Oh, that is so true!
I drove from NorCal to Seattle and the motel said my CC was no good. Called the bank and they explained their system did not see any charges on my trip so it must be fraud.
[never occurred to them I would drive 800 miles]
Learned that lesson.
You could consider a low cost international health insurance plan to cover you during the trip if anything goes bump in the night. We use companies like IMG or GeoBlue.
Yes your US health plan is worthless overseas. Get covid, break a leg, have a stroke, and you’re facing huge bills. Insuremytrip com
Depends on your health plan, but most medical care in other countries is far less expensive.
Omg… have to love that there is a Costco in Iceland!
I’ve had the same experience… it depends where you are, some countries cover tourists 100% for accidents while in country. New Zealand has coverage for tourists and if you have Medicare, it covers quite a few things as well. Be sure and check the situation BEFORE you travel.
I’ve traveled internationally a lot and never paid for travel insurance. In conversations with people who have had medical emergencies abroad, the benefits for having it were mixed, some good, some bad.
International travel comes with risks as well as adventure. In my experience, the risk was well worth the adventure. Your results may vary… 
If you ever consider taking a cruse you might want to watch Cruse Ship Murders. 
Good idea!
I’ve never been on a cruise ship. The last thing I want to do when I travel is hang around with a bunch of people just like myself.
I enjoy mingling with the locals and when I’ve been in places where cruise ships stop and deploy their passengers to take in the local charm and color, I feel sorry for them as they are whisked from place to place to sit in a group and watch the canned tourist-flavored “local experiences” before they rush back to the cruise ship’s boats for a fancy meal catered by slave-wage ship’s servants.
It ain’t my cup of tea!
Cruses on cargo ships are available.
You get to mingle with the crew and meet the locals.
We’ve considered doing that to visit some of the Cook Islands, it’s the only way, unless you charter a flight, to get to some of the islands in the Northern Group. But we never followed through with it because we didn’t want to commit to an extended stay of 3-5 weeks for a destination that we were not familiar with. Those were on inter-island freighters which are usually 80 ft to 150 ft long and can take only 4-8 non-crew passengers. The crews are typically Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese.
We have spent time in Vietnam on local trains that were populated with visitors all over the world. From that experience I can attest to the fact that Russians, Koreans and Czechs are enthusiastic party participants when they get together and start passing the bottle around.
Just got home from my Iceland trip last week.
Those hot dogs were VERY good. Maybe the best I’ve had in my entire life honestly. You can tell that they use higher quality ingredients there.
Thanks all for the great suggestions and advice. The trip was a smashing success! Would love to go back and have plans to go on many more international journeys now.
Now you have to go back when you can see the northern lights!
You’re not kidding. The only negatives of the trip were that we missed seeing both the lights and the puffins. Would love to correct that in the future!
You can also catch those two sights in Alaska. But not in the same seasons. Puffins go south in the winter when the northern lights are peaking. the same is true in Iceland.
I usually found puffins relatively skittish and a challenge to get close to. I’d recommend high-powered binoculars, at least 10X.
Kenai Fiords National Park is a good pace to find them and a lot of other seabirds. It’s also a good spot for whale-watching. It is a tad remote but there’s day cruises out of Seward. I’ve seen lots of puffins in Kachemak Bay out of Homer as well, it’s more accessible that Kenai Fiords and you can take a halibut fishing party boat in Homer.
Both Seward and Homer are on the road system so you can drive to them.
