Five things you need to know before taking your international trip
 

Five things you need to know before taking your international trip

Some good things to keep in mind...

With #1, it mentions ensuring it has 6 months of validity. I also suggest people ensure they have adequate pages, as some destinations require a full blank page...


:)

Depends on your destination. For a lot of destinations this is not really an issue.

When did this dross start becoming journalism>

It simply isn't accurate - the validity is one, the fact that several countries offer e-visas which you can apply for without sending your passport anywhere, the cost of laundry varies hugely, as do second bag fees, and the blanket 'not worth it' on the travel insurance ignores so many factors.

Agreed.

No startling revelations on that list, and most items are things which even the most inexperienced traveller would research. (Well, there was a FTer who was denied entry to China recently if I recall, thinking that he didn't need a visa, but a quick google search would have answered the question...)

If you have a passport with most of the pages used up, then you have travelled internationally before. Why on earth would you need the lame advice of this so called news article?

While I do not need this, I'm sure there are those (registered or not) that come here looking for information...not everyone out there IS aware of these things...

:)

Not too long ago I went on an international trip with no documents whatsoever...:D

It was a beautiful Saturday, so I got on my bike in the morning and started riding. Around 50km later it was lunchtime and I reached the border so I decided to ride over for some cheap food.

On the way back I amused myself by watching the customs guys pull over every car checking to make sure that they are not bringing over too many cheap groceries from Germany.

Yay Schengen.

I have also been on an international flight with no document apart from my driving license because I forget them at home.

5 things, or 6 things or 20 things? i assembled a PACK LIST in excel spread sheet. 5 columns 36 rows. sort of generic. if you want a copy, will email it to you.

I agree. Not many countries require a full blank page in your passport and many inexperienced travelers might get caught. It's not that you will show up at the airport without a blank page, it's that the process of getting your visa will be massively delayed while the embassy sends back your passport and you send it off to the State Department to get more pages and, well, maybe by then it's too late. I've done enough international travel to check multiple sites for visa/entry/exit requirements well in advance of a trip but many people will accept the first answer they find which, in many cases, if they use the internet as their source, will be wrong. For some destinations, I've had one answer from the embassy in the US and a totally different answer from people on the ground in the country I'm going to who's business it is to know how to get you in and out of the country.

:p to windi. Schengen is great stuff. But traveling through Schengen countries doesn't qualify as international any more. Common currency. No visas required or even a passport in some locations. But I'm jealous of you for riding across the border and back for lunch. I can't even do that from the US to Canada or Mexico any more without my passport. I now carry my passport all the time when I travel, just in case I need to leave the US before I get home. Back in 2004 I did a moto trip with some buds from Germany to Austria, then Italy, then Switzerland and back to Germany (had France planned but decided to skip it because the roads weren't special and the weather wasn't great). I don't recall showing my passport to anybody except maybe crossing Umbrail from Italy to Switzerland. Not sure. Very foggy up there that day. Maybe he just looked at us to see if we were nuts.:cool:

Just to nitpick, but Switzerland and Germany do not share a common currency. Nor are they part of the common customs zone. Which is why Swiss customs love catching people coming back with too many groceries.:D

travel tax, plane tickets, travel insurance, passport, valid IDs