International travel often requires a visa — a document granted by a host country that authorizes a visitor to pass through, or remain within its borders, for a specified purpose and duration of time.
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a probe last year into six of the biggest online hotel booking sites, Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, Hotels.com, ebookers and trivago over concerns that the websites were giving false impressions to customers.
The CMA's investigation discovered this to be true!
Some Countries Require You to Have Travel Insurance, Others Aren’t Far Behind.
Sometimes travel isn’t as simple as booking a ticket and off you go. In fact, when you travel internationally, you often have to think about things like getting a visa and the expiration date on your passport. And in some cases, you also need to think if the country you are heading to requires you to have travel insurance. The last thing most of us think about when we plan a cruise is the list of elements that can go wrong before and during our vacation. But, as Robert Gallagher, Senior Vice President and CEO of AIG Travel reminds us, "…there are many risk factors unique to cruising." Flight delays caused by weather or a mechanical problem can keep us from arriving to our embarkation port in time. The airline can lose our checked bags. We can get sick before we board or, even worse, mid-cruise. We might even make a boneheaded move in a port of call that makes us miss the ship and need to catch up to the in the next port of call. Plus, a host of other general issues can scuttle a vacation, such as the illness or death of a family member, cancellation of plans by a travel companion, job loss, airline delays and lost baggage.
Those reasons and so many others are why travelers seek insurance coverage. It provides that extra bit of calm and control we all crave. More importantly, it prevents you from losing money due to unforeseen circumstances and travel emergencies, and insurance fees are typically just a small percentage of your vacation expenditure. MyFuncations Note: This is an excellent article. It was originally written for cruise travelers, but the information is so in-depth and timely it benefits all travelers. Please take time to read. If you’re like me, the week before your vacation is usually crammed full of last-minute travel preparations. In the flurry of laundry and packing, don’t forget to take care of a few important tasks before you take off.
Last year, more than 72 million Americans traveled abroad, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office. Yet many international travelers are turned away at the airport because even though they have a valid passport, its expiration date does not extend long enough to meet the rules of the country they plan to visit.
As of November 1st, 2016, customers applying for or renewing their passport must remove glasses for their passport photo. Last year, more than 200,000 passport customers submitted poor quality photos which we couldn't accept. The #1 problem was glasses. We had to put their passport applications on hold because we couldn't clearly identify them from their photo. If the photo of you in your unexpired passport has glasses, don't worry about it. You don't have to get a new passport now. Next time you renew your passport, though, you'll have to take your glasses off. The Looming Passport Crisis: What You Need To Know! Important tips to know: 1) U.S. passports expire every ten years! 2) It's best to not travel if passport is within six months of the expiration/renewal date 3) Certified proof of citizenship paperwork is mandatory when applying for a passport 4) It's best to use a professional photography service for your passport photo 5) First-time applicants must appear in person with submitting application In 2007, new requirements for U.S. citizens traveling to Mexico and Canada caused a big spike in passport applications and the Department of State had a large backlog of documents to process. The documents that caused the 2007 crisis are set to expire in the next two years, and combined with an increase in U.S. citizens with passports (125 million), an even bigger crisis is predicted in 2017. Travelers flying to Canada starting Sept. 30 will experience a raft of new documentation requirements depending on their citizenship. The rules are part of Canada’s Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), established in 2011 to facilitate travel between the U.S. and Canada. A result of the eTA was an effort to more closely scrutinize foreign nationals from visa-exempt countries. Up until the eTA, some countries authorized citizens to travel to Canada with only a passport, and without having to obtain a visa. As a result, foreigners from these countries were not subject to any screening until they arrived at an airport in Canada. |
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