The State Department STEP Service…

A little over two years ago we returned to Italy for a couple of days in Venice and a week in Florence.  While in Florence, we met up with Lisa’s daughter who was a coordinator for that year’s Artist Immersion Program Tuscany experience.

While chatting about everything we loved about Florence, the program director, Catherine, got a STEP text from the U.S. State Department warning that there was a protest near the rail station and to steer clear of the area if possible.

The protest wasn’t expected to be violent, but it would tie up traffic and make movement difficult in and out of the rail station.  Because the bus the program was using was parked just a block away and they were on a tight schedule, Catherine sent out a group text to the program participants suggesting giving themselves an extra 15 minutes to get back to the bus.

I had no clue that the State Department offered such a service and I’m guessing it has been used extensively over the last year due to the COVID-19 crisis.  It’s called the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which is a free service to allow U.S. citizens and nationals traveling or living abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.  There are three primary benefits as outlined  below:

You can actually create an account and add trips as they come up.  Since I’m traveling to Panama on business in the Spring and we are planning a Christmas markets river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel in December, I went ahead and set up my account and added those trips.  The total time to set up the account took about five minutes.

Brian

As an avid traveler, Brian has explored and enjoyed cultural encounters in over 40 countries while spending many years refining The Points Game — using credit card sign-up bonuses and other tricks to get nearly free travel.  Getting the most out of every trip is an art and Brian launched My Travel Traxx to help others enjoy the art of travel.