If you live in an apartment, you may need to sign a contract for a specific amount of time that you will be living there. My apartment contract was about to end two and a half months before I was scheduled to travel. I decided it was best to pack up my things and find somewhere to live until I departed. It was hard to find short-term residence in apartments since a minimum residency was required.
Solution: Living with friends and family. One of the costs of moving includes changing my mailing address. I paid for a postal box so I would have a place where my mail could go. I also made my banking paperless as much as I could so my mail wouldn’t pile up while I was away.
When traveling abroad, you still have to worry about paying your bills from your home country. One of the safest things you can do in case someone needs to access your account while you are away is sign a family member to power of attorney. With this, they can access your bank accounts to pay bills or your money if it is needed while you are away. I had a different bank account with Royal Bank of Canada and TD Canada Trust. I had to sign the papers with my family member before the papers could be processed.
While overseas, I haven’t had to ask my family member to access my account. I made sure that I set up my online banking before I left so I could pay all of my bills while overseas. It is a good idea to figure out the options available before you leave the country so you can get immediate assistance and help with any problems you may encounter.
Another important thing to figure out is how you will take money out of the bank while you are abroad. My debit cards allow me to withdraw money from the ATM’s at certain banks across China. I have to look for the Plus or Visa sign before I can take out my money. You can have a look at your own bank card to see if you have the Plus sign. Before I withdraw money, I calculate the exchange rate because that affects the amount of money I can put in my pocket. It costs $5 to take out money, so I try to withdraw as much as I can to save on the banking fees.
Since my family was in the process of moving to another city, I didn’t have a choice but to find storage for my possessions. I looked in the phone book and started to call for pricing. Budget had the best deal since they offered half price for the first month. Every other month seemed to be similarly priced at other facilities. After I found my storage, I started to slowly move my possessions there. It took about a month since I ended my contract and decided to move out of my apartment. The only problem I found with my storage was the size of the door leading into the storage. It made it hard to move larger items into place. I couldn’t move everything on my own so getting friends and a truck gets the job done easier. I recommend that you don’t keep everything unless you really want to keep it since you will have to move it again when you come back. I ended up throwing out some items since I could buy new ones through my company.
About a week before my departure, I had to find storage site for my truck. I canceled my insurance and paid for parking insurance in case something happened to my vehicle while I was away. I was fortunate to find someone that would allow me to park my vehicle in their parking lot.
I also had to think about where I was going to keep my pet ferrets. Pets are a big responsibility for anyone, and they shouldn’t just be given to anyone to take care of. I wanted to give my ferrets to friends or give them to the SPCA. I was able to find a friend to take care of them, but that friend said I needed to find someone else a few weeks before the flight was scheduled. My friend’s sister finally took care of them.
If you are an American citizen and want to enter Canada, all you need is an US passport or other proof of US citizenship. The other proof can be an original or certified birth certificate along with photo identification. If you are an American citizen and are entering Canada from a third country, you must have a valid passport. A visa is not required for a US citizen to stay up to 180 days in Canada. More information can be found on the Americans Entering Canada section of the American Consular Services Information website.
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