Check travel Warnings and Alerts.
Make sure it is safe to travel where you’re heading. Travel Warnings and Alerts are available at any of the regional passport agencies and U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. The information is also available online at the Department of State homepage. All information about travel warnings and alerts are updated constantly.

Register your trip. It is a free service provided by the State Department.
I don’t want to deter you from traveling, but there is a good number of tourists that disappear each year. By registering your trip, they will at least have a starting place to look if you go missing.

When traveling abroad, make sure you have the address and phone number of your local U.S. Embassy.
In an emergency you want to have this information readily available.

Before traveling, find out if your health insurance company will cover you in an emergency abroad.
In the event of an emergency, cost is not your first concern, I know. It is however, a third or fourth concern. I had a friend who traveled to Thailand and had to have an emergency appendectomy. He spent four days in a hospital in Bangkok and when he got home he had a bill for $20,000 that wasn’t covered by his U.S. provider. A travel insurance policy would have cut that cost to almost nothing.

Notify your credit card companies when traveling to unusual places or for long periods of time. The last thing you want to happen is to have your cards canceled by your credit card company because they believed the card had been stolen.

When checking your backpack at an airport, use a pack cover to prevent pockets opening and straps catching on conveyor belts. Now I can tell you from experience you don’t want to be the person at the airport collecting their pack that is open and ripped to shreds. To add insult to injury, my journal was missing and everyone in baggage claim saw what type of boxers I wear.

Keep 20 bucks in your shoe. In an emergency, $20 can get you a ride, meal, and a phone call. It hasn’t happened to me but I have met people with horror stories about being robbed abroad. With no money and no ID, they had to beg for a few bucks for a cab ride to the U.S. Embassy.

If your unsure about drinking the water where you’re going, use a water bottle with a filter. You can get one at any camping store. When I was in Egypt and I was kicking myself for not having one of these. Remember different countries have different organisms in the water that the locals’ bodies are used to. Forgieners might not have that same luck in drinking the water. When in doubt, drink bottled water with a name that you trust.

Go with the flow. Traveling, especially aboard is one of the best experiences you could possibly have. You’ll meet tons of travelers who just want to see the world and have a good time doing it. Be respectful of others and their beliefs when abroad because they might be different from your own. Be open minded and friendly and I guarantee you’ll have a great time.

Related posts:

1. Safety Tips for Traveling Abroad and Ways to Help Pay for Your Vacation
2. Tips Traveling With Animals
3. Travel Insurance When Pregnant Or Traveling With Children

Cats tend to be home bound animals, meaning that they typically don’t like to leave a familiar area. When you take them out of that comfort zone, they become upset. I’ll never forget the time that I had to make a 10 hour drive from North Carolina to New York in traffic with a cat that would not stop meowing at the top of her lungs the entire way there. It is in the best interest of not only the animal but the driver to take the proper precautions so that you can have a safe and enjoyable trip. Like a child, if you are traveling with a pet that is distressed, it can not only be distracting but incredibly dangerous because naturally, your attention is being diverted from the road.

If you are traveling with a cat, it’s not the same as traveling with a dog. Cats need to have a big enough carrier to house both the litter box as well as themselves. Some owners will pack the litter box separately and stop ever couple of hours or so to check if the animal needs to go to the bathroom. Most cats will actually hold their bathroom breaks for as long as a couple of days if they are really distressed! If you are traveling with both a dog and a cat, make sure that they are separated but placed in the rear most part of your vehicle so as to not distract the driver. Additionally, unless your dog is extremely well trained/well behaved, it should be in a carrier or gated off area of your vehicle. Some states may even have this as a requirement. This is to protect both you and your dog should you have to break suddenly or if you become involved in an accident. Since animals cannot be put into the same types of safety harnesses as adults (I.e. seat belts), they must be secured in other ways.

There have been plenty of drivers that I have seen on the roadways with dogs (and even cats) sitting in their laps while they are driving. This is a huge no-no. Would you drive with a baby or a child in your lap? Not only is this incredibly dangerous for both the driver and the animal (because it obstructs the driver’s view and is distracting), but it is also incredibly dangerous for other drivers should you get into an accident.

Related posts:

1. Tips Traveling For You
2. 5 Tips for Traveling With Children
3. Traveling With Teens: Top Five Tips for a Peaceful Family Vacation