, even in your local area. This could include gas, dining out, and event tickets. We didn’t pay for our flights when we moved to Italy, and we haven’t paid for our flights back to visit the U.S. either. Moreover, we’ve used points to pay for hotels and rental cars!

To maximize your points usage, it’s essential to understand how points for your credit card and loyalty programs work. For example, did you know that many credit card points can be transferred to your favorite airline or hotel loyalty program? And many times, they are worth more when you do this. We know, it’s mind-blowing.

Before we say more, we want to point out that we are not financial advisors or credit experts. You should talk to your financial advisor about the use of credit cards before you start using them. We don’t know your financial situation or spending habits, so we can’t advise you on what to do. But we can tell you some of the tips and rules we live by.

Tips and Rules for Acquiring the Most Travel Points

1. Sign up for every loyalty program under the sun. Hotels, Airlines, Rental Cars, etc. These loyalty systems give you miles or credits just for using them, and you can save them for future purchases. This costs you nothing, and the Return on Investment (ROI) is incredible. Furthermore, you may be able to use them with other loyalty programs and transfer them, or use them with sister companies.
2. If you choose to use a credit card, only use it for the things you can already afford. Paying credit card interest and going into debt will not help you in any way!
3. If you are using a credit card, use it for everything possible– most credit card companies give you some kind of points even for everyday purchases, and some give you 2x, 3x, & 5x the points on select categories.
4. If you are using a credit card and using it for everything, pay it off regularly (weekly if you can) so that you don’t lose track of your spending. This will help prevent you from ever paying interest.

These are 4 high-level tips and rules that we live by (this is how we get all our transatlantic flights for nothing). There is so much more to gaming the points system, but this is enough to get you started, or thinking about how it could work for you. To brush up on our knowledge, we signed up for The Points Guy’s 10-email series. It’s designed for those new to the points system, but we found tons of valuable information that we needed to be reminded of.

Loyalty program cards

Learn How To Game the Points System

If you want to learn to game the points system, we highly recommend signing up for The Points Guy’s Points 101 Newsletter (the 10-email series mentioned above). The Points Guy (Aka TPG) is a go-to for anything points-related (as the name suggests). We always check out what they are saying about the latest credit card offers if we are looking to switch cards. They know the points systems inside and out. We trust their experience and recommend them as a resource. Here are a few tools you will learn about in the email series that you may want to check out if you are already playing the points game:

Conclusion

The most important thing you can do before planning your international trip is to get some clarity on what you want out of your trip. Do this before you sit down to start looking at flights and hotel rooms. Now that you have set your goals, got some clarity and focus, found some inspiration, got the “all clear” to travel, and set up your points strategy, it’s time to get started planning! Planning an international trip takes time. The average person spends about 30 hours doing this. If you still want to go but don’t want to plan it, let us take that off your plate. Head over to our Custom Travel Planning Page and book a consultation today.

Your Next Read:

---

---