Planning a holiday can be a long and stressful task, but also really fun, as you can plan all the potential things you’ll be able to do.
Visas
One of the easiest ways to rack up costs before you even leave the country is visa fees. Check at wikipedia for a rough guide as to what visa you will get, or the Australian government’s travel website for more official (but harder to find) information. Be mindful that visas can sometimes take 3-4 months to process, or the waiting list for interviews can be months. Get it early to avoid the heartbreak of having to cancel your trip because you haven’t got the visa to get into the country you want to travel to.
Passport
Check your passport is valid!! Check at least 4 months before, as any visas you’ll need will almost certainly need your passport to process. Visa can be done express for an extra fee.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is a modern day must for any traveler. The main areas of cover are medical, theft and airline.
Medical covers if you are sick overseas, and you have to go to the hospital for treatment. This is very important as you are susceptible to different types of food that your body might not agree with. Medical bills can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if you get seriously sick.
Theft is obvious, if your belongings are lost or stolen, you can be re-imbursed for them. Expensive items such as laptops or phones may need to be declared before you travel, so make sure you read the agreement properly to make sure your valuable items are covered. Also, if your bag is lost in transit, you can be re-imbursed for this, too.
Airline costs covers if your flight is delayed or cancelled. This can be a real nightmare, as there can be fees for things such as flight change fees, hotels (if you need to stay another night), baggage costs and more.
Chances are you won’t need to use travel insurance, but it’s better to get it and not need it than the other way around. Imagine being overseas in a country that doesn’t speak English, and you need medical treatment, your bags are lost and you’ve missed your flight.
Airport taxes
Even if you’ve already got a visa, some airports have fees for entering the country, and some have them for leaving the country. These can be airport specific or across the entire country. Make sure you have some of the local currency before you get to your destination to avoid any complications.
Currency conversion fees
Taking out money can be costly but necessary. It’s never a good idea to be carrying around all your cash at once. Have a look at your card’s fees when you withdraw money overseas, and consider getting a special card for traveling. Even if you’re only going for one trip, it will be worth it to get a card. You can cancel it after your trip. Common things to look out for are overseas ATM costs, currency conversion costs and your banks reputation on their conversion rates. Banks have a notoriously bad exchange rate, so calculate exactly how much money you’ll have in the local currency by the bank’s exchange rate, not the foreign exchange rate.