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I regularly travel throughout Asia, I am abroad most of the year, and I encounter a lot of unexpected problems as an American in a foreign country. I say "unexpected problems" because most of these problems are generated from the United States. For American business travelers, times are tougher than ever. Here are some problems I often run up against, and some tips for solving or coping with them.
Internet Access
The moment you step outside the US, most of your own trusted companies, banks, etc., consider you to be a quasi-pirate dissident. You will find problems accessing every part of your internet life, because American companies tend to block foreign connections. On my first trip to Japan, I could not get into my bank account. I had told my bank of my trip, but that didn't seem to help. Later, I found I could not check in for my next day's flight via the airline site. All of this was blocked to my "new" location.
Extended Business Trips
The first time I was on an extended trip to Bangkok, 6 months, I began to encounter even more strange American Internet behavior. My airline regularly offered me a chance to answer surveys in exchange for miles. These surveys were suddenly cut off. When I clicked to answer them, the page went to a polite screen telling my the offer is not valid in my area. When I called the airline, I was told "tough luck" (literally). They would not make an exception. I lost 5,000 miles on those lost surveys.
Other inconveniences appeared. I could not access my stock brokerage account until I signed on with extra paperwork and a new password. Even then, I could not accept any offers, such as 5 free commissions for buying into their new fund. Printing coupons/vouchers for airline parking back home? It's not going to happen from your foreign location.
Credit Report
You cannot access your credit report while traveling on business. I needed to check on a recent bad charge and see if my credit report had been erroneously affected. No dice. Not even American military personnel can access their credit report from other countries. I had to wait several months until I was back in the U.S. At that point, it was much harder to fix the problems, as they were 90 days stale.
Cell Phone Apps
Some new phone apps can't be downloaded when your GPS reveals you're in a foreign location. I had one app that suddenly wouldn't sign me in. For some apps, you can turn off GPS and still get in, but this isn't an all-inclusive fix.
Most crimes against Americans are committed from within the U.S., not from abroad. However, we can't block access to New Yorkers from Pennsylvania, so blocking foreign IP's makes everyone "feel" safer. Don't fight this, and don't get frustrated; just have plans to cope with it.
Have a Back-up Plan
Even though the United States is a nation running scared, as a business traveler you can have back-ups to counter this paranoia. I have entrusted friends and family back home with my passwords and key accounts, so they can check on these things for me. It's not the best solution, but it works for me. I have the passwords and accounts spread out over many people. If a problem occurs, I call that trusted friend and have him check online for me. He only has access to 1 account, so it limits the damage, if he should decide to steal from me (this is very unlikely).
Always remember to have 3 or more back-up bank accounts, and give the passwords to trusted people back home. Give access to your credit report to a trusted relative. As an international traveler, even in first class, you don't have the same rights as Ma and Pa Kettle back home. Keep a list of the people who have access to each account, and keep in close contact with them regularly via Skype or Yahoo voice.
One final tip: keep a pillow on hand to scream into ... it does help.
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