Traveling can definitely be scary to a lot of people who aren’t used to leaving their nests they call home. However, it really doesn’t have to be scary as long as you have all the necessary documents and requirements before leaving your country and entering another one. Here are three essential tips you need to know before traveling.
Make sure that your passport is still valid
According to the National Travel and Tourism, there were 72 million Americans traveling abroad in 2016, and although this number seemed quite significant, there were a lot of travelers who got denied entries. One of the most common reasons for this rejection is because the traveler doesn’t have a valid document to travel, which can happen if your passport is close to its expiry date.
Every country have different requirements when it comes to passport’s validity. For example, Mexico only requires travelers to have valid passports as they enter the country, while Chile — like most countries, would require you to have a valid passport throughout the trip. If you’re an American citizen, you can go to the Department of State’s website to find out more this information and how to renew your passport — if you need to. Generally, to avoid this problem, it is advisable to renew your passport before traveling once you get to six months or less of validity.
The Schengen rule doesn’t apply to all of EU
The plus side, if you are traveling to countries that are part of the EU, is the simplicity of only needing to apply for one visa, which is the Schengen visa. Especially since the since the Schengen Borders Agreement allows travelers to go to the different countries within the border without having to show their passports again after their first entrance.
However, it’s important to remember that the Schengen rules only applies to 26 European countries except for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Another thing to note, which is related to the first tip, is to have about six months’ validity on your passport because even though you are given 90 days to travel around the region, the rules still require you to have three months of visa validity.
Check how powerful your passport is
Unfortunately, not all passport’s created equally. Although it would be great if we could all travel anywhere in the world without any documents or other requirements, sadly that’s not the case. An easy solution to avoid all the hassle that comes with visa applications is to check how powerful your passport is.
Passportindex.org, a website dedicated to show the Global Passport Power Rank has all the answers for you. Not only it’s updated in real time, you can also compare how powerful your passport is compared to travelers from other countries. Number 1 on the list is Germany and Singapore with the Visa Free Score (VFS) of 158, which means that the passport holders can go to 158 different countries without the hassle of applying for a visa.
If you’re not a passport holder of these countries, don’t be alarmed, because the chance is, your country is coming in close second or third — or at least still have almost a hundred countries you can visit without a visa, since even Afghanistan, who is on the bottom of the rank — 93, even sits at 22 VFS.
And now, you’re set for your next adventure. Get out there and have a safe trip.
