Papajojo

Things to Prepare When Travelling Overseas – Mandatory

Posted on 04. Jul, 2009 by James in Uncategorized

Do you have plan travelling overseas in the next few weeks or months? If so you probably want to read about my experience during the time i prepared for my self few weeks ago. In my case i was preparing for travelling for a long period or i would say moving to another place. But this could be also happened when you travelling for a short time period or just going to another place in the same country.

Well in my case i took my daughter with me so it need more efforts and times to prepare. But basically below are the things i prepared and carried with me.

Flight Ticket – Make sure you get the flight ticket with a confirmed time schedule few days before the departure date. If possible you probably can write down on your notes the flight number, departure time and the contact person of the airlines in your location. If your flight with a non direct flight and will have to transit somewhere, make sure both of the ticket are there. Besides you also need to be aware of the baggage limit to prevent excess baggage that will cost you. Each airlines could have different policy. If you are a frequent flyer make sure you bring your card with you. Some airlines also provide a city check-in service you may use to save your time.

VISA Documents – If you need entry VISA you better make sure that you get it few days before. Some people also advise not to issue flight ticket before you get the VISA. But it depends on the situation. On my case my VISA approved just 4 days after i submit the application. But some country could need more times and even months. Besides the entry VISA you the country you are going to might ask you for another documents like me. Since i plan to stay for a long period the Japan Immigration requires me to have another document called Certificate of Eligibility (CoE). This document was prepared by Japan Immigration so my wife was taken care of it and sent it to me when it’s ready.

Fiscal Documents – In my country we have to pay for Fiscal fee and starting from 2009 the Fiscal fee have been changed from 1 million to 2.5 million per person. So you can imagine if you traveling with your big family. But fortunately you don’t need to pay for this as long as you have Personal Tax ID or we called it NPWP which will cover your wife and children too. So for this you need to bring your NPWP Card and the copy of your List of Family Members or Kartu Keluarga document.

Passport – Well, this is a must have document you have to prepare and i don’t think i’ll going to talk about it much. Just make sure that your passport including your kids and other people that go with you are still valid and will not expired during your stay in the destination country.

Money - It doesn’t matter how much money you’ll bring with you but make sure that you have prepared them in local currency at least to cover your life during the first days of your stay. The rest of them you may have it in US Dollars or other known currencies. If you are not sure that your currency is not accepted on the destination country you better not to bring it.

Accommodations - If you traveling to a country like Japan you might don’t have to worry about accommodations or hotels which i’m sure you can find easily. But it’s recommended to make a reservation before. In my case, my wife has prepared an apartment for us to stay.

Credit Card – You probably will not use it when you arrived but it’s strongly recommended to have a credit card with you when traveling overseas. In certain situation you will need credit card not just for payment but to validate your identity. But please make sure that your credit card is acceptable in the destination country since not all credit cards are accepted on all countries.

Tags: Travelling, Travelling Tips