1. Be Financially Prepared

When you’re traveling abroad, the last thing you want is to run out of money. Unfortunately, this could happen for a number of reasons. In order to avoid this eventuality, there are a few steps you can take.

First, plan your budget with ample leeway. If you’re planning down to the cent, you’ll likely find yourself going over budget in no time. Always expect that you’ll spend more than planned.

Next, contact your credit card company and explain your travel plans. If you don’t, your company may decline attempted transactions. It will likely look suspicious if you suddenly begin making purchases in another country.

Finally, be sure that others can help you. If you get in a pinch, a loved one or relative should be able to help you out. Prepare your family to, for instance, send money online with Ria should you run out of funds.

2. Learn The Language

One of the most daunting things about traveling abroad is dealing with a communication barrier. If you can’t communicate with anyone in the country, how will you ask for assistance? You may also struggle to appreciate the culture you’re experiencing. Because of this, you’ll want to learn the basics of the country’s predominant language.

Fortunately, apps like Duolingo have made learning a language far easier than it was. Instead of sitting in a classroom for hours, you can work on your phone whenever you’re free. Try to work on this for at least twenty minutes per day.

Since you won’t have time to learn the entire language, focus on the necessary basics. Greetings, travel advice, food ordering, and monetary phrases are good lessons to cover.

3. Pack for Any Possibility

When preparing for a trip, you never know what you might need. This goes double for an international excursion! An overseas trip will probably last longer and essentials may be less easy to buy. Therefore, you’ll want to pack for any eventuality you can think of.

One important thing to consider is the weather. Since weather apps aren’t always accurate, you may not know when the weather will drastically change. Be sure to bring lots of layers and an umbrella or two. You’ll also want to pack a wide selection of tech. It’s smart to bring multiple chargers, along with universal adapters that work anywhere. 

Finally, it’s vital to bring the most sensible walking shoes you can find. While you might want to wear stylish heels for your Instagram photos, the bulk of your trip will likely be spent walking. If you have sneakers on hand, you may get through the experience without developing sores.

Traveling internationally is both daunting and thrilling. As long as you give yourself ample preparation time, you’re almost sure to have a breathtaking experience!

However, the issue of payment is still unsettled for some and employers are constantly looking for ways to pay their international freelancers. Our article is here to provide you with a guide on how you can pay international freelancers without going through the hassle of haggling about conversion rates.

How To Pay International Freelancers?

One major advantage of modern software solutions is the creation of multiple payment platforms and packages for doing proper invoicing. These solutions make it easier to access details you can use to pay freelancers. Here, we’ve compiled 4 ways to pay freelancers:

Online Exchange Platforms

An exchange is a platform for buying and selling different currencies. You can create a virtual bank account on an exchange and utilize the service to convert to different currencies. The exchange you are using depends on the location of the freelancer.

Currency exchange platforms are beneficial to both employers and freelancers because they ensure that they get the best rates when they have successfully exchanged to their own currency.

There are also exchanges for cryptocurrency. Some exchanges also partner with banks so that freelancers can take a code and identification to the bank and convert it to their preferred currency. There are other ways to pay freelancers, especially when you’re from a country that places restrictions on digital payments. You can use wire transfers via your banks to directly send them the currency notes so that they can either exchange them in their country’s black market, sell them to people looking for currency to travel, or simply collect their currency equivalent at the exchange point in the bank.

Wire transfers conventionally charge a predefined fee on every transaction, so you don’t have to bother about paying charges per amount which makes them better than banks that charge VAT on transfers.

Cryptocurrency

Although cryptocurrency has recently hit a very bad downturn, it does not change the fact that stablecoins are one effective way to pay freelancers. You can convert from any currency to a stablecoin and then transfer that to freelancers via cryptocurrency trading and exchange platforms. This gives your employees a chance to invest their funds without paying exorbitant fees or requiring P2P platforms, or, the chance to simply convert to their currency and keep some money in the bank. Another way to pay with crypto is to use wallets. This is because apart from conventional exchanges, there are also hardware crypto wallets that are protected by encryption. You can use these to ensure that your employees are paid in full and that they don’t have any hacker issues. This option is however only viable if you don’t mind using a courier service to send and receive the hardware wallet.

Mailed Checks

Using the post office is something most people rarely do. However, they’re a great go-to for mailing checks to international employees. You can simply write the check, package it, place a stamp and mail it to their local post office. If you want to ensure they get it at the appropriate time, you can simply mail it a few days or a week earlier and you’ll be sure they get it in time. There are also ways you can mail cash via the post office although the system is outdated. A lot of post offices have an accounting system that allows you to save, send and receive money via postal services.

Domiciliary Accounts

Having your freelancer create a domiciliary account for payment is one of the easiest ways to send them money. This is especially great when the domiciliary account is in your own currency. It makes it easier for them to exchange to their currency when they receive and for you to send without needing to visit an exchange.

It is always important as an employer to ensure that you get the best rates for exchanges and also use platforms that are friendly to your international freelance employees. If you’re not comfortable using exchanges or wiring money, you can always sign up on employment platforms and create contracts between you and your freelancer(s). This way, you can make sure that they get their money (with the fees and charges attached) and that they’re not ripped off by fake P2P salespeople.

Conclusion

The best solution to pay international freelancers depends on your preference and the comfort of the worker. Any of the options above work seamlessly.