The travel team is in the thick of things. Most of the team is leaving in just a little more than a week. And things are, to say the least, a slight bit stressful. Just this morning I woke up in a cold sweat about the newly learned fact that I have no remaining pages left in my passport and I will have to send it in, along with my arm and leg as payment, to get expedited service for more pages. I have spent more time and gotten familiar with more foreign consulates in San Francisco than I ever wanted to. I am friends with both the security guy at the Chinese consulate (paradoxically located in Japan town) and with our representative at the visa processing company on Market street downtown. After this whole process I don’t claim to be any sort of travel logistics expert but I do feel I have some tips that could help a fellow panic attack stricken traveler:

1. Passports. I know its obvious but I cant tell you how many times I have overlooked these things. Make sure it’s valid and will be valid for a while. Duh. Make sure there are 2-4 additional visa/ stamp pages are in your passport AFTER you have secured all the visas you need. Make copies in case you loose it or it’s stolen.

2. Visas. It seems to me completely random which countries require visas for US citizens to visit but there are quite a few of them. The US state website has a list. They are all absurdly expensive. Usually they only charge us so much money as a reciprocity fee for how much their citizens are charged to come here. Thanks America. You will have to wake up very early to be first to beat the huge crowds at the various consulates. You will wait in long lines. You will have to come back a few days after they tell you in order to make sure the visas really are done. In the end you will have spent almost as much on visas as you did on your flight.

3. Health. All the travel team have spent a lot of time at the Dr’s office. We’ve gotten tons of shots and various just in case prescriptions. We’ve cried on the phone with our insurance plans trying to get them to pay for what they’re supposed to. But in the end its way better than getting some crazy disease. So go to your doctor early and make sure everything is in order. And make sure you have travel insurance.

4. Packing. You will not fit everything in your bag. End of story. Pack what you need and remember that you can buy things in other countries.

5. Forget it all and get excited. Remember that all these tears and blood have been spent in the pursuit of an awesome trip that will be worth it all. Read your guide book. Look at pictures of your destination. Forget all the things you have left to do and start getting giddy! If there’s anything I would risk my sanity, money, and time on it’s a great trip!

written by the Give your Gap team