New answers tagged international-travel
1
I have a Germany resident permit that's valid for the time I back to Germany, am I an EU resident?
A residence permit is a prima facie evidence of residency. However, it is granted on specific grounds. If you are not coming back after your US stay to study in Germany, your entry may be scrutinized.
A German residence permit also expires if the holder was ...
-1
If I was that guy, the first thing I would do is contact my wife, or contact my parents, or contact my siblings. Your friend doesn't have any family?
Did you talk to this friend on the phone? Do you recognize voice? What's his favorite ice cream?
Did he send you an email? An SMS?
Most likely, it's is some scammer. This kind of scam is popular in several ...
16
"Unfortunately the Turkish police took his passport and now he cannot leave and also not pay his bill"
Page 1 of my Canadian passport says "This passport is the property of the Government of Canada". Normally, no one has any grounds to keep it from the bearer of the passport and to demand money for its return.
If the police took his ...
120
Most likely the person you're communicating with is not actually your friend, and is trying to scam you. This is a very common scam.
A person claims to be someone you know, and is in trouble overseas, and has lost passport, bank cards, etc., and has no other way to get money than to depend on you to send it via an irreversible method such as a wire transfer....
0
If you are going to Japan as your first trip to a foreign country, my guess is you're going to try to do touristy stuff and not try to "have experiences". I'll base my answer on that, and restrict everything else I'm saying to what you can expect to find in large cities. Be aware that if you go to small towns, the following information may not be ...
1
can anyone please tell me or confirm that exiting the US without my US passport won't be an issue?
It's not an issue. US has no exit controls. You can enter a third country with any passport you like.
I know I need my US passport for reentering the US,
Since it's so hard to renew passports, there is a Covid exemption in place: https://www.state.gov/return-...
2
I was in Japan way back in 1975. Zero Japanese. It was not unusual to not know what we were eating, but so long as you don't have must-not-eat things that's not a big deal. Obviously, my memory of that trip isn't too detailed by now.
It would be vastly easier to do now. Several years ago we had two overnight stopovers and even with my wife being rather ...
2
"We have never gone anywhere to a foreign country, and the budget is kinda tight"
Puerto Rico to Japan is quite a big first step for a first-time traveler with a tight budget.
There's Spanish-speaking and English-speaking countries that are much closer (for example in the Caribbean islands) and would be much easier for you on your "tight ...
1
The US doesn't have exit controls, so you won't have a problem usually. The regulation doesn't have a penalty to be enforced anyway. You don't need to be worried about the US here, but whether the airline will let you board or not, which depends on if you'll be able to enter your destination. I assume that on an Irish passport, you'll be able to enter visa-...
2
Flights are not booked with a passport - but on a name. They cannot be used by someone else (= having a different name).
On your outbound leg, you will need to use either the passport that has the matching name, or the US passport together with documentation of the name change. The gate agent will probably also ask you about your return leg, as they are ...
1
Putting the curent global health pandemic to one side, Japan is an incredible country to explore - but really difficult on a tight budget.
You definitely don't need a person to guide you, but some decent guidebooks and tons of research before travelling is essential. (In normal times) Many places where you might want to stay or visit (and the trains that ...
2
It is possible to pack the PC and that it would arrive safely but there are precautions to take that will help but not guarantee its safety due to rough handling. Turns out I have successfully taken an entire PC between North and South America twice and only had a slight cosmetic damage the last time.
Ideally, I would pack the PC into the box that the case ...
2
I am at risk of any of my gadgets be damaged by static or other natural phenomenon?
Your gadgets are primary at risk by baggage handlers. They bags will be thrown around and banged on quite a bit. The airlines will NOT assume any liability for damaged luggage unless it's an extreme case of abuse so you will carry a lot of risk yourself.
Good packaging would ...
5
One thing to be aware of if you do go on your own (I found out the hard way): if you plan on visiting any museums in Japan like the Studio Ghibli museum or the Epson museum, you have to buy your tickets way in advance, just like if you were buying tickets to a play or a concert. If you plan to visit any of the castles (highly recommended!) make sure you ...
3
Since the original question was posed, another possibility has appeared: Google Fi.
One must have a US account and live (mostly) in the US. However, significant overseas use is inexpensive and the service reaches a lot of countries. Android devices work best; iPhones are possible with some features not working quite so well.
EDIT June 8, 2021: several ...
0
Option 3 with the local SIM cards is not that easy anymore. At least in germany the providers are required by law to check your ID. While you can still buy a card at aldi for example, you need to activate it online or offline. Not even sure it works at all without a german passport.
If #1 is not possible, in my opinion #2 is the way to go.
4
You can definitely travel in Japan without a guide.
Your mileage will depend a lot on where you go. If you stick to the standard tourist track of Tokyo-Kyoto-Oska-Hiroshima, you'll get around easily with just English.
Anywhere else, you should be more adventurous, and I strongly recommend learning a few sentences in Japanese, and be comfortable communicating ...
12
@Itai's answer is great, but I just want to note that it does depend on where you go. Japan is not a country where many people can speak English; not that people don't like foreign tourists (surely there's quite a bit of xenophobic sentiment in Japan, but that's not what I'm talking about here), but many people just can't express themselves in English at all,...
1
I speak only Spanish and English, yet I had no problems on my own in Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Portugal, Italy. More than two weeks in each. And no problems for shorter visits to dozens of other countries. I suspect Japan would be no different.
(Actually, the Spanish helped in Italy.)
Added as it was posted as a comment:
Turkey: Learned how to ask directions ...
20
If by “travel guide” you mean hiring someone to take you to places: this only useful or necessary in areas where it's hard to get around or where there are places you must avoid, and it's only affordable for budget travelers in places where the local currency is weak. Japan has excellent infrastructure and is extremely safe: you don't need a guide. And you ...
answered Jun 7 at 20:42
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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45
You can. Travel guides can be helpful in many areas but Japan is so safe that even doing the wrong thing will not get you in trouble. Getting lost might happen from time to time but it's part of the fun. Japan is known for having strict etiquette but they are very forgiving of foreigners and can get the gist by observing others before doing something.
What I ...
5
I don't think you have to worry too much as an English speaker with a smartphone, a data plan (not too expensive) and Google Translate.
Even without a smartphone translator, plastic food in the window makes it easy to get decent meals (just point). People are generally kind and not likely to lead you astray, sometimes almost helpful to a fault.
2
Given that vaccination takes 2 shots, given 6-8 weeks apart typically, you're already out of time.
Exception is the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine but that's not been widely approved.
And then there's the problem of finding a country that will a) let you in without being vaccinated and b) offers their vaccines to foreigners who aren't residents. Very ...
8
Many countries have random spot checks in the departures area. I’ve already seen that in the UK boarding a flight to Las Vegas, for instance. They did ask everybody boarding but I don’t remember if they actually performed any searches, though. They probably base their decision to search on the reaction of the people.
Depending on the bills used, if a large ...
1
Logistics & Economy
Medical tests require:
Qualified crews.
Supplies
Time
Checking a document require a few seconds time of an entry level clerk.
Medical tests are way more expensive and disruptive than checking documents, and they escalate poorly.
I happen to be closely involved in the procedures for handling passengers at a local airport. Although ...
19
One way is by using currency-sniffing dogs who are trained to detect the odor of currency. They could deploy such dogs in international departure areas, and search passengers or their luggage if the dog alerts.
CBP acknowledges that they employ currency-sniffing dogs (near the bottom of the page), and reports on a case at a land border crossing where a dog ...
0
When you acquire an infection, antibodies will show up. You are infectious at this stage.
Remember the children chicken pox parties of yesterday-year that were attempts at conveying natural herd immunity? That debacle lead to an increase of Shingles (an adult version of chicken pox) which can be very debilitating and even deadly. Virus can remain dormant.
...
1
Something else to keep in mind is practical considerations related to antibody tests. Note that I'm not a doctor and as such might be wrong about certain things.
Antibody tests generally require bloodwork to be taken. Bloodwork means drawing blood from the patient. This brings many considerations compared to vaccinations and PCR tests related to how easily ...
2
I almost always check in for flights leaving the US with my non-US passport. I show that passport to everyone, including the TSA (who are only identifying you, not investigating your immigration status). It's never been a problem. I have the sense that some US airlines may pay attention to the immigration status of departing foreigners, but I usually use ...
3
Your newborn is a US citizen, and 18 USC §1185 requires US citizens to bear a valid US passport for entry into (and exit from) the US. Airlines know this, and will refuse to board her onto a flight to the US unless she has a valid US passport.
That she is a dual citizen of the US and another country is irrelevant. As a US citizen, the airline will apply the ...
7
An important point I think worth mentioning (and is related to the idea of decreasing antibodies over time mentioned in the other answers) is that the goal of vaccines isn't necessarily just to create antibodies; it's to trigger long-lasting (hopefully) changes in the immune system (e.g., the formation of Memory B cells). These changes will then allow the ...
2
You always check in with the passport that you will use to enter the destination country
Always enter and leave a country with the same passport
If you switch passports during travel, let the airline know, especially if the country has exit controls. Example "I'm leaving Germany on passport A and will enter Korea on passport B". The US doesn't ...
3
Yes, you can most definitely do that (have done that too many times to count). The information you provide to the airline is mostly for the destination country, not the one you are leaving, and since the US do not do any exit checks, there's no-one else to show your US passport.
At some point in time check-in personnel would ask questions when you left the ...
11
The low number of travel exemptions for people who have recovered from COVID stems from the discussions around "immunity passports", which was one proposed solution to enabling travel prior to widespread availability of vaccines. The first counter-argument was that its unknown if infection can actually protect against subsequent reinfections:
...
43
Commercially available antibody tests are not intended to be used to determine vaccination status, aren't tested to be effective for that purpose, and are known to sometimes produce negative results in vaccinated individuals who nonetheless have immunity. The test detects specific types of antibodies depending on its design, but that's not the same thing as ...
3
When I last renewed my passport, I did it in person. They did require that I show proof of imminent travel. Without it, I suspect that they would not have taken my application.
The previous renewal was by mail. If I recall correctly, I got the new passport in about 2 weeks, despite not having paid for expedited service.
Both experiences were perfectly ...
1
Look it up on https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/vaccines/.
E.g., currently, for Sinovac: CoronaVac
, it is approved in 25 countries:
Albania
Azerbaijan
Brazil
Cambodia
Chile
China
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Malaysia
Mexico
Pakistan
Panama
Philippines
Thailand
...
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