passport – visa regulations – health advice – travel advice
Travel and healthy advice
Check the travel advice from your country’s foreign affairs website. Follow the news a bit about the country you are going to. This way you know there aren’t any major natural or political disasters happening. Check what health regulations there are, such as vaccinations and taking malaria tablets. In most countries where malaria tablets are necessary (depending on the area and time of year you may need to take them), you can buy the tablets for much cheaper than in your own country. If you don’t trust the pharmacies there to have enough stock or the correct product, buy them beforehand.
Maaike: I bought malaria tablets for Laos before the trip at the Dutch price, my friend bought them for a tenth of the price in Laos. Neither of us got sick.
Just do what makes you feel comfortable.
Passport
Check if your passport is still valid for long enough. Some countries want your passport to be valid for another 6 months after you have left their country. Also make sure you have enough time to apply for a new passport, if necessary.
Visa
Check well on time what visa regulations there are for the country / countries you’re traveling to. In some countries you can get a visa upon arrival. In others you must get one before arriving at the border, usually via a consulate or an embassy. Sometimes you can get a visa in the biggest town on the way to the border, but not in that tiny town on the border. Also check for how long the visa is valid and from which date the visa will start. With some you get 6 months from receiving the visa from the embassy. Even if that is 4 months before you actually will arrive in the country, so you can only spend two months there. With other visa the validation starts upon arriving in the country.
