Travelling Tips
Many thanks to Mike and Rachel Beecham at the Pod Site for their helpful tips.
2-3 months before departure:
Book flights – normally the earlier you book your flights the better
the deal you can get. If you are travelling for a longer period of time such
as a gap year, then you may want to consider getting fights with flexible
return dates so that you can extend your travels. Flexible flights usually
cost a little more but its worth it to be able to keep your options open.
Passport – You will normally need at least six months remaining on your
passport from the date you enter the country you are visiting. If you are
visiting the US you will need to have a passport that is computer readable.
All passports currently issued in the UK are but this does affect families
who’s children are travelling on their parents passport, and possibly
people who’s passports are approaching ten years old.
Visa – if you are travelling inside the EEA (European Economic Area)
you will not need a visa but you will in most other countries. Most non EEA
countries will issue you a tourist visa at the airport on your arrival but
some require you to apply for the visa before your travel date from their
embassy. This will involve you taking or posting your passport to the embassy
so be sure to do this registered post and in good time as it is not uncommon
for embassies to lose passports or to take a long time in returning them.
It is generally safer to take it in person and most embassies offer a same
day service but you may need to hang around for a few hours in London.
Medical – Book a visit to your GP or local travel clinic to talk about
what immunisations you may need. Most immunisations are a single injection
but some courses of injections need to be spread over six weeks so try to
start the ball rolling at least two months before your travel date. You can
find out from several different websites which immunisations are reccomended
for your destination.
The Department of Health is a good source
of advice for travellers. For more information you can also visit www.masta.org and buy a health brief for any country which also gives a few travellers tips
and info about the country. This will cost you about £4.
If you are travelling within the EEA and you are carrying form E111 then you
have rights to treatment during a temporary visit. You can download an E111
form from the Departement of Health website or you can pick one up at the
post office. The UK also has reciprocal emergency health care agreements with
many other countries such as Australia and New Zealand. You normally just
need to produce your passport and proof of UK residency such as a driving
licence. For a complete list of these countries and information on how to
obtain treatment visit the Department of Health website.
Insurance – The most important element of your travel
insurance is the medical cover as this is the area that can become the most
expensive. You should insure that you are covered for medical repatriation
in case you need to be flown back to the UK. A medical repatriation flight
can end up costing well in excess of £20,000 so don’t take the
risk.
You should also be aware that many policies do not cover activities, so if
you are planning to go treking, scuba diving, bungee jumping or even just
mountain biking you need to be sure that you are covered. Also if the activities
you are doing are remote you need to check that you will be covered. for example
while many policies cover treking, many will exclude treks above 3000m for
example as the costs of mountain rescue increases. Its better to get more
cover than less so that you are not restricted in your activities once you
are abroad.
Start learning some of the language - Its only polite and will often open
doors for you, even if its only a few words. If you have the time and can
afford it then evening classes are the best way of learning a language but
even language tapes can give you a good foundation before you travel.
1 month to go:
Buy money & travellers cheques – If you are travelling outside of
the EEA or the US or you are taking large amounts of cash, you may need to
order your local currency in advance. For some less visited countries you
will not be able to get local currency until you arrive so it may be worth
going prepared with US Dollars and Pounds Sterling in cash to see you through
the first few days until you can work out the best way of withdrawing cash.
Travellers cheques are a well established and safe way of taking money with
you, but make sure that you keep a record of the numbers of all your travellers
cheques and store them separately from your passport. Most countries now have
credit and debit card facilities including cash machines which can make life
very easy, but if in doubt take back up methods of getting cash.
Set up email – Most people have email accounts but be sure that yours
is one that you can easily access from an internet café. And make sure
that all your friends know the address. Yahoo and Hotmail accounts are very
easy to set up and access.
Packing and equipment – When you are travelling, especially
on a Gap Year, its wise to leave your best clothes and equipment at home.
It's difficult to look after your things in the same way as you would at home
so your best clothes are unlikely to survive the trip. Also if your bag looks
expensive or you are wearing expensive clothes, jewellery and watches, you
are much more likely to be robbed. You don’t want to be worrying about
you kit so take cheap kit with you or buy it when you arrive. Most travellers
end up wearing one pair of trousers for three months anyway!
On extend travel trips it is always difficult to fit everything in to the
weight allowance and to keep it manageable when you are on the move. Try starting
with a small pile of things that you just can not do without and then add
things in order of priority until your bag is full or you have reached you
weight limit.
Photocopy important documents – Before departing from the UK its well
worth photocopying your passport, flight tickets, insurance documents, travellers
cheques and bank cards. Leave one set of photocopies with a family member
or friend and take a set of photocopies with you (carried in a different place
from the originals).
It is also wise to send yourself an email with all your important numbers
on it such as the numbers from the documents you have photocopied and your
passwords. No one else will be able to look at your emails to find these details
but if you loose everything you will still be able to get to an internet café to
get the details.
Check the security situation – The Foreign
Office (FCO) website has information about every country in the world, and also issues
security updates and warnings for travellers. You can read about the political,
geographical and historical background of the country you are visiting as
well as reading up to date security advice. The FCO advice can come across
as fairly frightening so if in doubt compare the advice for your country with
that given for the US or a European country. If the FCO advice says most visits
are trouble free then it does mean just that!
Reconfirm international and internal fights 72 hours before departure – check
with your travel agent when you book your flight to see if you will need to
reconfirm it just prior to departure. It is often easiest to do this in the
UK so you could arrange for a friend to reconfirm your return flight just
before you are due to come home.
Finally arrange a farewell party, relax and look forward to your trip.
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