I haven’t been on CC much the past year since my youngest made his college selection about this time last year!
My daughter is graduating college next month and headed to Scandinavia in Aug for a two-year master’s that will have her traveling to multiple countries b/c it’s an ERASMUS joint degree program.
Fort., she’ll be home for about 10 weeks this summer, but the logistics of moving abroad seem a bit overwhelming! Any advice from you sage folks about the moving process itself, packing, what to take, banking, taxes, medical or health ‘to-do’, etc? Things to take with her b/c they’re so expensive or hard to find in Europe?
Because she’s moving countries after the first 4 months, she’s planning to travel lightly – two suitcases (or a big suitcase and a duffle) and a carry on backpack. She’ll be living in furnished places, obviously, and trying to stay light on her feet – no small task if you saw her current closets; she loves thrifting clothes. I’m thinking she needs to migrate to more of a capsule wardrobe with a couple of statement pieces for each season.
Finally, the university is supposed to help with her visa and fort. it will allow her to travel within Europe for the two years without additional visas – so that’s good!
First, less is more. Second, don’t bring that many clothes. Style is different and she’ll adjust her wardrobe. Bring good jeans. Anything else can be bought. Bring favorite clothes and a couple of dressy outfits. Bring raingear and outerwear ( these can be expensive in Europe to buy). Also bring rainboats and footwear ( also can be very expensive esp hiking boots). I’d bring fleece ( harder to find there) I’d bring a good quality bike if at all possible if she is going to be in a place where that makes sense. Bikes are more expensive in Europe.
Another thing I’d take is a small toiletry bag of common products she’d use if sick things like favorite cold pills, etc. These can be different in Europe and you don’t want to be sick and looking to find out nothing is the same. Same with cosmetics she’d use all the time. Can be more expensive or not available.
I’d bring a package of all her documents copies in case of emergency. I’d bring two backpacks one small one medium.
Electric adapters for different plugs, and converters/transformers of any non-variable voltage items.
A good mobile phone plan with no/low cost calling back to you.
Also, check customs requirements to make sure nothing is dutiable or that you/D are prepared for it. Many countries allow duty-free for selected items on a “transfer of residency.”
In terms of shipping, I did an overseas move using excess baggage on the airline years ago. Back then, it was cheap. But take a look at what she can take with her. I did bring a bike from the US overseas and didn’t pay extra for it. Otherwise, contact a freight forwarder. Obviously, in the pandemic, shipping things by boats is much slower and more expensive. PLAN WAY AHEAD for this so that the cost and timing are not overwhelming (and buy a bathroom scale to weigh her boxes!)
1 suitcase and a backpack is plenty. She will need to be able to handle it herself on public transport. Can she get health insurance thru the grad schools? Can you locate a bank, like citi or chase, in all the countries to avoid atm fees?
Because she’s moving so frequently between countries we’re thinking she needs to be able to transport everything herself – or at a minimum with a luggage cart in an airport or train station. So I don’t think we’ll be shipping things over that she’d later have difficulty moving.
The mobile plan confuses me – should we take her off our plan here and buy a SIM card there? I don’t understand how mobile works in other countries but I think it’s pretty different?
Yes, she has a scholarship that includes health insurance. We’re waiting to learn more about it.
Right now she banks through USAA and we need to see what their global business looks like. I’m hopeful it’s good b/c military members live overseas, but I don’t know. I’m wondering if there’s some online “EU wide” mobile bank she could set up. Her living stipend is in Euros and it seems like she might not want it converted every month…
Can she just keep her American credit card? It doesn’t have international transaction fees.
I would recommend planning to check 1 bag, have 1 carryon bag and 1 personal item. Any more than that become exceptionally problematic to move by yourself around Europe. It might be worth investing in good luggage if she doesn’t already have good pieces that will work well for this trip.
We bought our daughter a 35L clamshell-close backpack for travel, it holds a ton, can easily access anything in it and it is international carryon sized.
I also wouldn’t recommend a BIG checked bag. Again, she is going to have to move all of this herself - she can always thrift her way through Europe if she needs something but packing light is one of the biggest gifts she can give herself.
Agree with a pair of good jeans (only pack one pair, they are heavy as well as not being the most travel easy piece of clothing). 2-3 pairs of shoes, no more. She can wear her biggest/bulkiest footwear on the plane over, frees up space in her luggage for other stuff.
Charles Schwab is worth looking into for international banking. They have no foreign transaction fees and they refund all ATM fees at the end of each month.
Check with your current US carrier. For example, T-Mobile is quite international. They have fair use restrictions on overseas calling and they throttle down on data when you use their US-based SIM card from overseas.
Make sure her phone will work there too. It should, but just check. I wound up getting a dual sim card Android phone so that I could have a single phone that I could switch back and forth between the local SIM and the US. Just check her phone to see if it’s the right bands etc.
Yes, she can use her US-issued credit card. Just make sure to notify the issuer that the bulk of her purchases might be from overseas. Shouldn’t be a problem.
She probably will need a Euro (or whatever her based country currency is)-denominated bank for cash withdrawals in the local currency. I do think there are forex charges for using a US bank ATM/debit card to withdraw cash. I know folks are getting cashless, but having access to the local currency is good. Charles Schwab as another poster suggested is a good suggestion, and possibly HSBC.
If you don’t have it already, get WhatsApp on your phone. We communicate with our son in France with it almost every day. The reception even on video calls is excellent.
Most people we know overseas use WhatsApp. If she has access to WiFi, she won’t need much if any cellular data. I wish it had been in wider user back in 2014 when our daughter cost us a couple of thousand dollars in phone expenses during one semester!! Yikes, that was a disaster.
Super helpful – thank you. While she’s travelled a good bit, she doesn’t have the best sense of direction so I’m guessing she’ll need cellular for GPS!
Just tell her to be careful, ha! I can’t remember why we took such a soaking. I thought I had researched the phone situation, but obviously I screwed up.
One more thing to look into is emergency health care. Since she’s going to Europe it’s less of an issue (health care is very good in most countries). But having a fly you out of there type program can be lifesaving. When my spouse used to travel internationally they always had this service. Also, just note that not all countries will give you health service then send you a bill. Some will make you pay upfront or at least ask for credit info.
Last thing, buy her a water bottle with a screw off bottom. We put cash and a spare credit card in this. In case you lose your walltet/ docs you’ll at least have some spare cash.
I had a US $1000 bill from an overseas carrier while spending 2 days in Brussels. I had bought a “data roaming pack” but somehow it didn’t register. I had to contact a colleague who formerly worked in the carrier’s legal department to solve the issue after weeks. It can be VERY easy to do.
WhatsApp is great and a must-have. Like you said, tons of folks have it overseas, less so in the US. But it still requires either access to wifi or cell data (which can add up). That’s why I would suggest getting a local SIM since she’s going to be there for a couple of years. A dual sim card phone, which is much more common in Asia, is handy to avoid having to carry two phones. My current phone is a dual SIM and it works fine, both here and in the country I mainly travel to. Amazon carries several.
I probably wouldn’t go larger than 75L - 85L for the checked bag. She is going to have to move it multiple times. I would recommend going for the smallest one she feels she can do. Smaller is better. And remember the bag itself weighs several lbs, so packing light helps with staying under weight limits.
I’m usually carryon only, even on extended travel (3 wks or more) in Europe and Asia so a 75L checked bag represents an enormous amount of luggage space to have in addition to a 35L carryon and a personal item.
2 wheel checked bag are sturdier than 4 wheel ones, though you give up some maneuverability. I think the trade off is worth it.
Unless your daughter has specific toiletries she must use - I would recommend either buying ‘bar’ toiletries before travel, or just picking up toiletries overseas. She is going to be in Europe, she will be able to easily find shampoo, toothpaste, etc.
If she likes her deodorant, she should bring a couple with her. I’ve found it difficult/expensive to find my preferred brand overseas.
Agree she should take small kit of medicine she prefers just as small emergency kit. Again, OTC medicine fairly easy to find, but if she has preferred brands, she should bring some. Especially if she likes cold decongestants. Many overseas don’t work as well as ours do.
Layers are your friend when packing light, so instead of heavy winter wear, she might want to bring a basic trench coat (mid thigh length to full length) that she can layer shirts and sweaters, etc under. A good trench coat is waterproof, dressier than many of our winter wear choices and very versatile. She can always pick up an inexpensive parka for super cold weather.
phone: have a dual-sim phone that is unlocked. When she gets there get a local SIM card and check out the cheapest pre-pay plan. She should be able to get unlimited talk, text & data for ~€30/month. She can turn her US phone # off & will still get US texts when she is on wi-fi. As @MaineLonghorn said, WhatsApp is all you need.
The school will have banks on campus for students- getting a local account won’t be hard. Also, look into Revolut for banking- easy to move money between currencies. With her new phone (!) she will be able to pay by tap for most things. America can feel very backward in this respect.
Europeans - esp students- really, really don’t have anything like the level of stuff that people in the US do. Check out the baggage rules on Ryanair- you need one bag that size.
There is a European Health Insurance Card that she will get when she enrolls. If you want extra insurance look at Allianz annual travel insurance - it’s a few hundred dollars, and covers all the travel you do in a year, including repatriation if you need it.
There will be a thriving 2nd hand bike market around the university. Buy/sell as needed
Also, she might want to buy European brands. Nothing worse than standing out like a sore thumb. This is particular true of sneakers, luggage and outerwear. She might not care. But I wouldn’t want to be the one in a plastic raincoat in London. Lol. Styles are very different and if she wants to blend in esp when traveling clothing helps. A lot.
I was hoping she could use her iPhone 12 (I’m pretty sure it’s unlocked) and just buy a SIM card over there and load it with data/minutes as needed. Then she could pop her US SIM card back in when she comes home. Though then we’re carrying her on our plan for two years which is somewhat silly but would allow her to keep her #…
