To people with expat experience or people who travel abroad regularly to conduct business, what are the common problems you face when you are abroad (culture, language, and etc)? And what are the top five services/apps/solutions you use to help you get along with your life in a foreign country?

Problems often feel context specific, so it is hard to generalize.  What is a problem in one place may not be a problem in another.  Let me give some examples: Ireland:  First time abroad so severe culture shock and culture shock. Slovakia: Understanding the public transport system to navigate in and around Bratislava,  getting set up with a mobile phone, and language differences. CNMI: Dealing with racism, finding housing on Tinian, and dealing with the local employment in terms of hiring expectations. Australia: Finding favorite USAian foods and dealing with contract issues.  Cost of living and finding an affordable place to live. Spain: Understanding visas issues and navigating the bureacracy, and the language issue. Each place had its own really different issues.  They are very context specific, and I'm sure other expats would say the same. If I was looking for any sort of application that had broader usage, I would actually like one that answered visa questions from tourist visas to student visas to to visas for marriages to permanent residency (and talked about things like overstaying, how to deal with times in gaps between visas, who is eligible, etc.).  http://immi.gov.au does a sort of good with this at "put in your skills, time you want to stay, etc. and suggest visa" so having that more universally would be hugely awesome.  This would ve useful and interesting for aspirational expats. It might also be nice to have something explain basic contract and working rights, culturally how to complain about problems with this, and who to complain to. In any case, what do I find most useful? Local newspapers in my own language that explain what is going on.  It makes it easier to fit in if you know the local culture and what is going on.  I read mobile versions as http://thelocal.es does not have a web application.  Canberra Times did. Language classes and language learning applications were very helpful for Spain.  Applications less.  Classes more.  They give a built in social tool, contact network, cultural lessons that you just don't get from something like Duolingo. The local metro or bus route application.  Google Maps when one of those doesn't exist.  Madrid has excellent apps for public transport.  Canberra was not so much two years ago. Skype and whatsapp.  No further explanation needed. Foursquare.  Very handy for getting food recs, finding bathrooms and learning an area.