Ah, travel:
Getting a bit unstrung here.
When I was travelling overseas alot, I made checklists - just like
the pilot who would be taking me overseas.
One was generic - passports, paper/coin currency, etc.
And one was for customs - a letter, on my letterhead, detailing
everything of value I was taking out of my country and into the
destination country. I made multiple copies, and got one
rubber-stamped and handed-back as a receipt - on the way out, and on
the way in. Listed item, mfr, model/serial number, replacement
value, the works.
I had to find a beneficiary for the travellers health insurance policy.
I gather this refers to the death benefit. Got any nieces or nephews?
Have to find a place to buy Euros.
The advice about the ATMs was spot-on, though I usually hit a
currency joint in the outbound airport (if I didn't already have a
few bucks' worth on-hand) just so's I've got pocket money if the
plastic hits a wall.
Have to buy a new pair of shoes. Do I have enough memory cards,
rechargables, the right converter, where the heck do I pack the
tripod, who's on the cat care schedule and who can I ask to change the cat box?
Add to that: if you are travelling on business, get a letter (fax
will do) from your 'host' in the target country 'inviting' you to
come do some work - preferably in their language, as well as
yours. Bring multiple copies, and it will ease your way thru
passport control, customs, etc - on the way in, and on the way out.
Isn't travel fun!!!
Surveying really old people (unlike would-be old farts like me) I
find there are two things people never regret: travel, and
education. Oh, sure, you'll find the occasional disappointed PhD who
did not get tenure in their field, or the globetrotter who groans
when recalling the dysentery from Nepal ... but, for the most part,
you never hear people genuinely regret that they could have had a
*really* nice lawn if only they'd plowed all that plane ticket money
into paying a gardener, or what a drag it was to learn [subject] and
know what people are talking about.
Travel safe,
/s/ Michael Storch
Ask not what your laptop can do for you,
Ask what you can do with your necktop.
