Advice #3: Visas and Vaccines

• Visa rules change all the time so it’s a good idea to always stay updated. Start getting your visas fixed a couple of months before you leave and always call all the embassies to ask. For countries like The United States and Australia you apply for a visa online and for some countries you have to hand in your passport at the embassy. Remember - most visas expire three months after issuance date, meaning they will only be valid within 90 days after you pick them up at the embassy, so make sure you don’t get those visas too early on. Pages online always recommend calling the embassies, rather than trusting any information found online. While you’re at it, ask about any obligatory vaccines, passport rules or general advice. South Africa, for example, demands of its visitors that they have been vaccinated against yellow fever. Without an official stamp and sticker in your “vaccine book” you won’t get into the country. We only had to get visas for the United States, Zambia and Australia. Tanzania and Kenya allow you to get the visa at the border. Singapore however specifically asks if the passenger traveling into the country has been in Africa some time in the past six days. Exactly what that means, we’re still trying to find out. For a trip like ours the total cost of the visas alone ended up being 150 euros/225 dollars. Keep in mind that you might have to pay extra if you want the embassy to issue a same-day visa and that an extra postal fee may apply. Keep in mind - a visa does not always guarantee that you will actually get into the country.
• Getting vaccinated is a tricky business. In Sweden, for example, the travel vaccines aren’t included in the standard heath-insurance, and in some countries they are. Having to pay for vaccines also means having to deal with nurses who try to sell you vaccines you might not need, by scaring you. Be smart and compromise. Is it worth getting vaccinated for Japanese encephalitis and paying 200 euros, even if you’re not going to roll around in a pigsty on Sumatra? No. Don’t let them scare you, but don’t be foolish. Ask for advice and don’t spend too little on vaccines. Don’t eat Lariam if you think you’re going to freak - choose Malarone instead, even if it’s more expensive. Our vaccines ended up costing us about 250 euros each, even though we had already had the Hepatitis A+B shot twice before. Lots of money. Remember that when you save up for the trip.