It wasn't that long ago you needed the help of a professional to reliably plan for excursions out of the country, and your options were limited when it came to getting your needs met. Typically, currency exchange had to happen in person, and that meant trying to guess whether your combination of exchange fees and exchange rate would be better at a bank at home or with an out-of-country currency change. 

Typically, credit cards needed to be authorized for use in each country separately before online account management, too. The advent of the internet started these changes in the 1990s, and today, the travel landscape is completely different because of it.

The first few changes to your options started when credit cards began automatically working across currencies and borders. It's not a universal trait, but today, all the major companies do. The next thing to change was the way currency exchange worked. Before online financial management tools and services, exchanging currency by wiring yourself money took a lot longer and usually carried higher fees than using the bank or airport exchange booth. Today, you can send money to Mexico to either pay vendors for services in their native currency or even wire it to yourself via online transfer to pick up in the currency of the country. Options like this give you more flexibility to tap into cash reserves at home, which is useful no matter why you are traveling.

• Indulge a little extra on vacation

• Extend your stay by transferring money to pay lodging fees

• Pay for goods and services delivered in person or shipped to your facilities

• Exchange money quickly, on your own terms

With these new resources, you can change your plans to take advantage of opportunities to see more while you travel or to engage new business ventures you didn't expect to find when you planned your initial outing. Combining the financial tools that give you new options with the existing infrastructure for online booking and reservation planning makes it easy to locate those small, local places that surprise and delight you while easily paying in the manner they're most accustomed to. That lets you get off the beaten path with more confidence and security than travelers have ever known before.

The key to doing well when it comes to this kind of power-traveling is making sure you have all the resources you need set up ahead of time. That way, you're not trying to get an account verified while you are waiting to use it to pay for your travel expenses. Make sure you have all these options set up to provide for yourself as a digital nomad, in addition to the classic recommendations about what you need to be prepared while abroad.

• Ride-sharing apps

• Hotel reservation and planning apps

• Loyalty rewards apps for your favorite chain hotels and restaurants

• Short-term rental booking apps and room sharing apps

• Financial transfer tools from your favorite online money transfer utilities

• The apps for your bank and credit cards

• Online identity document backup programs

With all these resources, you should be able to forego the traditional travel reservation and planning routes whenever you feel like it, and booking online also gives you the option to research niche lodgings like ecotourism destination accommodations or glamping whenever you feel like branching out a little bit.

If you're traveling abroad, you'll need to make sure you have all your documents including your passport well ahead of time. It's a good idea to have digital backups because they can help you prove who you are if something is lost and you need to petition for a new ID, but they aren't a replacement for the right paperwork being on hand. If you can't find your original passport now, you need to put in for a replacement while you still have a lot of lead-up time to your next trip out of the country.