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Watching You
08-09-2008, 15:54
Yes, I know it’s a bit late in the holiday season to be discussing travelling in September, but I though its never to late to share great useful information.

My top seven tips are:

Insurance: always buy adequate travel insurance, insurance ranges in price from £15 - £80 pounds annually, but rather than relying on the basic travel companies policies that cover (sweet FA) its best to buy your own. Insurance are easily available to purchase from airports, Post Office, supermarkets, banks and on-line. Insurance is a must especially if travelling to the US.

Suggest you check WHICH (http://www.which.co.uk/reviews-ns/travel-insurance/index.jsp) for the best policy for where you are travelling available from most libraries or online

Tickets: Never and I stress never buy your airline ticket by cash, always use a credit, not a debit card. The reason is if your airline folds, just think recently of Maxjet, EOS, Silverjet & Zoom, at least you are guaranteed your money back, whereas if you had paid by cash or debit card you will get maybe 1p in the pound, in eighteen months if you are lucky, which on a £470 pound ticket would be £4.70 – not even a fiver but remember all the other creditors are before you. Again Never buy a airline ticket for cash or with debit card!!

Cash: Sell - don’t buy currency, I can never understand why people have to buy foreign currency before leaving the UK when they can purchase it at their destination for a slightly better exchange rate. Most overseas airports now have an ATM and money changers so to obtain a better rate for your hard earned money I would suggest that you wait until you reach your travel destination before buying foreign currency. Unless you are travelling to some remote destination like Ulaanbaatar, in which case some US dollars in your pocket are sufficient. Only once in my travels have I been to a destination where I arrived at 10pm and the ATM network was down, I always carry US dollars as a back up and used them instead as an emergency.

Here is an ATM locator (http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/global/)– also check with your bank which machines you can use your debit card with.

Planning: Always check and plan where you are going, much of this information is already freely available on the net, in libraries and from some countries tourist offices. I am amazed by the numbers of people who do not understand that anything below the southern hemisphere is the reverse of us. Which mean when we have summer then they are having their winter; having just been to Australia in August and previously Brazil in July and both times people travelling from the UK were dressed to expect summer. Please also note that during our summer, if it sill exists, are the worst times to travel to the Caribbean its hurricane season, and parts of Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan) are having typhoon / rain season. The best time to travel to these exotic locations is during our winter.

Travel comfortably: I appreciate that you should always dress to impress but when travelling especially with long haul travel always wear practical clothing. So if your flight is delayed you can doss down comfortable and relax. I can understand why some people dress in suits and ties because they want to show their families they there are doing well here in the UK. However, where possible it’s always best to dress practical.


Telephone- Buy local Phone Sims – when you arrive at your destination take out your UK card and buy a local one instead. It seems the poorer the country the cheaper the telephony services. I have brought cards for £5 that have given me 20 minutes of calls back to the UK, plus all my locals calls and I still had credit on the card when I departed. Ideally use Skype if you take your lap top but definitely not your UK based mobile with international roaming. Local calling cards are also worth buying if you have to make many calls back to the UK. A couple of years ago overseas a colleague with his internationally roaming phone was charged £45- for receiving a call for less than one minute. After this he promptly took out the sim and brought a local one for about £10.

Travel essentials:

A couple of things you should always travel with,



A bottle of water, an essential for travellers



A travel first aid kit



MULTI TOOL (http://www.johnlewis.com/Sport+and+Leisure+/Camping+and+Outdoor+Activity/Camping+and+Outdoor+Activity/Multi-Tools+and+Knives/1652/ProductType.aspx)/Gerber style gadget, the amount of times I have been stuck in hotels where a loose screw, needs tightening you call maintenance and they take three hours to arrive, if they are still on duty. I have used mine to tighten shower heads, remove irritating nails/ screws and once fix the phone socket that were hanging off the wall.


Small pack of washing powder/liquid and suction hook (http://www.twenga.co.uk/dir-Homewares,Household-organisation,Suction-hook) There is always something that needs be washed overnight, without paying $4.60 just to wash a t-shirt, through the hotel; as most hotels over blast the AC. You put anything to dry in the bathroom (where the clothes line is located) and its takes for ever to dry whereas you can hang it on the window in the sunshine and it will dry in an hour.



Multi plug adaptor Your average hotel has but a handful of sockets all used for bed side lights and lamps and what with travelling with a mobile, laptop, MP3 player, Digital Camera, Nintendo DC Lite, Sony PSP and PDA means there is a juggle of what are you going to charge up today. With a multi plug adaptor you only require one socket adaptor and then use your normal 3 pin plugs in this. Where possible buy one with surge protection as some countries suffer from brown-outs (intermittent power cuts)



Anybody else have anything to add here or are there anything that I have missed?

altis
08-09-2008, 16:26
Money: Get a Nationwide Flex account. This comes with a Visa Debit card which can be used just about everywhere like a Switch card. And you get the full Visa exchange rate too. Nationwide charge 0% unlike most banks which are around 2.75%.

Before you go: Check out the FCO website for the latest country advice - especially important if you're going somewhere exotic. There's loads of general travel advice too.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-living-overseas/

If it's sunny: Cover up, wear a hat and use the slap-on.

tweetiepooh
08-09-2008, 16:52
Cash be careful though to check the rate. Some places (usually hotels) can offer rates far below normal. In one location the basic rate was around 14, I could get 12 or so at a bank, 11 in the UK and 8 at the hotel.

Telephone leave the stupid thing at home. Write postcards and see if you can beat them back. Go on holiday to get away. Same for PC's, internet etc. Game consoles are useful, especially if stuck in airports/transit.

Travel dress I wear a tracksuit with shorts and T-shirt underneath. This way I can strip off, put layers on depending in the climate I'm in.

Insurance try to get it included but if it is make sure it's adequate. I've used small travel agents and managed to get top level insurance free on Caribbean holidays. Mind you last holiday to Greek Islands it was cheaper to pay for insurance and get a big discount than not take/free/other insurance.

Meet the locals and not just those who clean your room. Enjoy local culture, food, drink. Road side sellers can offer great produce and superb prices. Sure take care but watching some Brits being loud, rude and eating what they'd eat at home when the local produce is great and the location is quiet is pretty off puting. Even your youngun's can benefit from trying new things if you avoid really hot spicy stuff.

Halcyon
08-09-2008, 21:05
- Do remember that if travelling by air you should avoid taking any liquids, gels, or creams with you in your hand luggage.
They are perfectly fine in your hold luggage.
Bottles of water can be purchased once you have passed security and are airside.


- Do arrive for your flight with plenty of free time. It's easy to think you will have time but with trains not always bein gon time, long queues, then queues at security , and then a mad rush to your departure gate that is the other side of the airport, you need sufficient time to get there.
Remember that many low cost airlines will not give you a refund if you are late for your flight and miss it.

- Do make sure you know how to do up and undo your seat belt.
In an emergency and if in the dark, it is worth knowing where to pull.
Even if you are a frequent flyer do have a quick glance round to locate emergency exits and the layout of the plane.

- Dont go out with all your money on you.
I find it best going with only what you require for the day.
Carry a fake wallet with you and put your real money hidden away to prevent possible theft.

WHISTLED
08-09-2008, 21:11
I was expecting some pikey words of wisdom when I opened this thread.

snodvan
08-09-2008, 21:35
Tell your credit card and debit companies where you will be travelling and making purchases or drawing cash.

If you do not do that and they suddenly spot a load of transactions in some unusual place they may

a. Phone your usual banking contact number (presuming you have telephone or on-line banking established, silly if you do not) and will ask whoever answers (if anyone) what it is all about. UNFORTUNATELY because of data protection etc ifthere is someone there (mum, husband, wife etc) then they cannot talk with them - only with you. This means you end up with daft conversations. They MAY listen if mum tells them you have gone to Uzbekiythingy

b. In the limit if they cannot make a contact to the nominated phone and suspect something serious they could stop the card - which may leave you in deep poo. I am told they first do that just for 24 hrs so you may be ok next day. It is a sort of warning

FAR easier to tell them before you go - but if you do it by phone they will want all those passwords etc you gave then 3 years ago when you registered. You do remember them?

THIS is the voice of experience. Been there !!

Snod

---------- Post added at 20:35 ---------- Previous post was at 20:28 ----------

And next (from a frequent traveller) when you arrive at the interchange airport or when you arrive at the strange airport on your way back - do not go shopping.

Well, do not go shopping immediately. Get through all the check in and other formalities and find your flight departure gate from the indicator board/ desk.

Walk to the departure gate. You have arrived early or in loads of time so either the gate is deserted or there is another gang of people there going on a different flight. Does not matter. You now KNOW where the departure gate is.

NOW you can go shopping, the bar or whatever takes your fancy because you will know instinctively where to go when it is time for your flight. believe me IT HELPS

(Just be aware the ****ards do change departure gates and the warnings are not always obvious. A few weeks ago there were FIVE changes of gate for a flight at Caracas)

Snod

Halcyon
08-09-2008, 21:53
Tripadvisor.co.uk (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/www.tripadvisor.co.uk) has thousands of hotel reviews and destination forums to find out everything about your trip written by the people who know the place and have been there. A first stop for finding out what it is really like at a particular hotel and getting the low down on what there is to do from locals on the forum.

- Place a little sticker in your car reminding you to drive on the correct side of the road. It is often when you stop and get back into the car that you can quickly forget and be on the wrong side of the road.
Check local laws as in France for example you need to carry several pieces of breakdown equipment with you at all times.

- Going on holiday always seems to give people a sense of freedom but do find out things like when the tide comes in, if it is safe to drink water, if there are any local laws, etc.

- Don't buy breakfasts from Stansted airport. I got ripped off and it tasted cold and bland.

Watching You
09-09-2008, 10:41
Tell your credit card and debit companies where you will be travelling and making purchases or drawing cash.

If you do not do that and they suddenly spot a load of transactions in some unusual place they may

Snodvan That’s the theory, the story that the banks, but unfortunately this is not the reality. For the fourth (yes four) year in a row my bank Barclays has managed to cock up and stop my card - four times. In 2005, they stopped my card in Thailand and then left a message at my home phone and sent a letter to inform me of this - not much good when you are now in Jakarta. The following year, same thing again in Thailand except they did not send a letter. This was after I had written to them informing them of the countries I was going to be in with dates of arrival and departure. The excuse was that they whilst the letter had gone to my bank but it was not passed on because the on-line department is a seperate company.

In 2006, in the Caribbean the same thing again,

In 2007, the same thing again.

Now in 2008, you can actually enter your travel details on line, which I did several weeks before I departed and as if by magic my card was blocked. When I spoke to their call centre the first thing they call centre staff claimed was that I did not inform them I was travelling overseas. This was strange since I thought I had already done this on line through, their own system.

I am currently pursuing a complaint with them, for the last three years I have got £50 out of them I wonder if they will pay out this year.

I do feel like Victor Meldrew having to complain every year about the same thing over and over again, but if I have gone to the trouble of actually writing to the bank in advance and they do nothing with the information then I would suggest its their problem not mine. The problem I have found with the banks is they do not communicate with one another, despite millions they spend on the fancy adverts every year, telling you us how great they are yet they cannot pass on a information from one department to another. Barclays High Street banks and the On line Bank and the call centres overseas all act and operate as seperate companies. And when I speak to these call centres they automatically refer me to my local bank when they cannot answer a simple question.


WHISTLED

I was expecting some pikey words of wisdom when I opened this thread.


Just for you:

When negotiating always spit in your right hand before shaking and sealing the deal, once hands have shaken remember that you cannot go back on the deal.

Kymmy
09-09-2008, 10:58
Travel dress I wear a tracksuit with shorts and T-shirt underneath. This way I can strip off, put layers on depending in the climate I'm in.

Reminds me of when we first emigrated, jumped on a 747 at heathrow in January (mid winter), 16 hours later dripped off the same plane into a full african summer at Jan Smuts. From the top step to the bottom step the whole family had partially stripped ;)

AndyCambs
09-09-2008, 11:06
Try to ensure that your airline has electronic tickets (saves losing them)
Where possible with scheduled airlines - check in online the night before to save time at the airport.
Keep a copy of your passport and email it to yourself so you are able to access it through the web if required.
Take more than one credit card - in case one is lost, stolen, or otherwise unacceptable.

altis
09-09-2008, 11:30
More money : If a shop or service supplier offers to charge your card in local currency or GBP always opt for local currency. Otherwise, you'll certainly get a crap rate of exchange.

AndyCambs
09-09-2008, 16:18
Speak the local language - even an attempt will bring smiles
Don't disregard local customs
Don't bring back loads of rubbish souvenirs on the plane!

snodvan
09-09-2008, 17:10
Watching You

Oh dear you have had a rough time. I have not had a problem with HSBC simply phoning them ie the Card Fraud dept - NOT the bank - and telling them about my travel plans.

Indeed, those folk are quite sharp. About 6 weeks ago in one evening I bought two airline tickets on-line with a Mastercard. The tickets were for separate journeys in different directions but near enough on the same day (for other family members). Within 15 mins I had a call on my mobile - caller anonymous so I never answer - and 5 mins later on the landline. It was HSBC Card Fraud dept. They had spotted wht they thought were unusual transactions and were checking. All sorted easy enough - BUT you do have to remember the damned passwords etc so that they will REALLY believe you.

I give them credit for that. HSBC generally not for a lot else, but I do for that

Snod

AndyCambs
11-09-2008, 18:06
I've never had a problem overseas with my Nationwide credit card

ikthius
11-09-2008, 18:55
have a good time on holiday

thats my top tip

Halcyon
11-09-2008, 19:03
Nationwide do a Flxi account card where you are not charged a fee (often £2.00 or more on other cards) for making cash withdrawals or paying for goods oversaeas.

Angua
11-09-2008, 20:54
Nationwide do a Flxi account card where you are not charged a fee (often £2.00 or more on other cards) for making cash withdrawals or paying for goods oversaeas.
Even their credit card does not charge for overseas transactions and always handy when a credit card (rather than debit card) is the best way to purchase.