Even though I am a meticulous, organized person, something shitty always happens when I am on a trip. I have had the following happen while traveling:

• Sustained a serious injury that resulted in a trip to the hospital
• Got scammed at an airport
• Came close to being sexually assaulted
• Had all of my credit and debit cards refuse to work despite setting a travel alert
• Reached out to the local US embassy with an emergency
• Had one of my contact lenses fall out on a bus and be half-blind for the rest of the trip
• Had my phone die while lost in a strange neighborhood after dark

I wanted to share a few tips that I have developed over the past few years to help mitigate risks and make traveling as smooth and easy as possible.

Phone/Internet: I usually rent a wifi hotspot when traveling and put my phone on airplane mode, but this renders you unable to make phone calls when you need to. As a backup, I always purchase a temporary Skype plan for $14 that lets you call any international phone number. On my recent trip, all the ATMs at the airport declined my debit card, so I made a quick call to BofA and got it resolved instantly. You can't call an emergency line, but you can call your local embassy with emergencies.

Health: To save money on impromptu hospital visits, you can purchase a global travel insurance plan. For me I think it was about $15 for a week. I haven't had to use this yet, but I always look up the names and addresses of 2-3 local hospitals who are in-network and print that out. I also always travel with a basic medical kit just in case something happens: pain/cold medicine, bandaids, a surgical paper mask, and tampons/pads. I got sick from air pollution this week and it was amazing to just wake up in the middle of the night, pop an Advil, and go back to sleep. Lastly, I always pack an extra pair of contacts and also glasses just in case.

Financials: You should always set up a travel alert with your bank, but in my experience that has been 50-50 in terms of whether your cards will actually work. I once had a situation where my debit and credit card were both declined, and I had less than $50 USD in cash. First, you want to have more than one debit card. I have one from BofA and Schwab. Schwab is my preferred card because there is no account maintenance fee and you can get reimbursed on ATM fees but it doesn't always work smoothly. For example, on my last trip it took me forever to figure out that I had to select 'universal account' on one ATM instead of 'checking account' in order to withdraw cash with a Schwab card, and then on another ATM you had to identify your debit card as a credit card for it to work. Anyway, this is why I always travel with 2 debit cards + 1 credit card + $100 USD in cash.

Miscellaneous things that are helpful to have as a backup: You should have a portable charger with you at all times. Mine is good for about 3 full charges. Before you leave on your trip, print out the contact info of the local embassy of your country, especially their phone number. If you're American, you can enroll your trip in the State Department's Step Program, and they will email you with alerts like "there is a large protest coming up, watch out for these streets and intersections." Have a scanned copy of your passport in case the original is stolen or lost. Have apps downloaded and ready on your phone, like local Subway maps, Google Translate, etc.

Safety: Be suspicious of people who seem a little too interested/invested in helping you. Generally, the rule is that if the end result of whatever they're trying to get you to do involves you spending any amount of money, it's a scam. Don't trust people just because they're wearing a uniform, it could very well be fake. If someone is giving you weird vibes, don't feel bad about just bluntly shutting down the conversation and walking away from them. You have no obligation to indulge in someone else's desire to have a conversation, and your safety comes first.