Preparing for Your Trip Abroad: The One Thing You Can't Pack in a Suitcase

Traveling abroad is a life-changing experience.

It allows us to see the world through new eyes, meet new people, and try things we might never have tried. Traveling pushes us out of our comfort zone. It forces us to experience the world around us and to return home with a new and greater perspective.

With all the benefits, however, traveling poses plenty of challenges. Traveling abroad can require plenty of different preparation. Whether it be packing clothing, renewing your passport, or booking hotels, it’s important to know what you’ll need and where you’re going.

Even after all that, you’re not quite ready. There is one thing you’ll need that you can’t quite fit in a suitcase: A VPN.

What is a VPN?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. Essentially what it does is provide a safe way to use the internet abroad.

Nowadays, our computers and phones contain mass amounts of sensitive information and, contrary to popular belief, the internet isn’t a one way street. You may be able to use a restaurant’s wifi to login to Facebook, but, without protection, they can access your information as well.

VPNs provide that protection by encrypting your information and giving you a new IP address in a different physical location.

Who uses VPNs?

A lot more people than you realize. VPNs are used for a variety of reasons. The technology is frequently used by large companies to encrypt and protect their sensitive data. People also use VPNs in their own homes in order to use the internet without any form of censorship.

Why is it Important for Travel?

Look, I’m all for internet safety and protecting data. But to be completely honest, the first time I downloaded a VPN was when I was sitting in Hungary desperately trying to watch the TONY Awards. I had a CBS account, I was logged in and ready to go when I received this error:

Yeah, that’s the error you get when you’re in a different country. Woops. But, you see, I’m not the kinda guy who takes no for an answer, especially not when Hamilton was nominated for 16 TONYs. That’s simply not an option.

This is Why VPNs are Magical

VPNs allow you to access the internet from one location while sitting in a location on the other side of the world. So, while I sat in a bedroom at 3 in the morning in Budapest, Hungary, I watched the TONY Awards from ‘New Jersey,’ at 9PM.

A few weeks later, I was sitting in my hotel room in Vienna, Austria trying to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones. But, I got this error:

That’s right, Game of Thrones, the greatest show of all time... blocked in Austria. But 30 seconds later, I was watching the greatest hour of television with everyone else.

In terms of unlocking entertainment and using the internet safely and without hindrances, Virtual Private Networks are unrivaled in their efficiency. As far as I’m concerned, no American should travel abroad without one.

Choosing a VPN

When it comes to signing up for a VPN, there are a couple of things to consider, first and foremost for a college student like me is obviously price. I was looking for cheap. I was also looking for fast and easy.

Being the Millennial that I am, that meant a pretty website that was easy to use and a software that required absolutely no setup. So I went with Buffered VPN. It ended up being just over $8/month for a service that could reroute my IP address into 31 different countries in a matter of seconds. (Literally, it took me 11 seconds to connect to a server on the East Coast of the US.)

There are countless other options, though. You can check out a top-ten list ranking a bunch of the best VPNs here.

For a basic guide on how to watch US Netflix in Europe click here.

Yale Fried is a student at Emerson College. He is a freelance writer and filmmaker. You can read more of his writing at YaleFried.com.