As we've researched, prepared for, and done some travel, we've come up with some tips, tricks and hacks to make long-term, light weight traveling possible. Here's a tip that will make things a bit easier.

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Through years of traveling and tons of learning through others, we’ve compiled several tips and hacks to make traveling a bit easier!

Before Leaving for Long-Term Travel, Replace All Credit Cards

Preparing for long-term travel can seem pretty easy. Sell everything, buy the things you need but don’t have, pack your backpack, buy a plane ticket and board the plane. This can work for many, but for us, this wasn’t a good enough plan.

We’re going to be gone for roughly 12 months and wanted to focus on our travels and mitigate the need to put out fires at home or have things fall apart behind the scenes. Our to-do list was pretty long and thorough, but it really helped us leave the country with all loose ends tied up (we hope!). We thoroughly researched and gathered resources for options and alternatives while on the road; think lodging and hotel, rental car, volunteer opportunities, and mobile travel apps.

Tip: Are you looking for a good travel credit card? We list our favorites on our resource page, but the one we use the most is our Hilton Ascend American Express Credit Card. We earn points towards free nights at Hilton and if you use our link we'll both get a bonus! You'll earn 75,000 Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 or more in purchases with your new Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership and an additional 25,000 Bonus Points after you make an additional $1,000 in purchases with your new Card within your first 6 months.

Expiring Credit Cards

We’ve never proactively called a bank to send us a new card before it expired, it’s always been taken care of by the financial institution. However, being abroad for about a year is different.

The Hassles of Letting 'Em Expire

You’ll more than likely have to have the card forwarded to you once the bank mails it to the mailing address they have on file. Complications arise when you haven’t updated the mailing address and the card goes to an empty home or to a stranger who's living in the home you used to live in.

Uh-Ohs

Also, you have to realize that the card expired in the first place. More than likely you can end up in a situation where you’re trying to use the card while traveling and it’s declined because it expired. Hopefully, you have a different form of payment on you. 

Fees

You could also have the card on file for automatic bill pay with another service. If you haven’t updated the card number or account information you could end up with fees for late or invalid payment.

If you end up in this situation, be sure to call the company that charged you the fees and kindly ask for a one-time exception and removal of the fee. Many companies will do this, especially, if you’re a long time and/or customer in good-standing. 

Get New Credit and Bank Cards Issued

The easiest way to avoid having cards expire while you’re traveling is to have new cards issued for all accounts that’ll be expiring while you’re away.

Sounds simple, right?  However, imagine having to call each banking institution and taking 10 minutes explaining that you’ll be traveling overseas for an extended period of time and would like a new card issued. Almost without fail you’ll have the customer service representative who thinks you’re trying to place a travel alert, the representative who thinks you’re moving overseas, the representative who thinks you want to close your account… you get the picture.

Instead, we opted to simply say that we’d misplaced the card in question.

Action:

Call the institution that issues the card that’ll be expiring during the time of your long-term travel. 

Delivery:

“We misplaced our bank card. We’ve looked everywhere for it, but to prevent any fraudulent charges, would you mind canceling the card right away and sending us a new one? It’s not necessary to issue a new number. Thank you very much!”

Tips:

• Find the toll free number by looking on the back of the card or google the company name with “phone number” or “customer service”.

• Confirm how long it’ll take to get your new card.

• Confirm there's no charge associated with cancellation or delivery of a new card.

• Keep in mind, you realistically won’t be able to use the account for a few days. Plan accordingly.

• Update any auto-bill pays with your new CCV/CCV2 and expiration date from the new card.

The following tips are good when calling a customer service line for any reason:

• Go through the spiel in your head in advance. You’ll speak more elegantly and stammer less, besides, not sounding like a stammering idiot is good.

• To speak with a person faster, choose the automated option that's to upgrade or establish service. If you’re spending money, the company wants to talk to you ASAP.

• Remember the agents name who you’re speaking with. They’ll likely appreciate it when you call them by name.

• Do the world a favor and be kind and treat the agent like a person. They’ll appreciate it, especially if they’re having a bad day. Not to mention, they're actually a person!

Scammers Get Scammed!

There’s no need for that old, canceled card, right? Wrong!

Don’t throw it out just yet. You can use it in a fake wallet while traveling. Place it in the wallet so the mugger or pick-pocketer will think they got your real wallet, leaving you with your valid cards expertly hidden away. They won’t realize you gave them a fake wallet until they try using the card and it fails. Meanwhile, you’re long gone!

Quick Financial Preparedness Tip:

Update and make note of what bills are being paid by what accounts. We have a bookmark folder with all of our financial accounts bookmarked for easy reference. Use this folder to easily check accounts and ensure they’re in good standing while traveling.

As a bonus, this folder can be used when not traveling. If you have a reference of all accounts, you can easily update billing and account information. For example, if you cancel a credit card that was paying a bill, use this bookmark folder to know which account(s) need to be updated.