Tags
Alfred E. Neuman, attorney, bills, Nepalese, preparation, round the world trip, RTW, tax accountant, Thai
So, less than 8 days before I go on the 1st leg of my round the world (RTW) trip and I am cool, calm, and collected. Not! I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I woke up last night and seemingly had this feeling of dread. Why? Not because of the trip itself. No biggie there . . . Rather, I keep thinking I am going to forget something that I have to take care of before I go on my journey. Hmm. When I am thinking rationally – sometimes I don’t – I believe I have all the boxes checked and accounted for.
1. All bills will be auto paid online.
2. Checked with my neighbor Daryl to care for my plants. Ditto for mail.
3. Attorney contacted in case someone sues me.
4. Instructed my tax accountant to request a tax extension from the IRS.
5. Suspend Direct TV service for duration of trip. Ditto for phone.
6. Provide blog/email address info to my mom, attorney, and friends, in case I am kidnapped by Thai or Nepalese rebels and they decide to communicate for my ransom.
7. Write sticky note and post it near coffee pot, with explicit instructions to “Turn Off.”
8. Set thermostat to 60 degrees F to ward off frozen pipes.
9. Pack 3-4 days before trip, then unpack and repack to ensure I have everything I am taking in my back pack.
10. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Have I forgotten something?
I know there is a number 10. I have 8 days to figure out what it is . . .
Do you have any necessary visas?
Yes, the Australia one was taken care of by Airtreks (whom I booked airfare with) and the two other ones, Nepal and Turkey, are accomplished at the airport. $20 and $25 dollar bribes . . . umm, fees.
I had India on my itinerary, but their Visa requirements were convoluted and done by a 3rd party entity. So, I skipped that country. Good question though . . . Thank you!
No problem! My visa to Brazil was a pain to acquire. But as you say, the visa to Egypt was also a bribe/fee done at the airport. Which countries are you traveling to?
New Zealand, Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and France . . . I may also go overland to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. A Professor friend, who is teaching business at a Vietnam university, will probably meet me in Thailand. Same deal in Oz, I have a friend meeting me in Brisbane.
Also, did you call the bank and inform them of your travels?
Yes, but a very good point, i.e., I still have to contact American Express (in case I decide to take that card). Right now, I am taking a debit card from my credit union (significantly lower fees for cash withdrawals vs. credit cards) and a Visa United Mileage Plus card.
I was wondering if the change of seasons will require anything of you here at home (winter-> spring here in CO); not sure about the seasons on the road. I can’t think of anything but maybe you will OR maybe you have all the bases covered. If not, your neighbor can handle anything at your condo, your mom – anything legal, etc. One idea… is anything going to expire while you’re gone like car registration or insurance. What a great idea to open your planning to group brainstorming!
Barb, I almost lost it when you said, “car registration.” Frickin’ ran to my check book ledger to see the last time I paid it . . . June. Whew! See what I mean? So many things to think about. I did think about the insurance. My condo has unbelievable southern exposure and is sandwiched between two floors, so not concerned about snow or cold. Conversely, a friend of mine emailed me and said that Australia is going through a heat wave . . . Temperatures of 125 degrees F right now. I hope it cools off before I get there. Regardless, I just bought a couple of small sunscreen lotion bottles. Expensive (TSA will only allow the small ones).
The only thing that came up for me while I was gone for those three months was my life insurance didn’t get paid. It was a bit of a hassle fixing that problem but it got taken care of. Anyway, call if something comes up. What are friends for. Also, make sure you only leave keys with people you trust. I gave this guy I was dating a key…bad, bad mistake. To make a long story short, I had to get the house rekeyed… from Maui. You could always do a test,,,take your bag and drive towards the airport. That is usually when I remember what I didn’t do. Good Luck Steve. I hope that you have an awesome adventure.
Laurie, I’m fortunate because both my car and home insurance are due in October. Life and health insurance is deducted from my pension annuity monthly. As I said in an earlier comment to Barb, I did freak out a bit about auto registration . . . but checked and will be back by the time they are due in June.
Regarding keys, I am not giving anyone a key or key card to access the building, as you indicated that could be a bad mistake. Sheesh, a person could sublet my condo while I am gone for all I know. Ha.
Luckily, we didn’t have any “at home” surprises while on our RTW. It’s challenging to think of everything, but wifi, email, skype etc make it so much easier to deal with things while on the road. However, the biggest surprise we ran into was with our credit cards. We took two cards issued by different companies and used one as primary and the other as backup. For some strange reason, in some countries (eg Italy) our primary card didn’t work well. In fact, because the CC company thought someone was using our card fraudulently, they froze the account. We had contacted all our CC companies in advance with a detailed list of all the countries we were visiting, but this didn’t seem to matter. And when we called from overseas, all we got was a phone tree recording, it took forever to actually speak with someone to sort it out. Long explanation, but here’s the tip. Call all your CC companies and give them a list of countries (you’ve probably already done this) and find out for double sure EXACTLY how to contact the fraud department from abroad, and EXACTLY how to speak with a person, and not a recording. Second tip, if possible, take 2 ATM cards issued by two different banks. Usually, we preferred to spend local currency and our ATM cards worked perfectly. However, we discovered that it was inconsistent as to which card was going to work best in which country. I hope this helps. If you have any specific questions, let us know.
Yes, I have done everything, except for requesting the explicit instructions for contacting the fraud departments of each CC. I am taking a credit union debit card (significantly lower fees on cash withdrawals) and two credit cards (Visa and American Express, the latter I still have to contact). Good stuff! Thank you!
Per your reminder, I just took care of the American Express card as well. I decided the two Visa cards I have via Chase, albeit more popular than AE, would be a negative insofar as Chase canceling both if I had a problem with only one. In short, I will be taking the debit credit union card for most of my cash needs, Chase CC, and AE CC. That should be sufficient.
Yep, I think you should be prepared then, especially if you have the fraud department phone numbers on hand- they are easier to contact in general. Just know that no matter what you do beforehand, there is no preventing human error at your credit card company, and you will end up having to contact them at some point because someone probably will skip over all the notes on your account saying you’re traveling (in Peru I even pre-authorized a transaction and included the exact vendor name and amount, and my bank still denied it).
Yes, I had my CC experience in Panama, when I lost my debit card and had to use my CC for cash withdrawals. I had forgotten my pin code and I contacted them for the information. They were actually quite efficient and the problem was resolved (I got a new pin) in one telephone call.
By the by, in Costa Rica last year, their ATMs take your card during the transaction and then it reappears for approx. 5 seconds where you have the opportunity to take it and stow in your wallet . . . I got distracted and the damn ATM ate my credit union debit card, which I didn’t discover until I wanted to use it again in another country (Panama) . . . I was in a panic – rushed over to the nearest internet cafe and was relieved to find that my account hadn’t been cleared out. HA. I figured out what happened and fortunately, I still had my other two CCs, albeit, higher fees for the rest of my trip. One other thing, I day trade – even on trips – so it’s a good idea to have multiple accounts, e.g., savings, mutual funds, stocks, checking, etc., to access money in an emergency (at least I have found that to be true).
I had the same problem with CC in Italy. The companies assume someone will use the card fraudulently and put a hold on it even when you tell them you’re going to use the card there! Always have payphone money and the CC company number…
I couldn’t agree more with your comment!
Have you got Evernote or something on your tablet? My human swears by it when we travel, though I know that means you have to always make sure you can keep the battery charged on your device. It also serves as a bit of a backup incase anything gets lost. She saves scans of documents, bookings, credit cards, travel guides, maps, useful phrases, timetables, all useful phone numbers and email addresses, the whole shebang. Just a thought
Not Evernote, but I do have a document with important phone numbers and addresses for family, friends, credit cards fraud/customer service numbers, and State Department contact numbers. By the by, love your site . . . Hope you are well Bear!
Ah that’s good then. I’m glad you like my site – thanks for saying
It might be finally up to date one day! Looking forward to all your travelling tales.
Phil, I stand corrected . . . I do recall loading and using Evernote on my (Android OS platform) tablet. Looks like “yellow sticky notes,” correct? I used it a lot in Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador for important stuff, as well as people I met along the way (their email address, etc.).
Hi Steve. Not sure about the yellow sticky notes? This is Evernote … http://evernote.com/ It works across all devices and syncs between them, there’s a web clipper to clip things from the internet, you can save pdfs, pictures, typed notes, audio notes, you can forward emails and tweets to it and you can save with location data. It’s a bit like a library I guess. I daresay if human ever forgot her Evernote password the world might end. Eek!
You’re right – I actually have Pen Note on my tablet. However, this Evernote sounds good (I just downloaded it to my MacPro laptop) and will download for my tablet. Thanks!
Glad to be a helpful bear
You sell yourself short, you’re smarter than the average bear. Grin.
Someone once told me to leave copies of my passport with family members in case the State Department needs the information. And have you registered with the State Department to let them know where you will be and when?
I have made copies of my passport for me to keep on my person at all times, while walking or taking a taxi, while my passport is in a hotel safe for safe keeping. I knew about the State department thing, but haven’t done it yet. Thank you . . . One more thing to do. Grin.
Yep, the STEP program even has an iphone app that you can view the travel information for each country on. I highly recommend reading through it for all countries you intend to visit- it provides a really good summary of things you’ll likely experience (eg, common scams to avoid, areas which might be dangerous, etc).
The only concern I have is Cambodia. The State Department was especially critical of them, insofar as crime, particularly violent crime. I have it on my “might visit” list, while in Thailand.
I was unaware of the STEP program Iphone app – I am wondering if there is an Android app as well????
Empty the fridge. Have fun Blade!
John, thank you much . . . That’s the plan regardless of what happens.
Did you buy your tickets? Update your passport? Renew your travel insuranace? Get a rabies shot???? Make arrangements for a romantic goodbye tryst with your girlfriend?
Yes, Yes, Yes, No, No (sigh).
It sounds like you have the CC aspects covered. In reading your other comments a couple of ideas came to mind. Re: passport copies. We made a photocopy of our the photo page, folded it over, and laminated it. We used it almost exclusively at hotels, etc. The lamination makes it durable for carrying around and easy to access. I get very nervous if my actual passport gets out of my sight, and the laminated copy worked great (except at immigration of course.) Also, a great little peace of mind project was that we scanned all of our important stuff (CC front and back, passports, anything else you might need) and uploaded it to Dropbox. If you don’t have a Dropbox account, you can send the jpegs to yourself in an email. Luckily we didn’t need these docs, but it was nice to know we could get to them if we did.
Excellent idea regarding an email to myself. I’m in the process of writing an email to my parents (and a less detailed one to my neighbor) regarding pertinent information, e.g., passport, attorney contact information, itinerary, banking/investment accounts, etc. I have an Office Depot that I believe does document lamination … If not, I’ll do what I did last time – a ziplock plastic bag. Central and South American authorities are notorious for asking to see passports, as it has happened to me twice – once in Costa Rica and again, in Panama. During the Ngobe Bugle riots last year, where they disrupted traffic on the Pan American highway, my bus was stopped by Panamanian police and our documents searched. No reason to be nervous, but I was . . . Irrational I know, but I kept thinking of that movie, Midnight Express and being thrown in a Panamanian gulag for X number of years. HA!
My memory is that the big box office stores sell small sheets of laminate for DIY. As I remember, I used their cutter, etc and did it there. Also, re passport demands: my policy is (except for immigration) I use the laminate passport unless an official demands (and they are carrying a gun). It happens, but the laminate card has worked great for me.
Tomorrow, I will walk over to Office Depot and see if I can get this accomplished. Thanks!