top of page

Best VPN for Overseas Travel

Working remotely anywhere today comes with significant cybersecurity challenges. When you’re traveling and working internationally, that risk becomes even greater. Unsecured public wifi, increasingly savvy criminals, and general cultural unfamiliarity can expose “digital nomads” to massive vulnerability. Traveling the world - and working the entire time - we needed to protect our digital lives, and a VPN played a critical role in that protection. A ton of research and time working abroad convinced us that the best VPN for overseas travel is ExpressVPN. 

 

​

Why Trust Our Overseas Travel VPN Recommendation?

 

While dating and during our first few years of marriage, we took a handful of overseas trips. But, they were all relatively brief, meaning that we could put work on hold until returning to the States. In that context, cyber protection and picking a VPN wasn’t a huge deal for us. 

 

Once we transitioned to full-time international travel and work, that all changed. Chipp had clients and needed to remotely manage rental properties, and Jenna remained with her company in a contractor capacity. Not making money just wasn’t an option for us if we wanted to stay on the road. 

 

So, we had to figure out the connectivity and security issues inherent to remote work from the other side of the world. We knew that we’d need a VPN, both for the security it provided an ability to access software restricted to US IP addresses. After researching and testing a bunch of different VPNs, we easily picked ExpressVPN. Between the ease-of-use, international coverage, and best-in-class security, this decision was never even a question. ExpressVPN worked exceptionally well for us during our extended overseas travels, and we can’t endorse it highly enough to anyone else planning on working remotely abroad. 

 

Why We Love the ExpressVPN Virtual Private Network

ExpressVPN 3 free month deal on its overseas travel VPN
Using a VPN while traveling overseas
ExpressVPN's connected screen

Best Features

 

  • Top-notch security: ExpressVPN offers industry-leading encryption. Your digital information is “protected by advanced mathematics in AES-256, the standard trusted by security experts worldwide.” Layman’s translation? Working with your ExpressVPN app activated gives you peace of mind!

 

  • Connect up to five devices with a single plan: While overseas, we both had laptops and smartphones requiring VPN protection. Naturally, we had no desire to sign up for four separate subscriptions. With a single ExpressVPN subscription, you can connect up to five devices - very convenient! 

 

  • Seamless laptop and smartphone interface: Despite our “digital nomad” time, neither of us are particularly tech savvy. ExpressVPN makes downloading and using its app extremely simple. After signing up, you receive a link to download the VPN app. Once installed, all you need to do is press the big button in the middle of the app. Then, the interface switches from “VPN is OFF” to “VPN is ON,” and you’re protected! If you want to switch the IP address location, there’s a big button that says “CHOOSE LOCATION.” Even we couldn’t mess it up!  

 

  • “Kill switch” feature for dropped connections: A VPN only works when it’s on. Unfortunately, power surges and connectivity issues force a lot of VPNs to drop, temporarily exposing the user. ExpressVPN has a “kill switch” feature, so when the app loses connection it automatically blocks all online traffic. 

 

  • Multiple IP address location options for streaming content: ExpressVPN’s interface lets you easily pick an IP address location. For Americans traveling overseas, this makes streaming US media way easier. Regardless of where you are in the world, you can select a US-based IP address and stream your favorite geo-restricted content! 

 

Manufacturer’s Specs

 

Here’s a full list of the overseas VPN features published by ExpressVPN:

 

  • Lightning-quick connectivity

  • Works seamlessly everywhere

  • Safe access on any network

  • No logs privacy protection

  • Industry-leading security

  • Server locations in 94 countries

  • IP address masking

  • Available on every device

  • Stream content from anywhere

  • Browse more anonymously

  • Live, 24-hour customer support

 

Story from the Road

 

QuickBooks Online makes small-business accounting pretty straightforward. But, as Chipp discovered while in Ukraine, QBO doesn’t always allow for payroll processing from overseas IP addresses (an understandable, though potentially inconvenient, fraud prevention measure). 

 

Not paying a contractor isn’t an option - just not good business. Fortunately, ExpressVPN offered an easy solution. When Chipp’s payroll transaction was rejected, he assumed it had to do with the overseas IP address he was currently using. Quick switch on the ExpressVPN app to a US IP address, and the next payment attempt worked! 

 

Affiliate Disclosure

 

We’ve included affiliate links on this page. If you click on a link and end up buying something, we may receive a commission (without adding any costs to you). This helps us pay the bills, and we only promote products and services that we personally use and wholeheartedly endorse. Thanks so much for the support!

 

~ ~ ~


Have other travel and work questions? Check out our FAQs page or drop us a note: info@theytravelandwork.com!

bottom of page