I'm not going to lie, leaving on a Snowbird adventure for the first time is a scary thing. You are setting off into unknown territory even if you think you have it all under control there is always something you didn't think of. Hopefully these helpful hints will get you that one step closer to getting your toes in the sand.
1. Get your travel insurance in order. It is more expensive for 6 months but you don't want to be caught without it. It is really cheap to pay out of pocket in Mexico but it is the big things you don't want to get stuck paying for. For instance, a cast or a check up is super cheap to get but it's the surgery kind of things that add up and God forbid if you have to get flown back to your own country.
2. Still on the same lines as insurance, make sure you have someone coming in and checking on your place back home while you are gone. If a pipe bursts or there is water damage etc. your insurance won't cover it if you had nobody checking on it.
3. If you aren't taking your vehicle with you, call your insurance company and just get basic fire and theft put on it. You will save a bunch of money for the months you are gone. We stored our truck in a covered storage facility so we know it isn't going anywhere or will have a tree fall on it. We ended up saving $95 a month by doing this.
4. Cancel your streaming services. It's a monthly payment that you don't need. We even cancelled our Sirius Satellite in our truck since we wouldn't be driving it.
5. Check your bank and credit cards to make sure they won't be expiring while you are gone. You can't get one replaced down here so if one is going to expire while you are gone you will be out of luck. On the same note don't forget to check your license, passport and health card too.
6. Winterize your vehicles before you go. Either get a friend to come over and start it every once in a while or even consider taking out your battery for the winter.
7. Call your cell phone provider and put it on pause while you are gone. You will probably still have a small payment per month. Mine was $12 a month but way better then paying full price. When we arrived in Mexico we purchased a Mexican SIM card and just pay a monthly fee of 300 ($21 cdn) pesos per month with unlimited data. Also everyone here uses WhatsApp so make sure you download that before you come. It's free.
8. Don't forget about your mail! Have someone gather it for you or have the post office put a hold on it for you.
9. Photocopy your documents and also take a snapshot of them so you have them on your phone. (passport, drivers license, travel insurance etc)
10. Check your time zones. Where we live in the winter the state doesn't change their time but we still do in Ontario. I work online so had to adjust my schedule slightly.
11. Join facebook groups from the area you are going to. It is a wealth of information and if you come across any questions they are there to help while you.
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