The Grounded Expat
The practical side of moving abroad

The Week Before You Fly Abroad

By Stephanie Johnson, LICSW · writing from somewhere with a different plug

Most of what makes an arrival calm instead of frantic gets decided before you leave, while you still have wifi and a working brain. None of this takes long. All of it is much harder to do jet-lagged, at midnight, in a country where you don’t speak the language.

Set up your phone before you land

An eSIM bought and installed at home means you land already connected. No hunting for a SIM kiosk at the airport, no queuing at a shop on three hours of sleep. Providers like Airalo and Holafly sell data plans for almost anywhere, and you install them over wifi before you fly.

Check the coverage first, though. Search “[your country] eSIM coverage” or look at the provider’s own map. Rural regions and some islands are patchy, and where coverage looks thin, a local SIM bought once you arrive is often cheaper and stronger.

Download your maps while you still have wifi

In Google Maps, search your city, open your profile, tap Offline maps, and download the area. Navigation, your accommodation pin, and the route from the airport all work with no signal after that.

Google Maps offline is excellent in cities and surprisingly thin the moment you leave one. If you’re heading anywhere rural, add a backup built for offline use, like Organic Maps or Maps.me, which cover trails and small towns the big apps skip.

The apps locals actually use

Your usual apps are often a paperweight abroad. Ride-hailing is regional: Grab across Southeast Asia, Bolt through much of Europe and Africa, DiDi and inDrive across Latin America, Careem in the Middle East, Ola and Rapido in India. Food delivery is the same story, with Foodpanda, Glovo, Wolt, Rappi, iFood, Swiggy and Talabat all owning their own corners of the map.

Rather than memorizing any of that, here’s the method that works anywhere: search “[city] ride app” or check the top free charts in that country’s app store, or ask in the city’s subreddit. Locals will tell you in one comment what a guidebook never will.

Check the weather for your month, not tomorrow

The forecast shows you today. What you need is the season. Look up the average high, the overnight low, and whether you’re arriving in the rainy season, for the actual weeks you’ll be there.

A country filed under “warm” can be genuinely cold at altitude or underwater in monsoon. Pack for the month you’re landing in, not the postcard.

Five screenshots, taken the night before

Do this while you still have signal and a working brain:

A dead SIM at one in the morning lands very differently when all of it is already in your camera roll.

The emergency number isn’t 911

It’s 112 across most of Europe, 999 in much of Asia and Africa, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand. Search “[country] emergency number” and save police, ambulance and fire before you land.

You will almost certainly never need it. Almost is the reason you look it up now.

Tell your bank you’re going

A card that suddenly starts working in a new country looks like fraud to your bank, and they will freeze it. Set a travel notice in the app before you fly, and carry a second card kept somewhere separate from the first.

One habit that quietly saves you money once you’re there: when a card machine or ATM asks whether to charge in your home currency or the local one, always choose local. “Your home currency” uses a conversion rate set by the machine, and it is never in your favor.

Landing, and the first two days

Set your phone to the destination’s time the moment you board, and start making decisions by that clock rather than the one you left. Whether to sleep on the plane, whether to eat, when to give in at the other end.

Then chase daylight. Light is what actually resets a body clock, so get outside in the morning sun at your destination even for ten minutes. And if you land in the morning, push through to a local bedtime. A quick afternoon nap becomes four hours and wrecks the first night, which is the night that sets the tone for the week.

The part no checklist covers

The logistics can go perfectly and the first months can still be harder than you expected. That has its own kind of preparation.

Open the free journals

What to actually bring

The other half of this is what goes in the bag: the adapter, the voltage trap, the documents, the medicine kit. That’s what to pack when you’re moving abroad →

Common questions

Should I get an eSIM before I travel or a SIM card when I arrive?

An eSIM installed before you fly means you land connected, which is worth a lot on the first day. For longer stays, or anywhere coverage looks patchy, a local SIM bought in-country is often cheaper and more reliable. Plenty of people use an eSIM for the first week and switch.

What should I do the day before an international flight?

Install and activate your eSIM, download offline maps and your translation language pack, take the five screenshots, set a travel notice with your bank, and check the weather averages for the month rather than the forecast.

How do I get over jet lag faster?

Live by the destination’s clock from the moment you board, get morning daylight once you arrive, and avoid the day-one afternoon nap. Hydrate more than feels necessary in the air and go easy on alcohol and caffeine, both of which fragment the sleep you’re trying to protect.

More on the inner side of all this is in the journal library →