First-Time International Travel Guide

Your first international trip is mostly an ordinary trip with two unfamiliar parts: proving who you are at a border, and being somewhere that runs on different assumptions than you are used to. Neither is difficult. This guide walks through what actually happens, in the order it happens, so that nothing on the day is a surprise.

What You Need to Know

A first international trip feels like it requires a body of knowledge you do not have. It does not. It requires four documents, two phone calls and a willingness to ask directions. The knowledge is useful, but you will acquire most of it on the trip itself, and the parts that genuinely matter beforehand are short enough to fit on this page.

What is genuinely different from domestic travel is that a second country now has an opinion about you. It decides whether you may enter, on what terms, and for how long. That decision is made by a government you have no relationship with, using rules that depend on the passport you hold rather than where you live. Understanding that one fact removes most of the confusion around visas, entry stamps and the questions asked at immigration.

How It Works

Before you go: three checks

Does your passport have enough validity left, does your destination require permission in advance, and does it require any vaccination. Those three questions have destination-specific answers, and answering them is nearly all of the preparation. The documents guide covers what each answer looks like in practice.

At your departure airport

You check in, and the airline checks your documents. This is the moment most first-time travelers do not expect. Airline staff verify that your destination will accept you before they let you board, working from a commercial database, and they are usually stricter than you assume. Then you clear security, which works much as it does domestically. Then you wait at a gate.

On arrival

You follow the crowd to immigration, hand over your passport, answer two or three questions about why you are visiting and where you are staying, and receive a stamp or an electronic record. Then you collect your luggage and pass through customs, which is usually a matter of walking through a channel unless you are carrying something that needs declaring. The whole process is routine and generally takes between twenty minutes and an hour.

Getting to where you are staying

This is the highest-friction moment of the entire trip: you are tired, in an unfamiliar airport, without local currency or a working phone, being approached by people offering transport. Decide how you are getting to your accommodation before you leave home, and the moment becomes uneventful. Getting around in another country covers the options.

What to Do Before Your Trip

• Apply for or renew your passport. If you do not have one, this is the whole of your first month.
• Find out what your destination requires of your citizenship. A visa in advance, an electronic authorization, permission on arrival, or nothing.
• See a travel health clinic once the destination is settled. Some vaccinations are recommended rather than required, and some certificates only become valid after a waiting period.
• Buy travel insurance when you book, not before you fly. The cancellation cover only helps if it predates the reason you canceled.
• Tell your bank you are traveling and ask which of your cards work abroad and what they charge.
• Ask your phone carrier what international use costs, and decide whether to add a plan or use a local option instead.
• Photograph your passport and keep the image somewhere you can reach it without your phone.
• Leave your itinerary with someone at home.
• Book your first night’s accommodation and your transport to it. Improvise from night two onward if you like.

Important Considerations

Your passport is not a form of payment or collateral. Hotels in some countries will ask to hold it. You can generally offer a photocopy instead, and you should. Carry the passport itself only when you need it.

Immigration questions are not a test. Why are you here, how long are you staying, where are you staying. Answer plainly. Officers ask everyone the same things, and hesitation is only interesting to them because it is unusual.

Jet lag is a real constraint on your itinerary. Plan the first day as though you will be operating at half speed, because you probably will be, and do not schedule anything you would be upset to miss.

You will be more visible than you are at home, and that is not a warning so much as a fact to plan around. Sensible caution about where you carry things and how you move around at night is the same caution you would apply in an unfamiliar city anywhere.

Read the advisory for your destination, and read past the level. The headline number conceals almost all of the useful detail. Understanding travel advisories explains what the levels do and do not tell you.

Tips for Group Travelers

• A first international trip is easier in a group, and a well-run group trip is a genuinely good way to do it. Someone else has already solved the transport, the accommodation and the arrival.
• You still own your own documents. Nobody can obtain a passport or a visa on your behalf, and no group leader should be holding yours.
• Tell the organizer about anything that affects your travel early. Mobility, medication and dietary needs are all straightforward to plan for and awkward to solve on the day.
• Ask what is not included before you pay a deposit. Tips, entry fees, some meals and optional excursions are the usual answers.
• Know the plan for getting separated. Where to meet, who to call, and what you carry that lets you get back to the hotel alone.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming a valid passport is an acceptable passport. Many destinations want validity extending well past your return date.
• Leaving the airport transfer until you land. The one moment you are least equipped to make a good decision.
• Changing money at the airport by default. Convenient, and rarely the best rate available to you.
• Carrying the passport everywhere. A copy is enough for most purposes and cannot be lost in a way that ends your trip.
• Packing for every eventuality. Most things can be bought where you are going, and the ones that cannot are medication and prescriptions.
• Planning the first day as though you had slept.
• Relying on a phone you have not checked will work. Ask the carrier before you leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a visa for my first international trip?

It depends entirely on the passport you hold and the country you are visiting. Some destinations require a visa obtained in advance, some an electronic authorization completed online, some grant permission on arrival, and some require nothing at all. Check the requirement for your own citizenship and destination rather than relying on what another traveler did.

How early should I get to the airport for an international flight?

Three hours is the usual advice, and for a first trip it is worth taking literally. Check-in for international departures involves a document check that domestic travel does not, and queues at security and passport control are less predictable than you may be used to.

What happens at immigration when I arrive?

You hand over your passport and answer a few questions about the purpose and length of your visit and where you are staying. You may receive a stamp or an electronic record. It is routine, it is the same for everyone in the queue, and plain answers are all that is wanted.

Should I carry cash or use cards?

Both. Cards are widely accepted in most cities and useless in some situations you will encounter, particularly small vendors and local transport. Carry enough local currency for a day, tell your bank you are traveling, and find out what your cards charge abroad before you rely on them.

Is it safe to travel internationally for the first time alone?

For most destinations, yes, with the same judgment you would use in an unfamiliar city at home. Read the current advisory for where you are going, tell someone your itinerary, and consider enrolling with the U.S. embassy so you can be contacted in an emergency. A group trip is a reasonable alternative if you would rather not do the logistics alone.

Related Travel Tips

• Planning your trip, the hub for this section
• What documents do you need for international travel?
• International travel planning checklist
• Getting around in another country
• Understanding travel advisories

Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel

A first international trip is exactly the kind of trip worth having someone else check. LABUSA Travel plans international and group journeys end to end, from the document deadlines through to the transfer waiting for you at arrivals. Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor, or browse our destination guides if you are still deciding where to go.

Verify Before You Travel

Entry requirements, vaccination rules and advisories change, and they differ by citizenship. Before you travel, confirm the current position with your destination’s embassy or consulate, the USA.gov guidance for U.S. citizens traveling abroad, the U.S. Department of State and the CDC’s Travelers’ Health pages. This page is general guidance, not advice about your specific trip, and it is not medical, legal or immigration advice.