- Money, and a way to get more (i.e. credit/debit card, travelers check, etc),
- Reservation Documents (air tickets, hotel vouchers, etc) or a way to print them out electronically, and
- My Passport
Regardless of what I remembered to pack, if I have these three things, I'll be just fine. Headed to a rainy climate and forgot your umbrella? Guess what, if the locals constantly deal with rain, odds are there are plenty of stores that sell umbrellas (and likely for less than they cost back home).
Money is a given, and I'll touch more on that in a later entry.
In the electronic age, remembering my Reservation Documents usually means making sure that I have receipts printed for any hotels I've booked, and a print out of my confirmation number/details for my flights. This stuff can almost always be retrieved electronically from an Internet cafe but having a printed copy can save precious vacation time/stress with very little effort.
Finally, and maybe the most important thing on my short list, is making sure that I have My Passport in hand. Not remembering your passport is the one-surefire way to insure your trip fails before it even gets off the ground. Passports during travel are like beads during Mardi Gras. For a brief period they are the most precious items in the world--the pinnacle of importance--and the rest of the time they have little or no importance whatsoever. Always keep your passport in a safe place. Well in advance of your departure make sure that your passport is where it should be, make sure that it is valid for at least six months after your scheduled return, and when you go to the airport... keep it in hand!
One final note on Passports--and this goes out to you specifically Dylan--is that when you get your first passport, budget an obscene amount of time for the process. Issuing new passports is pretty low on the State Departments priority list and although their website quotes 4-6 weeks to process a standard passport, I have friends who attest that it took substantially longer to receive theirs.
Although we are still over a year away, now would be a great time to get the ball rolling on your passport application. Standard Passports are valid for 10 years so if you get your passport now, it will be valid for this trip, and who knows maybe many more Scotland pilgrimages to come!
All the best,
Young Dan Lux
What is your preferred way to get cash on another continent? I like debit card at an ATM.
ReplyDeleteODL
I'll be applying for a passport this week. Do you really think they will allow me back once I leave though?
ReplyDelete@ODL - I am a huge fan of the debit card/ATM method for withdrawing money abroad. Unless you're traveling to the Botswanian outback it's extremely easy to find an ATM abroad (actually, given the day and age, that might not be that difficult either. I prefer ATM withdrawals for two main reasons; first-it's easy, and second, you get a much better rate of exchange than with travelers cheques or currency exchange stores. What you WILL get hit with is a few buck charge on the in country bank, as well as a few dollars from your banking institution back home. That said if you pull out enough money for 2-3 days worth of expenses the fee is almost insignificant and at the same time you don't at any point have to worry about carrying too much cash-in-hand.
ReplyDelete@Dylan - Glad to hear you're getting the ball rolling!! And I don't think the question so much is will they let you back in, but rather, once you spend some time in Scotland, will you want to come back??
DLux - Probably not if they realize it's you!
ReplyDelete