On international travel

My upcoming trip to London and to Malawi will be second international trip, not counting my forays into Canada. Speaking of Canada, I should get to Canada more than I do, because the property I own in northeastern Vermont sits about fifteen or twenty miles from the border. The trip is fairly easy to make by car. The last time I spent any amount of time in Canada was about ten years ago, when times were different. We may have been able to cross the border without showing any thing more than our drivers’ license, although we each may have carried our birth certificates with us. The key point here being that we were able to drive, and it was very easy.

My first international trip off the continent was to London in 1991. I went to an international academic planning conference in Oxford England. I traveled with one of my grad school buddies, and his wife. My friend is from Cyprus, traveled on a British passport (I think), and was very familiar with London and environs because he had gone to college and his first grad school in England. So, I felt very safe. I knew how to get a prepaid international calling card in England allowing me to easily call home to the States, and I knew how to get British Pounds from my Bank. I got my passport, got some British pounds from the bank and had a couple of wonderful tour guides for the time I spent in London. Oxford was wonderful, a great city with a long history.

At least this time, I already have my passport. Since I am familiar with London from my trip in 1991, and having some friends in London, it made sense to break up my trip to Africa with a couple of nights in London. An added benefit is that my two nights in London may help me to adjust to the change in time zones. London is five hours ahead of NJ (I think), and Malawi is two hours ahead of London.

As I faced the reality of my upcoming trip to Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa, I knew that there are things about international travel that I need to learn about. Thanks to some friends, and to the Internet, I could easily find out answers to questions such as visa requirements, required shots and prescriptions, and a list of things to include in my health kit. I am fortunate to have a travel agent in the family who booked by flights and my hotel in London. He also told me about the prepaid international calling card that works in Malawi, and about an online store that has a lot of things that I will need for my trip. Finally, I spent too much time on the Internet finding out about international cellular telephone coverage. Oh, and I won't even talk about electrical connections. And yes, I do know on good authority what adaptor I need for Malawi. And it is even one that is included by Apple in their world wide adaptor kit. In case any wants to know, it is the same adaptor used in most of the United Kingdom.

The trip leader of my trip tipped me off that my ATM/debit cards will not work in the few available ATM machines in Malawi, but said that I can use my visa credit card to get cash. He has also provided me with invaluable country–related information.

Finding out these things has helped me deal with the reality of this upcoming trip. I also found this process somewhat soothing.