China Tightens Visa Requirements

China recently announced more strict conditions for applying for tourist visas (L visa).  Applicants for visitor/tourist visas must present an invitation letter from an “authorized tourism unit,” person or company along with their visa application.  And they must provide copies of their round-trip tickets and hotel reservations.

This flies in the face of typical travel advice: Never buy your plane tickets until you have your visa!  Consider buying only fully refundable tickets if you have any concerns about getting the visa, timing (will you get the visa before your flight?!), or you could be seriously out-of-pocket on such expenses.  Make sure your hotel reservations can be cancelled with a full refund if there's any visa hassle.

China – like so many other countries – is cracking down on illegal immigration, visa abuses and violations.  With over 7 billion people on the planet, many seem to think “the grass is greener on the other side of the border.”  And some of these have more greed than sense, more disdain for laws than respect for others.

Here’s the official Chinese website of their US embassy: http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/adr/.  Official Chinese embassy websites for Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, etc, have also been updated with these new requirements.  Check out their website for complete details.

Know before you go – check official government websites of the country/ies you are headed toward.  Visa requirements are undergoing a lot of changes in a lot of countries now, and you need to stay current.  For example, these requirements have been instituted at some point since the first of August.  No sign of prior announcements, either!

May your road rise to meet you!

Ann

I'm a Busy Girl - for You!

Well, I think I mentioned (probably ages ago - alas!) that I was planning to prepare a Special Report for Road Warrioresses, Perpetual Travelers, and solo women travelers on "Packing for the Long Haul."  It is underway at last!  And I have a publisher awaiting final copy.
A few posts from the blog are included - often expanded.  Lots of new material, though.  The back of the book will include handy charts or tables so you can prepare a packing list for each of your trips, update it on the road, if necessary, and keep track of what you need and what you have.

It will first be published as a Kindle Edition e-book available from Amazon.com.  The nice thing about Kindle books is that they can be downloaded to so many gadgets and gizmos.  Kindle books are not just for Kindle readers - there's Kindle for PC, as well as apps for tablets, iPads, and whosits and whatsits.  Amazon's website includes complete details on usable devices, as well as free downloads of the various apps. 

Once you buy a Kindle book from amazon, you can access your purchase on all of your various electronic equipment.  So you can read materials on your laptop or notebook one day, and on a Kindle or tablet at the beach the next.  You can look up something in hurry on your iPad, iPod, or whatever.  I've become rather fond of Kindle!

I assume the publisher will get an edition up on Barnes & Noble's Nook, although they plan to release on Amazon first.

As soon as this is done and available online, I'll let you know!  We're working out some way to reward this blog's readers with some sort of win-a-freebie, discount, or something.  So watch for details.  They'll be posted as soon as available.

Here are details available so far:
Author:  Ann Teller (that's me!  LOL!)
Title:  Packing for the Long Haul:  A TravelTellers™ Quick Guide for Road Warrioresses
Publisher:  AngeLines Publishing^®
ISBN: to be assigned
Price: to be determined
Release Date: to be announced

Hang around for more info!  I think you'll all like this and find it useful, so I'm looking forward to sharing more tips, tricks, ideas I gathered while riding the rails through China, continent-crossing on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, business trips, and what-have-you.

May your road rise to meet you!

Best regards, Ann

RyanAir v. EasyJet: The No-Frills Wars

The debate rages over cheap no-frills airlines, RyanAir & EasyJet, in Europe.  At one review site, RyanAir ranks 2.8 out of 5, while EasyJet rates 2.5 on the scale.

No-frills means exactly that!  Do not expect space, water, food, or anything else.  No-frills airlines are generally cattle cars designed solely to move lots of people short hauls at cheap rates. 

BYO:  Bring your own beverage and snack or sandwich, even if you eat at the airport.  Flights are often delayed - by summer crowds, sudden thunderstorms or windshear dangers somewhere en route, even volcanos.  Have something with you.  Bring your own entertainment: book, 'puter with work or games, earbuds, battery-operated DVD player, etc.  Remember your trench coat & use it for a pillow or blanket, as needed.

Watch those scales!  Airline scales around the world seem to need inspection and Truth in Advertising as well as Truth in Measurement monitors.  Weigh your bags, dispute inaccuracies, reweigh on a different scale.  Of course, watch your bag weights even before heading to the airport.

Only book shorter flights.  Once you hit about three hours packed into a plane seat, you can get distinctly cramped, discomfited and crazy.  Keep it short, simple, sweet - or sweat it.

If you ever fly on a Chinese domestic airline with a crate of piglets in the aisle, you'll kwitcherbitchin permanently.  I can assure you of that!

May your road rise to meet you,
Ann

Dealing with Lost Luggage

According to the airlines, only about 2% of bags get lost.  For a Road Warrior-ess, that's quite a risk.  Check a bag 100 times a year, and you could lose two, if you're average.

Slash your risks!  Use only a carryon bag whenever possible.  Use our packing tips and others' to reduce your "stuff" enough to get it down to one bag.  Backpackers and some perpetual travelers can live out of one bag for months at a time.  I spent several months "riding the rails through China" with just one duffle.  Laptops were h-e-a-v-y then, wireless did not really exist, and I had to lug along a "small" (hah!) travel printer.  With the teeny-tiny sizes of so many items these days, and reduced weights, it is much easier to lug an entire office, a library, whatever.  So if your trip is less than a week, you can certainly get it down to one.

There are times when you simply need a lot of clothes, heavy winter clothes, or other stuff, and a single carryon simply won't cut it.  Reduce your risks of your bag failing to land when and where you do.

Luggage tags:  do not use your home address.  Use your office address, private mail facility address, P.O. Box, anything to keep nosy-parkers from discovering you are not at home.  Do not put your home phone number on there, either.  Use a free email addie which you could check in case of lost luggage, a message phone, office phone, pager number or similar contactable email or phone that does not reveal your home location and private numbers/addresses.

Help yourself spot your bag faster.  Decal, neon-colored strap, something!

Get your little butt-sky straight to the baggage claim.  Do not get delayed or sidetracked.  Be there when the belt starts rumbling and the bags roll.  The lonely bag is more likely to get lifted than the one you grab the second it spits out of the chute.

Next up: a post on protecting your possessions within.

Essential Business Traveler Card for APEC Region

Travel often on business to the APEC Region?  Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation has a unique program to speed pre-approved business travelers through immigration formalities.  It's geared solely to boost trade and investment in the region.  With the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC), you speed through special lanes at immigration checkpoints if you are coming for a short-term stay.

The following countries participate:  Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, Vietnam.  See: www.apec.org/apec/business_resources/apec_business_travel0.html

Most of these countries allow preapproved business travelers 60 or 90 days entry for business purposes without further need for a visa.  It acts something like a multi-country multi-entry business visa.  And it's for citizens of APEC countries.

The US is supposedly a "transitional member."  This means those carrying the ABTC may use the express lanes at airports (same lanes used by airline crews) to enter the US, but still must have their passports plus any normally required visas.  US citizens are not yet eligible to obtain the card for their business trips to member countries.  No wonder US is uncompetitive in international markets and exports are not moving the way they could.  www.businessmobility.org/key/usa.htm

Great idea for Road Warrioresses!  If you are eligible, look into it, and save yourself some hassle at the airports.

Who's to Say What's "Appropriate" for the Woman Traveler?

The New York Times annual Travel Show launches Friday, 26 February, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.  Among the seminar offerings, April Merenda of Gutsy Women Travel moderates a panel of travel writers "overviewing appropriate tours and destinations for women...." 

How dare they?  What's "appropriate" for one woman is no more appropriate than one man's for another.  Different people have different interests and inclinations.  It is up to the individual to determine what might be suitable or interesting or relaxing or invigorating.  That is not the purview of a travel writer or travel agent.  I found the entire notion - and the New York Times write-up on this seminar - totally offensive.

I was the only single expat woman working in the oilfields of Indonesia years ago.  While some might think that "inappropriate,"  I was the one living and working in what, by any measure, was a hardship post.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  I spent months "riding the rails" through China and the Trans-Siberian Railroad.  Difficult going solo, but hardly an inappropriate journey nor the greatest of adventures.  Difficult, yes; dangerous, not particularly.

Go where the spirit moves you, or where the job takes you.  Only you can determine what's appropriate for you.  You decide what interests and excites you.  You decide where and how to live, work, travel.  As long as it's legal and within your boundaries for risk tolerance, go for it.  Adventure awaits!

And it would be so terribly sad to miss something great because someone else determined it wasn't "appropriate" for women.  The Victorians put up with enough of that errant nonsense.

May your road rise up to meet you,
Ann

Your Most Versatile Wardrobe Essential

EveryWoman's most critical wardrobe element, and the most versatile, is a travel essential, too. The ubiquitous Trench Coat! Go-with-everything beige or khaki; go-everywhere from Hong Kong to St. Petersburg. With a detachable hood and zip-in wool or cashmere lining, it will take you everywhere except the hottest and humidest tropical downpours or the chilliest Arctic snowstorms.


New raincoats in microfiber and other fabrics promise easy packing. Most are too short to keep you from a real drenching, and are only suitable for gentle Spring or early Autumn weather.


Mine seemed a bit bulky, and I nearly left my Burberry's behind in Hong Kong. Glad I didn't! On chilly airplanes, it served as as a lap-robe or blanket. On the Trans-Siberian Railroad, it made an extra toasty blanket at night. It protected my suit en route to business meetings, no sloppy hemlines from getting splashed by errant puddles and drivers who always seem to shlosh through the muddiest as you await the walk-light.


The detachable hood often ended up padding items in my duffle over the summer months in China, but I needed it badly even before I reached St. Petersburg - already facing the chill of impending winter in September. That zip-in lining over a sweater or other layerings is urgently needed when the thermometer drops.


Wear it on the plane, use it for a travel blanket. Wrap the liner and hood around whatever needs a bit of padding in the suitcase until you need it. The belt can be a useful strap for whatever. Above all, it keeps you warm and dry in all but blizzards or the steamiest tropical downpours.


Take it, pack it, but be sure to bring it along!

May your road rise to meet you,
Ann