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Welcome to our travel page!
Kit Mullen
International travel is a wonderful and exciting part of fly fishing. From Patagonia to Kamchatka, adventures with a fly rod are unlimited. Anyone fortunate enough to make such a trip should take the time to plan. Whether you take an international trip every year or once in your life, planning and preparation are key to a successful trip. Every country has its own rules, but there are many travel skills that apply wherever you go. Here are some tips and ideas to help you plan, presented in a three-part series. Part I focuses on getting your documents in order before you go. Part II will cover packing and international travel tips, some real must know before you go things. Part III will include tips on fishing gear preparation and care on international trips. I hope you find this information useful wherever your travels take you. During international travel you will be a guest in another country. It is their rules. Those rules require you to have identification documents to cross the border. If you are informed and prepared, crossing international borders is uneventful. Whether you travel on your own or with a professional travel company specializing in fly fishing destination travel, you need to take care of some important business before you go. A good travel company can help you with some of this, but ultimately it will be your responsibility.In this information age there are excellent web sites that give very good information. For the international traveler there are two sites that should be on your favorites list. You should visit both these sites as you begin your trip planning. The first is the U.S. Department of State www.state.gov. The second is the Centers for Disease Control www.cdc.gov. Both sites are U.S. Government sites and are the most up-to-date travel information available. The State Department site will give you information on travel to most countries. The home page has a travel and living abroad link. That page will give you links for getting a passport, visas, and international travel information. There are travel tips and travel warnings, both health and political. You will even find a link to plan your trip.
Passport Trip planning requires time to get documents in hand. Obviously you need a current passport. If you will be getting your first it can take up to 90 days to process. It will require a copy of your birth certificate. If you do not have one that is an extra bit of time you need to plan for. The USA has travel treaties with many countries. Most do not require obtaining a tourist visa ahead of time. Some, like when I traveled to Amazonas, Brazil, require getting a visa before arriving. This can require mailing your passport to a consulate to get it properly stamped, plan for that time.
Along with a passport and visa, most countries require proof of when you plan to leave. Again each country is different. Some tourist visas are 6 months, some 90 days. Others are 90 days with an allowable 90 extension. Your plane ticket and itinerary are proof that you have arranged to leave the country within the allowable time. You should go to the tourist web site for the country you will be visiting to find the visa requirements and other specifics.
There are restrictions
on what you can bring into each country and monetary value of possessions is
the first thing looked at. You are also restricted on how much money you
can carry into a country. $10,000 USD is common, but it can vary. We will
look at restrictions more in Part II. You will need currency for the
country you will visit. This can be done after arriving at your destination
country and at international airports, but there is a service charge. When
planning an international trip I like to watch the foreign currency market
and exchange money at the best rate I can find. I get the currency through
my bank and there is no service charge. Because credit cards pretty well
work worldwide, I choose not to carry traveler’s checks. Visit the Centers for Disease Control web site to find what immunizations you need for where you are going. The Travelers’ Health link and the Vaccines and Immunizations link are full of information on every country and area you may wish to visit. Immunizations take time, and the amount of time varies widely. Find out what you need and plan the time to get your shots. For many tropical countries there are certain vaccinations you must have, such as Yellow Fever, to be allowed into the country. For other immunizations it varies with time in country and risk of exposure based on your planned activities. The frequent traveler just keeps current on everything needed for places they may wish to go. Everyone should be current on their tetanus-diphtheria vaccination whether you are traveling or not. Hepatitis A is also a must have, and I think hepatitis B is wise to have. You should carry copies of your International Certificates of Vaccination. You should have this record updated whenever you get a vaccination or booster. Every health clinic that does immunizations has this form which is approved by the World Health Organization. Keep It Organized
Organize your legal
papers. Have a safe and guarded place to keep your passport and copies of
your International Certificate of Vaccinations, travel itinerary and second
photo ID, a current driver’s license is best. Make copies of your papers
and put them in a clear plastic bag in each piece of luggage. This is your
best protection against lost luggage. If you have in-country contact
information like hotel reservations, a friend, or travel company you should
include that. Your passport has a section on page 7 for your address and
who should be contacted in case of emergency. You must provide this
information. Keep it current. And write it in pencil if there is any
chance it will change over the ten-year life of
your passport. Do not include any information in your luggage that could be
used by a thief, like credit cards or numbers.
A few other items of
business are good to organize for your travels. I have carried a 3”X5” ring
binder that contains a calendar,
blank pages for trip notes, metric-English conversion tables, contact
information, phone numbers, email addresses, travel document information,
and financial and credit card information. You can code financial
information so it looks like phone numbers. Obviously you guard this like
your passport, more. Insurance Several companies offer special traveler’s insurance and sportsman’s insurance. This is a good safety net if you will be in remote areas where medical evacuation can be very costly. Check with your insurance company and see what you are covered for during international travel. Things can happen and cultural differences can make it more complex and costly to deal with emergencies in another country. Carry medical insurance information with you. If you take regular medications you may need to carry that information also and perhaps a prescription from your doctor. It may not be honored in the country you visit, but it should be respected by a physician there who can get you the medications you need. Mean While Back Home If you are gone for more than a few weeks and do not have someone to take care of business at home, you should set up electronic bill pay. This can be done with your bank or through some utility companies directly. You can then pay your bills while you are traveling. Several years ago I paid my utilities and mortgage online when traveling in New Zealand. It takes only a few minutes and I never had a problem. But you need to set it up ahead of time, before you travel. Some banks will provide automatic bill pay. As the bills are electronically posted the bank pays them automatically and electronically from the specified account. Check with your bank. The old way of paying utility and mortgage companies in advance still works, but it is no longer necessary. One thing most people do not like to think about – have your Will in order. This is worst case planning, but it gives you control to the end. Everyone should have their Will in order even if you are not taking a trip, but international travel sure got me to thinking about it, and got me to take care of it. I do not retain a lawyer so I leave a copy of my Will with a letter to my youngest sister, who is the executor of my estate, in a sealed and addressed envelope with the person listed on page 7 in my passport. If the worst happens, that envelope gets mailed. There is a lot to think of in planning an international trip. The information presented here will get you started. It is not intended to cover everything, but should make you aware of the importance of good planning. Look for Part II when we will consider packing and travel tips that make travel life easier, safer and fun. Sign up for email or have a question? click here rev
11/05/2006
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