Preparing for a Trip: Part III

[Part I | Part II]

So far we’ve discussed organizing and packing. Let’s continue to bureaucracy, money and various other tips.

Visas

Depending on where you’re heading, there may be a lot of paperwork to fill out beforehand. Here’s where your wiki comes in handy again. Make a table with all the countries you’ll visit on the left. Then, across the top row, create columns like “Need a Visa?, cost, invitation?, consulate address etc. For example, I need a “visa” to visit Turkey but in reality, it’s simply a cash tax exacted upon arrival. So I need to budget 20 USD for it but get it at any border. The same goes for Armenia for example whereas Georgia recently dropped visa restrictions for Americans while Azerbaijan still runs on the old Soviet style invitation system. Know your bureaucracy and apply early. Call consulates to double check information found on their websites because what they write and what they say is often inconsistent. In fact, call twice though chances are that you’ll talk to a third person who will tell you something different. Again, apply early!

Medicine & Health

Occasionally necessary for visas are certain medical tests or immunizations. AIDS tests are sometmes necessary, but often only for residence permits in the third world (e.g. Syria). No matter, one should still be up to date on vaccinations. Despite the fact that it’s a good idea no matter where you live, getting Hepatitis A and B shots is an absolute must. On top of that, if it’s been more than 6 years since your last polio and tetanus shots, you should consider getting boosters for those.

Another important thing to remember when you return is a stool test. As unpleasant as it sounds, we all know the undeveloped world isn’t quite up to Western standards of sanitation. Thus, it never hurts to double check you didn’t pick up any creatures along the way. It’s unlikely, but covering all your bases is never a bad thing when health is involved. Again, this is only recommended for the third world. The corrollary here is not to eat uncooked anything. In some places, there are dishes which involve uncooked meat (e.g. kibbe in Lebanon), don’t tempt fate. Also avoid meat that’s been sitting out all day. Here being a vegetarian can help you although this blogger certainly doesn’t recommend it! Water is naturally off limits and don’t swallow water when showering or brushing teeth.

Your last health tip is for eating street food. Despite the often delicious nature of street food you’ll regret eating it very quickly. I didn’t meet anyone in Syria, for example, who hadn’t been sick at least once and who didn’t have stomach and “other” troubles nearly every day. There’s a simple antidote believe it or not. After eating something from a street vendor, take two tablets of activated charcoal and drink a coke. It works.

Money

I already discussed money somewhat. Don’t use a money belt and instead have “custom” pockets sewn on the inside of your pants. You may consider an actual belt that has a zipper on the inside which certain travel companies offer. Depending on your shoes, you can easily find creative ways to hide money there whether making a tiny cut in the sole or elsewhere. Never stash all your cash in the same place. Have different ones. In addition, I don’t really recommend having a wallet, some readers have suggested having it as a decoy. This is also an option. You want to have your cash separate so you don’t have to pull everything out when you buy a 20 cent cola or a 5 cent bus ride.

As for your passport, never go anywhere without it. The only exception is if staying with a friend or if your hostel has real safes and you get the key. In addition, you’ll want to carry at least a copy or two of your passport and leave one with a friend. Either way, I recommend scanning the first page of it and any other important ones (residence permit, visa etc) and keeping it in your inbox or on your website. Same goes for other important documents and cards.

Lastly, don’t forget that travel insurance. It’ll probably be cheap and no matter what is always worth having. Pay the extra few bucks for emergency evacuation and possibly for kidnapping (though only necessary in a handful of places).

Join me next time for the final installment of Chirol’s trip preparation series.