However, First Republic doesn’t explicitly say whether they charge currency exchange fees, but they did say they don’t charge any fees. So, I tried it out by withdrawing money from both my First Republic and Schwab accounts and calculating the effective exchange rates.

Both First Republic and Schwab used the same exchange rate, did not charge any currency conversion fees, and reimbursed me for the €3.95 ATM fee. At the same time, I looked up the Wise exchange rate, which was much better. However, Wise does not reimburse ATM fees and charges 2%+ for withdrawals over $100, which makes it more expensive overall.

Overall, I am happy with my First Republic and Schwab accounts and still haven’t found a use for my Wise account.

USB-C Wall Charger

Instead of bringing a charger for every device you have, you can simply buy a USB-C wall charger to charge your laptop, tablets, and phones. This is especially a godsend at airports and in the plane as you’d only need to plug in one device. As long as the wall charger is powerful enough, it will be able to charge all devices simultaneously. I recommend at least a 60W charger, 100W if you have an Apple MacBook Pro.

Recommended product: Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim 63W

USB-C Battery Pack

In addition to the wall charger, look into a USB-C battery pack that supports charging at least 20W through its USB-C port. This will allow you to use the battery pack for your laptops. As I write this post, I am charging both my iPhone and my MacBook Air on a plane.

Recommended product: Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 PD Portable Charger

Travel Power Adapter

USB-C wall chargers support both 120v and 240v outlets, so you can plug it into a cheap travel power adapter and charge all your devices. Additionally, these adapters support low wattage USB charging, providing you a few more USB ports for charging.

AirTags

The baggage carousel gives me intense anxiety, so getting an AirTag to make sure that no one has stolen my luggage is a godsend. I haven’t found any other good uses for the AirTag though.

iPad for a Second Screen

There are a lot of companies making second screens for traveling. However, if you have a Mac and a recent iPad, you can use your iPad as a second screen. My MacBook Air + iPad Pro have been a great travel combination.

For more information to see whether your iPad is compatible, visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210380.

T-Mobile for International Data

With T-Mobile, you have slow data speeds around the world for free. This has been sufficient for me for two weeks in Europe, with me only paying $5 once to get 512MB of high-speed data in Bruges, which did not have easily-accessible Wi-Fi like other cities I explored. This is cheaper than almost all other carriers, including Google Fi.