Preparing for an international trip is essential, especially when it comes to travel documents.
Here is a list of important travel hints and tips.
- Visas
- Passports – check the expiry date two months before your trip
- Vaccinations
- Hotel reservation details
- Travel details, including air tickets
- Travel insurance
- Driver’s license
- Money, including foreign currency
- Carry some emergency cash on your person
- Car keys, house key
- Stop the newspaper and mail.
- Arrange for someone to take care of your plants and pets. Don’t forget to leave keys and your itinerary.
- Do not pack your travel documents or money in a suitcase that may get lost. Take them on your person.
- Make sure your luggage has your name, address and telephone number
- Tie a ribbon or attach distinctive stickers to your luggage so that you can identify it easily, and other travellers will not take it by mistake.
First time tips
- Don’t pack what you don’t need, especially if you’re backpacking. It is easier to travel with a pack than with a suitcase.
- Avoid jetlag and airsickness.
- Drink plenty of water but no alcohol.
- Stick with a bland diet.
- Adjust your watch according to your destination’s clock and attempt to stick to this on arrival.
- Take some sleeping pills if it’s a long flight.
- When travelling in some countries, it is best to leave your jewellery at home – the richer you look, the more of a target you’ll be.
- Carry the correct forms of currency. Exchange just enough money to cover your expenses for your travels. Make sure your ATM card can be used in the places you are visiting. It is safest to take a mixture of currency with you – a credit card, some cash, and travellers cheques.
- Respect the culture of local customs. Some countries, especially in the Middle East and Asia, dress more conservatively than we do.
- Pack a game. There will be times where you will be sitting around waiting for flights, buses, places to open etc.
- Be educated about where you’re going. Read up on the city before you get there.
- Take an extra pair of clothes in your hand luggage – there’s nothing worse than being in a new country, where you don’t speak the language and where the airline has lost your luggage.
- Use your family connections. Distant relatives are close enough when you need somewhere to sleep
Article courtesy of Komail Noori