The eight tools we'd set up before we went, and the ones we wish someone had handed us on day one. Not the obvious names you'd find on Google, the quiet ones that save the day.
A couple are affiliate links (marked *), so we may earn a small commission at no cost to you. They're here because they earned their place, same as everything else.
1. The two day-counters 📅📅
Free
What they are: two free day-counting tools, one for your visa and one for your tax. Two different clocks decide whether your move stays legal, and almost nobody realises either exists.
Official EU calculator counts your days inside Europe against the 90-days-in-any-180 limit for visitors, so you can see at a glance how long you can stay and never accidentally overstay.
TaxDin counts your days back in the UK against HMRC's Statutory Residence Test, so a few too many trips home don't quietly drag you back into UK tax.
2. Wise 💱💱
Free account
What it is: an app and card that work like a bank account holding lots of currencies at once, not tied to any one country.
How it works: you hold, send and swap 40+ currencies at the real (mid-market) exchange rate, without the mark-up high-street banks quietly add to a “fee-free” conversion. It also gives you genuine local bank details, a UK sort code, a European IBAN, a US routing number, so you can be paid and pay rent like a local wherever you are.
Why it helps: it's the simplest way to stop losing money every time your life crosses a currency border.
3. Curve 💳
Free tier
What it is: one card (and app) that sits on top of all your existing debit and credit cards.
How it works: you pay with your Curve card, and Curve passes the charge to whichever of your real cards you've picked in the app. If a card gets blocked or declined abroad, you switch to another in a tap, no phone call to the bank. It can even move a payment onto a different card after you've paid, and keeps foreign-spending fees low.
Why it helps: it's the backup that means one frozen card never leaves you stranded at a foreign checkout.
4. Genki* 🛡️
Paid
What it is: international health insurance built for people actually living abroad, rather than a bare-bones travel policy (Genki arranges it, Squarelife is the insurer).
How it works: there are two plans. Traveler tops up your existing cover while you travel or try a place out. Native (you need to sign up before you turn 55) can be your main health insurance once you've settled somewhere. You can start it while already abroad and cancel whenever you like.
Why it helps: it covers the long-stay gap that your GHIC and an ordinary travel policy leave open.
5. Air Doctor 🩺
Free app, pay per visit
What it is: an app that finds you a vetted, English-speaking doctor almost anywhere.
How it works: search doctors across 75+ countries, all of whom speak English, and book a clinic, home or video visit in the app with the price shown before you commit.
Why it helps: it turns falling ill somewhere you don't speak the language from a daunting ordeal into a two-minute booking.
6. Gadget insurance 📱
Paid
What it is: proper worldwide cover for your phone and laptop, the two things a standard travel or home-contents policy usually won't replace once you live abroad (they cap how long you can be away and assume you're coming home).
Protect Your Bubble covers phones and laptops worldwide, 365 days a year, with no limit on time away. The catch: replacements post to a UK address, so keep a UK forwarding one.
AppleCare+ with Theft & Loss (if your kit is Apple) follows the device wherever it goes and replaces it to you locally across most of Western Europe. Just keep Find My switched on.
7. Airalo* 📶
Paid
What it is: a travel eSIM, a digital SIM card you install on your phone to get mobile data abroad without swapping out your physical SIM.
How it works: buy a cheap local or regional data plan in the app before you fly, and you're online the moment you land, no airport SIM kiosk and no contract. Your UK number stays active for calls and bank security codes.
Why it helps: you arrive with working maps, messages and data straight away. Just check your phone supports eSIM first (most since around 2018 do).
8. Google Translate + DeepL 🗣️
Both free
What they are: two translation apps that between them cover almost any language situation, one for everyday life and one for when the wording really matters.
Google Translate is the everyday one: point your camera at a menu or sign for an instant translation, hold live spoken conversations, and download languages to use offline when you've no signal.
DeepL is the accurate one: use it when it has to be right, like a message to a landlord or an official form. Its translations of European languages read far more naturally and are much less likely to garble the meaning.
How we picked these
Every one is something we'd hand a friend the day they decided to go, chosen for a UK passport and a UK paycheque. If something stops being the best, we swap it.
Not signed up yet? Remote Possibilities turns the whole business of moving abroad into a clear plan, one Friday at a time. Join the free newsletter below.
