Traveling is the best investment you can make into yourself. Open your mind to new peoples, languages and cultures with vacation time around the world. However, your perfect plans can go awry, so it is wise to cover all your bases to protect your interests before you depart. Simply follow a few basic rules for safe and sane travel abroad, and your travel plans should go off without a hitch.

1. Foreign Travel Medical Insurance
You may be fit and full of life when you board that plane for overseas, however anything can happen that could land you in the hospital. Seasoned travelers know the importance of buying foreign travel medical insurance to cover everything from a quick emergency room visit to serious bodily injury. Travel health insurance is cheap and provides a big bang for your travel buck.

2. Basic Travel Insurance
Your basic travel insurance plan costs pennies on the dollar and is put in place to cover lost luggage, expenses during airport delays, and so much more. Check with your travel provider to add a basic policy to your travel package to ensure peace of mind around the clock when you leave.

3. Take Your Medications with You
Although foreign countries have local pharmacies, your prescribed and over the counter medications may not be available in your foreign host city. Be sure to pack what you need and keep your meds on your person at all times during the flight. Medications should not be packed into your checked bags as theft and lost luggage could render you helpless abroad.

4. Back-Up Credit Cards
To ensure you have sufficient funds for an emergency, it is wise to take along an extra credit card. If your second credit card is new from the bank, be sure to activate that card in your home country before you depart. To activate a bank card, you will need to swipe the card at an ATM or have your teller put the card in motion. Many ATM machines abroad have an anti-theft mechanism that does not recognize a credit card that has not been used in its home country.

5. Pack Light
The biggest mistake infrequent tourists make is to over stuff their luggage. You need a bare minimal with just a few changes of clothes to have everything you need while overseas. Over-packing the suitcases is not only costly at the airlines, it will drain your energy carting them around and leave you little case space to pick up souvenirs.

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