Pre Departure Essentials

These are the bare essentials, the must haves. Ensure to get these ticked off before you head off anywhe

Organise your Passport

Your passport is the most important thing you will have while traveling. More than money, more than your phone with all your selfies, and even more important than your lucky Superman undies. Without your passport, you will not be able to leave your home country, and if you happen to lose it while you are away, you may not be able to get home until you organise a new or emergency passport.

Passports can take a few days to many weeks to get organised, so this is the first point of call before any trip. Generally you will need to provide documents like birth certificates or similar, and other forms of identification in order to have a passport issued. Check how long until your passport expires, as some countries will not allow entry with less than 6 months validity.

CHECKLIST:

• Make sure your passport has at least six months’ validity from your planned date of return to Australia
• When organising your passport, get some extra passport photos in case your passport is lost or stolen

United States of America Passport Information http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english.html	Canada Passport Information http://www.passport.gc.ca/info/
Australian Passport Information https://www.passports.gov.au	New Zealand Passport Information http://www.passports.govt.nz
UK / England Passport Information https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

 

Organise Travel VISAs

Aside from your passport, you may need is travel VISAs – most countries require for you to apply to get entry to their country before you can enter, even if just going on a holiday or in transit to get to another country. You may not even be let on the plane by the airline if you don’t have the correct VISA.

Every country is different, with different entry AND exit conditions. Some (but not all) countries will allow people to enter with a tourist VISA that is obtained on the border. Other countries will need you to have a VISA pre-organised in your home country before you leave. There are different types of VISAs for each country and reason for visiting. Some of the different VISAs available are: tourist, multiple entry, working holiday, student, VISA on arrival, sponsored. It is important to check the VISA requirements of your nationality, with the countries you intend to visit.

A couple of useful websites to assist you in finding out if you need a visa or not;
http://www.visamapper.com/
https://www.visahq.com/

NOTE: While the above can provide a great guideline, we strongly recommend you double check the with the government / authority of the countries you plan on visiting to ensure you are receiving accurate information.

CHECKLIST:

• Check the VISA requirements for all countries you will visit, as well as how long you will stay
• Check the VISA requirements for any country which you have to transit through or have a stopover in, and ensure you will be allowed entry or stopover there

 

Travel Insurance

It can be quite costly to get travel insurance. It can be even more costly if you don’t have it.

It isn’t fun, it isn’t sexy, but it could literally save your life. It is one of those things that is a boring, must have of life. Kind of like a job. There are numerous horror stories around, and some of those stories have been documented in the following:
http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/world/829030/holiday-horror-stories
http://wonderfulwanderings.com/horror-stories-about-travel-insurance/
http://www.worldnomads.com/is-travel-insurance-worth-it

Make sure you take out comprehensive travel insurance, and you go through all of the situations that it covers. Ensure it covers you for the places you plan to visit and the things you plan to do; it will be clearly written in the agreement, so be sure make sure you know what you can and can’t do.

If you are going for a long time, or a significant amount of time, look into an Annual plan, it may work out cheaper for you in the long run.

CHECKLIST:

• Know exactly where you’re going to go and what you plan on doing
• Get comprehensive insurance that will cover your entire trip, including any activities you might do and countries you might visit

 

Money and Currency

When traveling, make sure you have enough money for your trip – plus some. Depending on where you go, you will want to research how much you can expect to be spending per day. Once your food, accommodation, and transport is sorted (these will be your primary costs), then you have your secondary costs to figure out; entry to attractions like museums and shows, snacks, public transport in the day, tipping etc.

It is good practice to over-estimate how much you will need, and then have left over money.

One of the more convenient and safest way of keeping money when you travel is on travel cards, which are in the currency of the destination you are going. Shop around, as different travel cards offer different rates, and often using a travel card can generally have less fees associated with it than your regular ATM or credit card. If you are going to use your regular credit/debit card, make sure to contact your bank to let them know you are going overseas, so they don’t accidently block your access to cash while you are traveling.

The good thing is if your first time traveling is to Europe, many countries now use one currency; the Euro. Be aware of other countries in the region that may not use the Euro, such as the UK and Switzerland.

Whenever it comes to things like money and currency conversion, it is important to shop around to get the best deal. We have included some of the more well known cards here to get you started, but it is recommended to find the best one that suits your needs:

http://www.cashpassport.com/
https://www.travelex.com.au/prepaid-cards/multi-currency-cash-passport

Pretty much anywhere in the world you go, will have ATM’s and eftpos for you to use your cards (except some very remote areas – make sure to do your research). Travelers cheques are old school. It’s kind of like using a Nokia 5110 – reliable, but not convenient at all.