Travel Tech
It would have been impossible to manage such a complex itinerary, all the currency converions and time zone changes, all the unexpected plan changes, and even driving route selection without our smart phones, iPads, a half dozen cables, chargers, converters, adapters, and a few amazing apps. “TripIt” stored our entire itinerary (flights, hotels, confirmations and record locator numbers, contact numbers, payment information, inclusions/exclusions, layover details, connections, etc.) in chronological order. It sent us reminders when it was time to check in, and informed us of flight delays and gate changes even before they hit the airline service desks. 

By buying a chip for the iPad in Australia, we were able to engage Google Maps, which provided real time traffic information and re-routed us around construction and traffic delays, cutting hours off of our travel time. And, at the airport in Bangkok, Andy discovered yet another Google app that can translate signs from non-Arabic languages such as Chinese or Thai into English. (Note: Although tech was an invaluable travel aid for us, it was also invaluable to have paper copies of e-ticketed itineraries as well, since many airlines and hotels weren’t as sophisticated as we were and seemed to only trust actual pieces of paper. The night before we left, I decided to print screen shots of all our reservations. Boy, am I glad I listened to that little “just in case” voice in my head…

We also found the new e-passports invaluable. They are barcoded and allow one to skip immigration lines and get processed at kiosks in advanced countries such as Australia. In the U.S., our Global Pass trusted traveller cards in combination with the new passports saved us from waiting on long lines, filling out forms and going through screenings. Some airports triple screen now, so anything that simplifies the process is well worth it.

Low/no-cost phone plans
One doesn’t think about the cost of phone calls overseas until one finds oneself on hold with 3 different airlines for 2 hours each at $2 per minute. Andy’s prescience in setting up a 20 cents a minute plan with T-mobile before we left the U.S. really paid off. Somewhere in Tasmania he found a way to beat even that with wi-fi calling that was free, although it didn’t work all the time. One thing we didn’t think of, however, was the fact that our mobile number was useless to others. We might have been able to call on the cheap, but locals in foreign countries had to pay overseas rates on their phones to call us. This was a significant realization when trying to get a live person to return our phone calls relating to our lost luggage. Once we understood this, we could work around it, but it took a few days for that particular light bulb to go off.

Travel insurance
After this trip, we would never consider travelling without it. While purchased mainly to cover a real medical emergency, the brush with even a small medical problem in Slovakia plus the cascading effect of just one cancelled Etihad flight that resulted in 4 lost days (and affected pre-paid cars, hotels, ferries, as well as baggage delays)–well, let’s just say this trip made us believers. Although i still have to do the math, I suspect our policy paid for itself and then some. A caveat…be aware of coverage limits such as only one incident per trip, low daily maximums and exclusions (anything not specifically stated isn’t covered). Example: Before we left, we learned that our policy would cover us medically if we contracted Ebola, but would not allow us to cancel if an Ebola outbreak occurred at any of our planned destinations (plague was not specifically listed as a covered cause of delay/cancellation.) Don’t you just love insurance companies?

Credit cards
Most credit cards levy a 3% surcharge for foreign transactions. Plus, some overseas vendors tack on an additional 3% for Amex or non-Maestro (the European equivalent of MasterCard) cards. Plus there are hefty fees charged by your friendly U.S. banks/credit unions for ATM use. All of these fees really add up. We found the Barclay Arrival Card to be invaluable on this trip and used it, or cash, exclusively. It does not charge any foreign transaction fees, provides double points for travel expenditures, plus credits any accumulated points as cash back. I think we only had to hit an ATM only once (our compensation from Etihad for delayed baggage helped out too).

Time Zones
It is important to get a handle on times zones, and how they affect body rhythms (all of a sudden, with hardly any warning,you keel over into your soup), med schedules (someone needs to invent an app for that!) and cancellation policies (one is expected to provide sufficient cancellation notice based on that location’s time zone, not the one you happen to be in. British Air expected us to advise them of flight delays before they even happened in our time zone.