Course Catalog / BMU 190 / Getting started
Getting Started: BMU 190 Smart Travel: Plan, Save and Stay Safe
Welcome from BMU Learning
Welcome. We are glad you are here. This course was built for busy adults, so every lesson is short, plain, and practical. You can go at your own pace, and you can come back to any page as often as you need.
About this course
Many trips go over budget or go wrong because of fees, rules, and papers nobody checked. Your course guide is Travel Guide Travis, host of The Travel Tribe Guide podcast, and every tip rests on official government pages. You build a realistic budget, compare fares and stays on total price, and learn your flyer rights and cruise basics. You get your documents ready, pack for security, choose insurance with care, spot scams, and plan for health and safety abroad. You finish with a complete, budgeted plan for a real trip.
Who it is for:
- You are planning a trip and want it to cost what you planned
- You want the passport, ID, refund, and safety rules from official sources
- You are taking a first trip abroad or a first cruise
Who made it: BMU Learning wrote and checked this course. There is no live instructor and no made up teacher. When audio and video are added, the narration will be an AI voice, not a real person, and captions and a transcript will be on the page.
How support works: BMU Learner Support answers questions about the course, your progress, and technical problems. See How to get help below.
What you will be able to do
- Build a realistic trip budget: write a trip goal with a ceiling, list costs in eight categories, check room and meal guesses against the GSA per diem benchmark, add a buffer of at least 10 percent, and set a weekly savings target.
- Compare fares and stays and spot hidden fees: compare offers on total price for the learner's needs, apply DOT full fare advertising (14 CFR 399.84), the FTC fee rule for lodging (16 CFR Part 464), and the 24 hour hold or cancel rule (14 CFR 259.5), and use DOT refund and denied boarding rules (14 CFR Part 260 and 250.5) when plans change.
- Prepare documents and get through security: check passport timing, six month validity, blank pages, and visa needs on State Department pages, carry a REAL ID or other accepted ID, apply cruise document advice, and pack by the TSA liquids rule, the FAA lithium battery rule, and CDC's Pack Smart list.
- Choose travel insurance wisely: check what current coverage pays abroad (including Medicare.gov), tell apart health, evacuation, and cancellation coverage, check any policy against the State Department checklist, and write a reasoned decision.
- Recognize and avoid travel scams: name the FTC red flags, verify a rental or offer before paying, choose a payment method that can be disputed, and report fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
- Plan for health and safety abroad: use the CDC destination page and a provider visit 4 to 6 weeks ahead, read the full State Department advisory, enroll in STEP, save embassy and State Department emergency numbers, and write and share a one page emergency plan.
How to find your way around
- Start with the Pretest. It is not graded. It shows what you already know.
- Take the 8 lessons in order. Each one builds on the last.
- Inside each lesson, the parts come in the same order: why it matters and what you will learn, the teaching, a worked example, strong and weak examples, practice with feedback, a short check, and a recap.
- Do the Try it step in your real life. That is where the skill sticks.
- Finish with the performance task, then the Posttest.
Your map of the whole course is the syllabus. Words you may not know are in the glossary.
What you need
- A phone, tablet, or computer with internet. Keep your web browser up to date.
- About 15 to 30 minutes at a time. Printing is optional.
- No special software. Answers open with a tap. Pages work with a keyboard, a screen reader, and zoom.
- Prerequisites: none. If you can read this page, you can take this course.
Your Course Project: each lesson tells you which part of the Course Project it builds. The page checks each part for you and saves your work on this device.
How to get help
- Quick answers: the BMU Help Center can help with your progress, your certificate, billing, and tech problems.
- Ask a person: use the Contact BMU support form and pick a topic. Please do not send card numbers or passwords.
- Something not working: refresh the page and try a current browser. If it still fails, contact support, choose Technical problem, and tell us the page, your device, and your browser.
- In crisis: BMU support cannot respond to emergencies. Call or text 988, or call 911.
If you fall behind or get stuck
- There are no deadlines and no late penalties. If you miss a week, pick up where you left off.
- Start each return visit with the Quick review at the top of the next lesson.
- Missed a check question? Open the feedback, reread the section it points to, and try again. There is no limit on tries.
- Still stuck after two tries? Contact BMU Learner Support with the lesson name and the step. We will point you to the right part.
How you finish
To complete the course, you need two things: build your Course Project until every part passes its automatic check, and pass the Posttest with 80% or higher. The Certificate of Completion unlocks when both are done. You can revise the project and retake the Posttest as many times as you need. The survey at the end is optional and never blocks your certificate.