@Sdgal2 – I should stop wasting time making dinner; it looks like they just sold out of that necklace 
@88jm19 – would never have thought of the fanny pack --thx!
My kid spent one summer (2015) in Berlin, Germany and this past summer in Seoul, South Korea. After the summer in Germany, I ensured that she had enough prescription medicine to last the whole time she was gone. I tried to ship prescription allergy meds to Germany and after paying through the nose for expedited delivery, they never arrived. I am sure they were confiscated in customs. Also send enough over the counter meds. Medications are different overseas and they may not find the same strength or brands as home. Check with your insurance and tell them you need enough meds for the entire trip (we needed 90 days) so that they can approve it since most prescriptions are doled out in 30 day increments.
If you don’t have a chip in their debit/credit card, you will need to get a new card. They will need some currency, my D said a lot of places did not take ATM cards or credit cards. We bank at Wells Fargo. We had to give them her exact itinerary. Since she spent some time at the end of her Berlin trip touring Europe, we had to give them a list. If she were to use her card in a country not on the list, it would be disabled. This was for security purposes.
To talk to her in Germany, we texted and used FaceTime over Wifi. I was able to add the international plan to our Verizon for $40 per month. In South Korea, she needed a totally new SIM card which she purchased from a phone vendor there (it helped that her roommate is Korean and could help her navigate the back streets to find the phone store). She has an Iphone which she had to swap out the SIM card. That is when we learned that Iphones are not locked. She also texted and talked over KaKaoTalk, when she was on WiFi. Korea has some of the fastest and best Wifi coverage in the world but it does not use any of the phone systems we have here.
Read the State Departments website information on the particular country. There is a wealth of information there.
Depending on where they go, check to see if there is a Costco or warehouse store. When she was tired of Korean food two months into her stay, a trip to the Costco in Seoul was a welcome trip. She used my membership which I had placed her on. Finding Fritos, cookies (soft ones, the ones in Korea are hard because of the lack of butter), bacon for her roommates, cheese, and other comfort brands from home made the trip there well worth it.
Packing wise depends on your kid, what they wear, the season and where they are going. My D was away both times in the summer so she had lots of shorts and t-shirts. There are few clothes dryers in Korea so having to hang clothes to dry was one of her pet peeves. It takes forever for sheets and jeans to dry. Gotta plan ahead.
I was a nervous wreck the whole time my D was out of the country, though with the way things are here, I sometimes think she was safer in South Korea than here in the DC area.
They can be either locked or unlocked. Typically, if you still owe money on your phone (i.e. paying on an installment plan), it will be locked and the provider will not allow it to be unlocked until the phone is paid off.
Got it, @doschicos! Fun stocking stuffer 
@BelknapPoint – D just got a new phone this semester, and I made sure it would be unlocked. She just told me there is no mass field trip planned to the local service provider, so she will gather new friends and take care of that upon arrival. Some of the student plans I’m seeing look very reasonable – as long as she doesn’t waste data on Netflix or something…
Make sure you both have Skype set up.
My daughter spent this last summer on a study abroad in China. One of the best things she took was a Turkish towel. She was the envy of her travel mates when they stayed at hostels on weekends, as hostels, apparently, are mostly bring-your-own-towel. Turkish towels (read reviews on Amazon) need to be washed several times before they absorb anything, but then they absorb well, pack small and dry quickly, while also being large enough to cover your entire self if necessary (she had a beach-sized one). She also had very colorful luggage that was easy to pick out on the luggage carousel, and she said that was also surprisingly helpful.
As for cash, we sent her with (1) a wad of US dollars and instructions to convert a bit of it at the airport before she left for China; she returned with 95% of the USD; (2) a USAA debit card we reloaded only as she needed it (USAA is easy to notify of international travel plans, and they never denied her card while she was there); we kept a maximum of $500 in this account; and (3) a back-up credit card that she never had to use. Her debit card did not have a chip in it at the time, and it still worked everywhere. The students were able to withdraw money from local ATMs; cash was the easiest thing to spend there, although I am sure that varies with your destination.
As for cell phones, we just added two months’ worth of an international plan on her Verizon phone. We heard mixed results from buying local SIM cards and similar arrangements, and this is what the study abroad program suggested. I’m sure there is a way to save $40 for the summer, but it wasn’t worth that to us.
The last special thing she needed was a set of converters I ordered off of Amazon. She had several and occasionally shared with other students.
Speaking of theft, our rationale for opening up the USAA account for her was so that we would keep only a limited amount of money in that account so that Chinese thieves wouldn’t have access to the $3,000+ in her primary account. Ironically, literally two days before she left, good ol’ American thieves cleaned out her primary account and then some, so it turned out to be a very, very good thing that she had a back-up card ready to take with her. It took two weeks to get the balance restored to her SunTrust account, and she would have been up the creek without the proverbial paddle if she’d been relying on that for cash in China.
Oh my goodness, @planit! So glad all worked out fine for your daughter, but do you mind saying how the bad guys were able to clean out her primary bank account before she had even left the country? Very scary, though proof that this stuff can happen anywhere, I suppose.
Here is some wisdom from a 3 time study abroad parent…
– A good pocketable camera - don’t depend on your smartphone.
– Unlocked phone with local SIM. Your kid and you will weep when you find how inexpensive it is.If you have a shiny new iPhone or such, you could cough up $100 and get an unlocked phone like an Alcatel that is popular in Europe.
– Good luggage especially to bring stuff back. DD1 is returning with lots of goodies next week.
–Good walking shoes and clothes.
– prescription and non prescription medications
The banking situation is not too bad. In Italy most places accept the old style cards. Make sure the student knows to use the card at a bank DURING BANKING HOURS so if the card gets eaten they can get it back pronto…
Had no idea there was such risk of having ATM cards “eaten” by those darn machines! Several of you have warned of that. Good to know.
On cameras, since you’ve brought it up… That was going to be one of DD’s holiday gifts this year – she wants a “real” camera, whatever the means. I have a mambo Canon DSLR – I know she wants something much smaller than that but better than her iPhone. I’m thinking even the smallest DSLRs will be too big for her, so will go with a much simpler one. Welcome any ideas or deals.
Regarding cameras, one child has a really nice Canon DSLR and doesn’t like to travel with it. Between the cumbersome size and it being so conspicuous, it often winds up staying home. A bulky camera just draws attention to yourself and you then worry about theft. The iPhone winds up taking a lot of pictures but of course you don’t get the same quality.
My other kid and my husband each got a mirrorless Sony camera in the past year - great photos and much smaller than a DSLR.
Lots of great tips for you!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned packing cubes! Amazon has lots and they are all very similar.
D was on Germany X 3 weeks this summer and she said they helped with packing a LOT.
Buy a slim neck wallet, keep passport & credit cards around your knock under your shirt. More pickpockets and purse snatchers in Europe than the US. Aspirin and Tums. When done packing, cut amount by half. Extra clothing and accessories can be purchased (and left) there.
@DMV301 For a less-bulky camera that takes decent photos, I love my Canon SX50-HS. The newest model is probably the SX50-HS version. No extra lenses to carry around.
My daughter is in London now. Coming home in a little over a week. Can’t wait. Definitely take over-the-counter meds like Zyrtec, etc. Brands different overseas. She got sick at one point while traveling and I wish she had some OTC meds handy. Look at Charles Schwab bank for debit card. They refund all ATM fees from anywhere in the world. Worked well. She had 2 no foreign transaction fee credit cards. Mostly used USAA one. Suggest she/he program phone number for US embassy into phone. Also emergency numbers. It’s 999 for UK. 112 for France, etc. hopefully not needed but good to know. Make sure you have contact info for the program in case you need it. She also ordered a collapsible duffle from Amazon for weekend trips. About $15. Met size requirements for EasyJet, RyanAir, etc Hostelworld.com good source of local hostels across Europe. Download WhatsApp app on your phone and his/hers. You can call for free! Mostly worked… Lastly under pack. You want to leave room for purchases!
I don’t use packing cubes. We use 2.5 gallon clear plastic bags that allows the contents to be seen and you can squeeze the air out.
My daughter is studying abroad in Germany for a year. One tip about packing. Only have your child pack what they’ll need for the immediate future, you can mail other things after the fact. A couple of weeks after DD arrived, she had me pack her warmer dresses and combat boots and other bulky things she didn’t want to bring right away. It cost $88 to send via USPS. She had a regular piece of luggage on wheels and a carry-on, and she’s so happy she didn’t bring more luggage, as she had to travel from Detroit to Toronto by car, Toronto to Reykjavik by plane, then to Frankfurt by another plane, then a train to the city she was living in, then 2 trams to her residence. Bringing more luggage would have killed her she said!
Wow, thank you all for these terrific tips! Many things I had not thought of, such as needing to send various OTC meds (though I should’ve recalled searching in vain for Tums last time we were near Paris).
@carachel2 – in fact, I bought our first set of packing cubes on Cyber Monday because of a deal I heard about here. Those are already wrapped for D! @88jm19 – That being said, I typically use those XL ziplocs in luggage, especially when kids are using large duffles for camping trips, etc. Will send both.
@longwood – I think that type of Canon (it looks like the 720 is the current version) will be perfect. Thank you.
Really great info shared and I’m reading with interest as D3 will be studying in Holland in February. D2 studied in Cape Town, South Africa. She used her Charles Schwab ATM which, as noted above, reimburses all foreign transaction fees but I’ll share one problem she encountered. She was traveling to Zambia and used her ATM card and it was denied. She was beside herself because she really needed cash. I called Schwab on her behalf just to try to find out what the problem was but I wasn’t listed on her account and, while sympathetic, the CSR couldn’t give me any information. So lesson #1: even for your fiercely independent kid, have them add you to their account just so you can inquire on their behalf, order a replacement card, etc. Second, the problem turned out to be that she had placed a $300 limit per withdrawal on her account. We’ve never encountered this before but there was a transaction fee at the ATM in Zambia (to be reimbursed by Schwab) and so it appeared she was trying to take out more than her daily limit. She only found this out later in discussion with Schwab. So, I pass that on in the hope that it helps someone else.
We have a Capital One visa which has no foreign transaction fees. Everyone in our family has one and, what I like about this card in particular, is that we each have our own unique number. Not only is my statement broken out by card, so I can see what each person has charged, but if one person’s card is compromised, only that card is cancelled. They also email you if they see a questionable charge and you just have to respond to the email that the charge in question is correct (or not). No phone calls or freezing your card (although I’m guessing that happens if you don’t respond to the email in a timely way). Two of my D’s travelled this summer with their own credit cards and mine as back up (and it has a higher limit so, in case of emergency, they have sufficient funding) and it worked very well.
The only other thing that comes to mind is that my D was advised to have a suitcase no bigger than 20" (don’t recall the other dimensions) but, in the US, the longest one’s carry on can be is 22" in length. We bought an inexpensive bag for her that was 20" but, honestly, I don’t recall if that ended up being needed. Maybe someone else can comment.
In terms of gifts…a le sports sac bag comes to mind and also some Euros (OP said Europe, right?) to get her started. We had a family gift exchange right before my d left for South Africa and her gift was a thin “what to do in Cape Town” book and some local currency. My D’s really valued their cross body purses that had a chain for the strap. Don’t mean to be an alarmist but a chain can’t be cut like a leather strap. My traveling daughters also appreciated having a flat wallet like this one:
Before you get any visa gift cards, look at the transaction costs and rules. You will probably find that they are not a good deal. Better to transfer money into her account as needed.
We would gift our niece through her parents & they’d transfer the $ into her account.
Tell her that the credit card is for paying for things only - never use it to withdraw cash unless it is a completely unavoidable emergency. Cash advances have fees attached and interest is charged from day one.
Some countries, like Italy, have restrictions on what can be mailed into the country. The info packet from the college should include what you need to know. You’d be surprised at what they include - OTC and other meds aren’t the only things on the list.
If she uses a hairdryer, curling, or straight iron, buy it overseas rather than bring a dual voltage from home. It will work better and won’t blow the circuits wherever she’s living.
If she can get true chip and PIN (not chip and signature) debit and credit cards, so much the better. Non-chip can still be used, but not in as many places.