<p>My D will be in Cape Town studying this spring semester and I’d love any advice as well as gift ideas–if your son or daughter studied abroad, maybe they’d be willing to share the 'wish I knew/thought of/had…"</p>
<p>She will scan a copy of the front page of her passport just in case, we’ll use VIVER (no experience with it but so many positive reviews and I believe wireless is prevalent)…D will celebrate her 21st birthday while there so I’m thinking we’ll offer to fund a dinner for her and her yet-to-be-made friends (have done this several times with my college-age kids).</p>
<p>So, any parents who have been through this who have suggestions and words of wisdom? I tried searching but I don’t seem to do that very successful on CC. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>S is in London this semester. It’s VIBER, and we’ve had good luck with that. He has an app on his phone called TripIt where he can keep track of his travel plans and arrangements.</p>
<p>I’d send her off with a couple of relatively compact food items that will remind her of home. When I was abroad for 6 months I took proper teabags and marmite, for instance. It was always good to have them when I missed home a bit!</p>
<p>On my thread, Consolation mentioned the fact that flights abroad often ask for smaller carry-on luggage and I’ve been spending too much time looking on-line for a bag that’s 45 x 35 x 20cm. I have a couple in my Amazon cart, but realized that my son should have the final say, instead of going for the surprise and perhaps return!</p>
<p>Here’s some advice: D arrived at the airport in Munich, collected her luggage, got Euros from the airport cash machine, and by the time she had reached her new dorm two hours later, her wallet was gone. Discovered this on a Saturday morning when most banks are closed for the weekend. She had 6 euros in change in her pocket. </p>
<p>We got the call at 2am (8am her time). Thank goodness for the free internet connection and Skype. And thankfully, she still had her passport.</p>
<p>I won’t bore you with the details of how we finally got money/credit cards to her, but rest assured it involved a lot of scrambling over several days and a great deal of worry. So talk to your kid about the prevalence of pick-pocketing, the need to keep money in multiple locations, and have an action plan to replace missing credit cards, etc…</p>
<p>A good gift? A really nice money belt to wear under your clothing…</p>
<p>I was just going to add withdraw cash in the airport. D1 was left scattering to find an ATM that worked with her card when she was studying in Mendoza, Argentina last summer. She was shocked that restaurants/ retail outlets were not willing to accept her US credit card.</p>
<p>We did help S get a Bank of America account on which he could use the ATMs without fees in some locations. Also, we can deposit money to the account locally which he has needed. See what’s available in the target city.</p>
<p>Our son’s college sent us a parents information guide and it suggested a loaded Visa debit card: [Visa</a> TravelMoney | Visa USA](<a href=“http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/visa_travel_money.html]Visa”>http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/visa_travel_money.html) This reminded me of a loaded debit card we gave this son when he was in HS to give him a trial run on cards. After looking at the website though, I don’t see that it addresses charges for using it. I hesitate to have son open a Bank of America account since we don’t have one locally.</p>
<p>H & D1 went on a safari in South Africa earlier this year. They picked up a rental SIM card at the airport for the phone. Since he had reserved it in advance, all international calls were billed at domestic rates. I think the total phone bill for the 2 weeks was under $35.</p>
<p>Photocopy any credit / debit cards, including the security codes. Call and tell the issuers where the kid will be. Talk to wireless company and find out about using phone there. Verizon, for example, will unlock an iPhone so you can put in a local sim card for local calls there. </p>
<p>Gifts? We sent a single package of small stuff. But when another of our kids was in China, I overnighted her medication with DHL and, amazingly, I sent it at 4PM Friday and it was at her school in Xian Monday AM.</p>
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which he has needed. See what’s available in the target city.</p>