Travel Tips
Field Notes
Travel Tips That Actually Helped Us on the Road
Practical tools for money, maps, camping, and daily logistics that made long-term travel much easier.
Core Tools
Money
Charles Schwab Checking
If you are an American citizen or permanent resident, this account is a strong travel setup.
It is free, has no minimum balance, and reimburses ATM withdrawal fees worldwide.
To reduce card-theft risk, we usually make larger withdrawals in one ATM session and avoid frequent card payments.
When using an ATM, check for keypad/card skimmers and prefer bank-branch machines with security nearby.
Navigation
Maps.me + OSM Data
Maps.me became our preferred offline navigation app when Google Maps offline support felt limited for overlanding.
Compared with older alternatives we tried, it had better readability, clearer street labeling, and useful points of interest.
For in-car navigation we also used Navigator by MapFactor, again with OpenStreetMap data.
Camping
iOverlander App
The one and only for finding camping: offline locations for free and paid spots, especially useful across the PanAmerican route.
Coverage keeps improving as travelers contribute more places around the world.
Budget
AndroMoney Expense Tracking
We used AndroMoney for daily expense tracking. It is simple and good enough to stay consistent while traveling.
Key requirement: use any app that can export cleanly to .xls, .xlsx, or .csv for later reporting.
Research
Helpful Blogs and Forums
Before and during the trip, we relied heavily on overlanding communities and first-hand trip reports.
Two consistent resources were Overland Sphere and Horizons Unlimited.