<p>I know there is a study abroad board but I know plenty of parents here have had kids study abroad. My D is leaving for England this summer and I have a few questions, mainly about insurance, etc.</p>
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<li><p>Did you purchase an additional health insurance policy for you child? If yes, did you use it and was it worth the cost.</p></li>
<li><p>Did you purchase any type of travel insurance? I know there are travel insurance website but I am unclear on if a study abroad would really be considered a trip? I am concerned about possible trip interruption with weather or with influx of people during the Olympics. Also concerned about coverage being valid if there were any type of terror issues that would shut a city down and how she would be covered under those situations.</p></li>
<li><p>Cell Phone. We have At & t here at home and wondered if anyone had success having their phones "unlocked" and then purchase a SIM card in Europe. Or if just buying a prepaid once she is there is the best best. Not really concerned about calls to home (we will probably just Skype) but I know she will meet people there and I would like her to be able to call the Embassy or restaurants, and everything in between.</p></li>
<li><p>"Wish I would have though of that"-Any thing your student didn't pack that they sure wish they would have brought along? I had someone tell me "american" peanut butter and kraft mac and cheese...haha.</p></li>
<li><p>Money, Money, Money. I have a child who I would label a moderate spender and her housing and most meals will be covered. Transportation on weekends, weekend road trips, etc, will need to paid by her. Any general idea on "cost per week"?</p></li>
<li><p>Electricity. I have been told by some folks it is easier to have the kids purchase hair dryers, straighteners, etc once they get there. Any advice on that would be great.</p></li>
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<p>I’m going to answer as a student because my parents didn’t help at all so I had to take care of everything (also keep in mind that I was paying my whole way so if you have money to contribute YMMV): </p>
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<li><p>Insurance was provided as part of the fee to study abroad. The country I was going to also had universal health insurance for everyone- including visitors. When I got sick down there (I got very sick and had to go to the hospital), there was no hassels. I was lucky though and depending on where you go it might be different. In England, you <em>should</em> be covered but rules might have changed since I was last there. </p></li>
<li><p>No. Everyone advised against it and it wasn’t necessary. </p></li>
<li><p>How long is she going to be there? If it’s only a few months, she doesn’t need a cell phone. Unless you really want to pay that extra expense. We went for 2 months without cell phones and were just fine. A netbook/laptop and wifi is all she really needs. If she has a smart phone, she can also use wifi on there to make calls and text when in a wifi area. </p></li>
<li><p>Peanut butter. But really, it depends on where you’re going. In England, it’s really no big deal. Food is very similar to ours. </p></li>
<li><p>No, it’s going to vary greatly. She should have access to an ATM and should carry very little cash on her. Some credit card companies don’t have a fee when you use them abroad- you can inquire about this. </p></li>
<li><p>You really shouldn’t be traveling with too many electronics. You also really shouldn’t need too many either. They just become a pain and if you buy them there, they’re useless once you go back home. If you have a lot of money, that’s one thing. Pack lightly with electronics and get a few adapters (voltage converters if necessary). They’re sold for pretty cheap.</p></li>
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<p>3 - We handled this by my D simply not making many phone calls. She just brought her phone over which is a GSM phone (AT&T) and it works fine with no changes. This works fine as long as not too many calls are made. If she’s going to have phone habits like she has when at home and talks a lot then she should either buy a SIM card there or get a cheap phone when there. She should focus on the abroad experience rather than being distracted by the phone all day long. If she has an emergency and needs to contact the embassy or police, which is very unlikely, the cost of a 2-5 dollars to do so won’t matter.</p>
<p>5 - The amount of money totally depends on the kid. It can get expensive if she’s going to eat a lot of meals in restaurants, if she’s going to drink a lot of alcohol there, or if she’s a shopoholic. </p>
<p>6 - Anything with a motor or heater typically requires either a dual voltage appliance, dedicated 120v outlet available (some hotel bathrooms have these) or a bulky voltage converter transformer capable of handling the load. It’s best to just not bring it if it’s not a dual voltage appliance and just get what’s needed there or buy a dual voltage one here.
The electronic components that have their own AC adapters - laptop, camera, ipod, GPS, etc. generally are fine to use - you just need a cheap plug adapter which just changes the prongs from our style to theirs - it doesn’t actually convert the voltage. Whether it’s okay or not can be confirmed by checking the ‘input voltage’ imprinted on the transformer - it’d usually say something like 100-240vac or something like that.</p>
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<li><p>My son is going this summer as well - finishing up the last 2 weeks in London. His school required we purchase an additional policy for a very minimal fee.</p></li>
<li><p>We didn’t purchase any trip insurance. </p></li>
<li><p>Depending on what type of phone she has, there are many free apps out there to enable you to make free international phone calls. The one we’re planning for him to use on his iPhone is one we have many friends using. It’s called “Viber”. Other friends have used “Whatsapp”. Also works for texting.</p></li>
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<p>We sort of got health insurance as the college health insurance specifically covered study abroad. We only purchased the college insurance that one year since usually our family policy was good. (She didn’t need it however).</p>
<p>We did not get trip insurance. She is a light traveler and the max she could lose was her laptop. </p>
<p>We didn’t worry about a phone, turned out that since the college sends kids to that study abroad every quarter, the leaving kids sell their local cell phone for a pack of cookies when they leave. She did the same thing when she left. Skype worked for phone home calls (which, as usual, were infrequent).</p>
<p>No hairdryer etc taken or used. </p>
<p>money … we didn’t give any extra, she still got her normal spending $$ and saved it for the trips. She went (from France) to Italy, Spain, Geneva. Normal touristy trips were on the cheap. She didn’t have much time to “tourist” when classes were in session, because she was studying. It was surprisingly just like college for her!</p>
<p>When my son was participating in an international athletic championship in England for several weeks a few years ago we were advised to pack Neosporin or other topical antibiotic ointment. It’s apparently not an OTC item in the UK.</p>
<p>And the other son, who did a high school year abroad, should have taken two or more forms of plastic payment. He had his card eaten by an ATM and we had to get a new card from our home bank and then send it securely to France.</p>
<p>The School provided insurance. Our paperwork mentioned that immigration requires you to prove that you have health insurance.</p>
<p>No trip insurance.</p>
<p>She has a pay as you go, but says she dosen’t use it much. She is able to text us and we use skype. I wanted her to have something.</p>
<p>Things are more expensive there. She said that if somethings costs $20 at home, it costs 20 pounds there. Capital One Credit card does not charge international fees. She got a student card, but her limit is $300, so we ended up getting one too, with her as a signer.</p>
<p>She applied for a Capital One card last year, knowing that information and knowing she was going on the trip. She has done well with it and they keep raising her limit so she will use that as primary. I can always manage it her and pay on it as needed. Does anyone know if debit cards on USA banks are charged a fee for use in the UK?</p>
<p>1) I only got sick once, during the last week I was there I got strep throat. I didn’t purchase any additional insurance, and our home policy covered it. I paid out of pocket for the doctor’s office visit (45 GBP) and then the antibiotics were very cheap (3-4 GBP). I didn’t take the time to send in a claim to our insurance company for the doctor’s office visit, as the receipt didn’t have that much information on it.</p>
<p>3) I was there for four months, and bought a 20 GBP pay as you go phone. You get a card that you “top up” your account with at very convenient locations (grocery store, post office, banks, etc.) I paid 20 GBP per month for 300 minutes and unlimited texting, which I did use a lot since I made a lot of friends over there.</p>
<p>4) They sell peanut butter in England and I got along fine without Kraft Mac & Cheese. The food I missed the most was Mexican food, but they do sell limited taco and burrito kits that worked out fine. I made them for my flatmates, and it was fun because none of them had ever had tacos before.</p>
<p>6) Radio Shack and other electronics outlets sell converter sets, with plugs that convert your prongs into the correct shape, and also convert the voltage. You’ll need both. I got the world kit as I also traveled to mainland Europe several times, and they use different prongs there.</p>
<p>1) Although we have a very good health insurance plan, DD’s program required an additional health insurance plan. I don’t remember the cost and she never used it. </p>
<p>2) We did not purchase any type of travel insurance. </p>
<p>3) One of DD’s friends who attended another university had studied abroad in the same area of France the semester before DD. She was kind enough to box up a few things (including a pre-paid local cell phone) and deliver them to the program director at DD’s school so she would have them when she arrived. That was very helpful and kind of her friend.</p>
<p>4) Definitely peanut butter and lots of it! DD is a vegetarian and couldn’t find black beans in her area of France. We shipped her several bags of black beans and it cost us a small fortune.</p>
<p>5) I’m sorry, but I have no idea about this one. DD was responsible for her own cost when it came to that.</p>
<p>6) We had some European converters at home so we just sent those with her. I don’t recall her having any electrical issues. </p>
<p>When DD left France after her semester there, she flew to Germany and met her best friend (who had just completed a semester in Spain) so they could hang out there for a few days and then fly home together. I told her to toss all her underwear and give away as much stuff as she could before leaving France so that she wouldn’t have to lug around a bunch of heavy luggage. They (she and best friend) arrived home on Christmas Eve with suitcases full of German beer and lots of other gifts. They really lucked out when coming through customs. When the agent asked what all they had, the girls were very honest (beer and lots of it … Christmas gifts for the fathers who are beer geeks). The customs agent asked their age (legal in Europe but not in the U.S.) and then told them to go on and “have a Merry Christmas!” DD said she’d not thought about that aspect of it (purchasing legally over there but not being of legal age when she returned to the states). </p>
<p>I hope your DD has a fabulous time and lots of wonderful experiences during her study abroad!</p>
<p>When we traveled to Europe three years ago, we took our Capital One card and used only that (in addition to cash) because it had no foreign transaction fees.</p>
<p>Of course, any prescription meds, but if there are OTC meds she uses fairly regularly, maybe a small supply of those. England will have everything, but maybe by different names and in different formulas. Of course a pharmacist will be helpful, but just a thought.</p>
My daughter’s program required her to have a phone with an Italian phone number, so just using her own phone wasn’t an option. We bought a SIM card from cellularabroad.com, which was fairly cheap, and put it in her AT&T phone. I wouldn’t wait until she’s abroad - we had some issues with AT&T that required us to be on the phone with them about a week before her trip to activate the SIM. I had to beg & plead for them to do it faster, as she was leaving.</p>
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Bank of America doesn’t charge a fee (other than the exchange rate) for use of Barclay Bank’s ATMs. They’re all over London. It may be worth it to open a student account at BoA (as much as I hate them) just for that purpose.</p>
<p>D’s school required purchase of an insurance plan that included medical evacuation and medical coverage. We looked around and found one that also included security evacuation since she was headed to Africa. I wouldn’t think England would be much of an issue for that. insuremytrip dot com was a good resource; I ended up calling them on the 800 # to get pointed in the direction of some better policies for study abroad. One thing I did want it covering was tuition costs if she had come home sick or injured.</p>
<p>Don’t assume that medications with the same name are the same medication, even for OTC drugs. There are quite a few Olympic athletes who’ve learned that to their dismay. </p>
<p>Peanut butter for the win. She also brought some clothes she planned to dump before continuing on. </p>
<p>If she’ll be doing a little touring and staying in youth hostels, the silk sleeping bag liner is great and light. So was REI’s self-inflating travel pillow. D liked both of those a lot. Ditto on the quick-dry microfiber towel and washcloth, and a pair of quick-dry undies.</p>
<p>Amazon.uk is great for books she might need there. Plan to leave them there.</p>
<p>Weigh your luggage, including hand luggage, and make sure it is within the limits. Some airlines have strict size limits (L+W+D); on and earlier study abroad trip to Italy we ended up taking a tape measure to the stores to find the duffel that was the largest that would be within economy limits. It was a challenge. Limits can (and do) vary on the outbound vs. coming home legs of the trip. </p>
<p>Don’t know about now, but jeans were very expensive in Europe. Bring what you want from home. Shirts were inexpensive (relatively).</p>
<p>Make sure that either you or your husband’s name are on the credit card that she has. When my daughter was in France her credit card was skimmed. I received a call from the Credit Union asking if she had gone to the Philippines because her card had been used there for pizza and a few other items. Obviously, the answer was no. </p>
<p>The Credit Union sent the new card to me and I sent it FedEx to France. You might ask your credit card company what their procedure is if something like that happens. While this probably won’t happen, just be aware that it can. The credit card company needs to know that she will be abroad and the card will probably be used in several European countries.</p>
<p>Not sure if BofA still offers their student accounts. I thought I heard it was one of those things they were doing away with because it was too good for their customers and didn’t generate enough fees for the bank. If you already have one you can keep it.<br>
ATM withdrawals in Italy have been expensive, over $7 per hit, due to their ATM fee + our ATM fee + 3% fx fee. Sending a Schwab Bank ATM card. They supposedly will reimburse all ATM fees and no fx fee. </p>
<p>My son is in Italy right now training for the summer olympics… no wait, not really, he is student teaching. He managed to pry an unlock code from ATT for his android before he left. I think he bought a local sim card to use for local calls. We speak regularly using Google+ hangout or facebook video chat.</p>
They may not, but they do still offer an “electronic only” account - use only ATMs, on-line banking & don’t talk to a teller. That one has no fees. It might be worth it to avoid foreign ATM fees! (I have mine specifically for this purpose - non-student account.)</p>
<h1>4: Many medications that are over-the-counter here are prescription or unavailable in Europe. Be sure to check on anything that might be needed (allergy, decongestant etc) and bring it along if it’s not available there.</h1>
<p>I appreciate all this good information. My child’s program offers liability insurance. She will be going to Germany. Should I get it? I’m inclined not to.</p>