
Hey, congrats, welcome on board! You are a part of the most wonderful project in the world and soon enough, with the happiest smile on your face, you'll be on your way to Latin America. But first, take a look at these must-do's before your trip and make sure you're fully prepared for the experience of your lifetime:
- Pay your fines and debts.
- Protect your card from getting blocked by informing your bank you are travelling.
- Prepare some cash to use wherever cards are not accepted.
- Ensure you always have an ID on you by taking copies of your documents and keeping them separately. It always makes sense to save a copy to the cloud.
- Make sure your luggage complies with the baggage policy of your airline company.
- Ensure you have a ride to the airport; don’t forget about the timing.
- Ask your family or friends to look after you apartment/house/car. Provide your neighbours with your contact information and any other emergency contacts they might need when you are gone.
- Prepare yourself for Internet shortage by having offline access to key information, e.g. tickets, passport, visas, insurance information. It makes sense to have emergency contacts, e.g. your country’s Embassy, Health&Help, bank and insurance company, in head or on paper.
- Be ready for flight delays by packing some snacks.
- Make sure your kindle, phone or tablet are fully charged to keep you entertained during your trip.
Ensure you have a simpler backup phone in case your smartphone dies.
- Prevent your baggage from damaging by making certain your bag is easy to carry. It also makes sense to put a tag with your name and contact information on it. It also helps if you take a photo of it in case it is lost.
- To avoid your baggage being misplaced, make sure it doesn’t have old tags from previous trips.
- Check if you have all the essentials you need in the hand luggage.
- Prepare yourself for the trip by downloading maps and Google.Translate (Spanish-English-Spanish) you can use offline; messengers, such as whatsapp and skype; TripAdvisor, Booking and Couchsurfing, Uber, and your bank’s apps.
- Take all the necessary Hepatitis A, B and rabies vaccination shots in advance. A simple check up and a follow up at your doctor’s won’t harm.
- Ensure you speak Spanish fairly by the time of your trip to Nicaragua.