i. The gold card.

Apply for a credit card before you leave for your trip. It’s not to use to buy your luggage or a new timepiece. It is your emergency protection. Make sure that it is a card with adequate available credit. You don’t want a $100 secured credit card as your protection. Opt for a card with at least $1000 credit limit with the availability to exceed your credit if necessary with minimum penalty.

If you are in your early twenties and have yet to establish your credit, there a couple of things you can do. Ask your parents to have their credit card company issue you a card in your name. This means that the card is linked to your parents account but has your name on it. Or, you can apply for a card and have one of your parents co-sign your application.

Having a co-signer could be the better route because it allows you to start to establish a credit history in your own name. Be aware that you will not have a credit limit similar to that of your parents, or the first option.

Your buying habits haven’t been the greatest so your parents are reluctant. That’s understandable. Explain to them that this is an “emergency only” card. State that you will not be making any purchases with the card. They should understand at this point and offer no more objections.

ii. Reading the fine print. The Contract.

Review your contract carefully. Make sure that you are indeed issued one. If you are refused a contract until after your arrival a red flag should immediately be raised. If there is nothing to hide, and the company is concerned with their reputation, then they should be willing to provide you with a contract at your request.

“They told me this, they told me that.” Great. Get everything that was promised to you in writing. It is very difficult to arbitrate any verbal agreements in Asian countries, thus the necessity to make sure it’s stipulated in your contract. Possessing a contract doesn’t immediately make it enforceable. Sometimes a contract cannot be actionable if it is not written in the native language of the respective country. Ask around to find out if this is the case for the country that you are planning to teach in. Ask that a native copy of the contract be furnished to you as well if this proves to be the case.

The time to negotiate severance pay, return tickets, or any other myriad of things is during your contract negotiations. It is a clear sign that a company is interested in your services if they are offering you a contract. Use their interest to your advantage, but don’t take advantage, and be ready to walk if you don’t receive the concessions you’re requesting.

On the other hand, when a company, school, or whatever closes its ears to any kind of requests that you make then you really are asking for a no win situation. This attitude