By Rick Steves
Your trip won't get off the ground if you don't prepare these documents
— passport, student and hostel cards, rail pass, international driving
permit — well before your departure date. Give yourself plenty of lead
time.
Passports
In much of Europe, the only document a US or Canadian citizen needs is a
passport. (The US Passport Card works only for those driving or
cruising to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean.) And for most
American travelers, the only time any customs official looks at you
seriously is at the airport as you re-enter the United States.
Getting or Renewing Your Passport
US passports, good for 10 years, cost $135 ($110 to renew). The fee for
minors
under 16 (including infants) is $105 for a passport good for five years
— kids under 16 must apply in person with at least one parent and the
other parent's notarized permission.
You can apply at some courthouses and post offices, as well as
municipal buildings, such as your City Hall. For details and the
location of the nearest passport-acceptance facility, see the
US Department of State's travel site
or call 877-487-2778. Processing time varies; the current wait is
posted on the State Department website. During busier periods, a
six-week wait is common. One or two weeks after you apply, you can check
online for the status of your passport application and its estimated
arrival date.
If you need your passport in less than six weeks, tack on an additional
$60 expediting fee (plus overnight shipping both ways), and you'll get
it by mail within three weeks. In a last-minute emergency situation,
call the above number and speak to a customer-service representative. If
you can prove that you have to leave within two weeks (by showing a
purchased airline eticket or a letter from work requiring you to travel
overseas on short notice), you may be able to receive a passport in a
day or so. Make an appointment to go in person to the nearest US
Passport Agency and pay the additional $60 fee; they'll issue your new
passport in 24 to 72 hours.
Keep an eye on your passport's expiration date. Most European countries
require that your passport be valid for at least three months
after
your ticketed date of return to the United States (Russia requires a
six-month window). This means that even if your passport doesn't expire
for a few months, you may still be denied entry to a country. Check your
destination country's requirements, and if necessary, get your passport
renewed before you go.
Countries can have surprising entry requirements. For example, the
Czech Republic and Poland technically require visitors to carry proof of
medical insurance (your health insurance card usually suffices). While
it's virtually unheard of that a border guard would actually request
this, it's worth knowing about. For requirements per country, see the
US Department of State's travel site.
If you're a frequent international traveler, consider the US Customs'
Global Entry Program, which lets you bypass passport control at major US airports ($100 fee).
Canadian citizens can refer to
voyage.gc.ca for Canada-specific passport information.
Traveling with Your Passport
Take good care of your passport: Keep it in your money belt, and if
you're asked to show it, put it back in your money belt right away.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania are in the process of joining
the Schengen group, and other countries, including Turkey and
Montenegro, are considered Schengen candidates but don't yet meet the
requirements. Of European Union countries, only the United Kingdom and
the Republic of Ireland are holdouts.
When traveling between Schengen countries, you usually don't have to
stop or show a passport — you'll simply blow past abandoned border posts
on the superhighway or high-speed train...souvenirs of an earlier, more
complicated era of European travel. Non-Schengen countries still have
border checks (for now) — but even in these places, the border crossing
is generally just a quick wave-through for US citizens. Schengen or no,
you always need to show your passport at your first point of entry into
Europe, and to re-enter the US.
Replacing Your Passport
If you have to replace a
lost or stolen passport
in Europe, it's much easier to do if you have a photocopy of it and a
couple of passport-type photos, either brought from home or taken in
Europe.
Visas
A visa is a stamp placed in your passport by a foreign government,
allowing you to enter their country. Visas are not required for
Americans or Canadians traveling in Western Europe and most of the East
(including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the Baltic states).
When you enter without a visa you're officially on "short stay visitor"
status. Within the Schengen area, that means you can stay up to 90 days
within a 180-day period; most non-Schengen countries in Europe also
have a 90-day limit (one big exception is the UK, which allows you to
stay up to 6 months within a 12-month period). If you think your trip
may extend beyond the three-month mark, you'll need to get creative with
your travel plans (for example, spend the requisite amount of time
outside the Schengen area before re-entering) or look into getting a
long-stay visa (France offers a one-year visitor visa, albeit with
plenty of requirements and restrictions; under certain circumstances you may qualify for a similar visa elsewhere in Europe).
If you do need a visa, it's usually best to get it at home before you
leave. If you forget, just about every country has an embassy or
consulate (which can issue visas) in the capital of every other European
country.
Both Canadians and Americans need visas to visit
Turkey, and must obtain them before entering the country. You can get your "e-visa"
online,
or visit a Turkish consulate or embassy. US residents pay $20;
Canadians pay $60 — that's US dollars, not Canadian. However,
cruise-line passengers don't need a visa if they are doing day trips in
Turkey but spending nights aboard their ship. On the other hand, cruise
passengers arriving in Turkey to start their cruise, or staying on
Turkish soil for more than 72 hours must get a visa before their arrival
in Turkey. For more information, check with
Turkey's embassy in the United States or
in Canada.
Travelers to
Russia also need visas. The process can be expensive, and you should begin several weeks in advance (see my
how-to on Russian visas).
For
travel beyond Europe, get up-to-date information on visa requirements from your travel agent or the
US Department of State.
Student Cards and Hostel Memberships
The International Student Identity Card (ISIC), the only
internationally recognized student ID card, gets you discounts on
transportation, shopping, restaurants, hotels, entertainment, and
sightseeing throughout Europe, and includes some basic trip insurance.
If you are a full-time student (and can prove it), get one. Your ISIC
card can also be used as a prepaid credit card. But, if you're older
than 26, you might have trouble using the card in some places. Two other
varieties of the card, offering similar discounts, are available,
though they're often not honored: for teachers of any age (International
Teacher Identity Card, or ITIC) and for non-student travelers under age
26 (International Youth Travel Card, or IYTC). Each card costs $25 and
is good for one year from the date of issue. Get yours on the
ISIC website, through
STA Travel, or from your university foreign-study office.
Travelers who'll be staying at least six nights in official HI
hostels should get a hostel membership card from a local hostel or
Hostelling International.
Rail Passes and Car Documents
Most
rail passes are not sold in Europe and must be purchased before you leave home. If you're
renting a car,
be aware that an International Driving Permit is required in Austria,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain (get it at
AAA before your departure — for $15 plus tax).
Copying Key Documents
Before your trip, make photocopies and/or take photos of your documents
(front and back) to pack along or leave with someone at home to email
to you in case of an emergency. It's smart to make a copy of
prescriptions for eyewear and medicine as well, but don't photocopy a
debit or credit card — instead, keep just the number in a retrievable
place. It's easier to replace a lost or stolen passport, rail pass, or
car-rental voucher if you have a photocopy that helps prove you really
owned what you lost. Consider bringing a couple extra passport-type
pictures, which can expedite the replacement process for a
lost or stolen passport.
While traveling, guard your photocopies as carefully as you would the
originals. I hide mine in a second money belt clipped into the bottom of
my luggage (don't tell anyone). Some people scan their documents and
email them to a Web-based account or store them on a cloud service such
as
Dropbox for
easy access from the road. If you're concerned about having electronic
copies floating around in cyberspace, you could put them on a USB flash
drive and tuck it into your money belt. If you're traveling with a
companion, carry photocopies of each other's passports and other
important documents.
It's also smart to have a backup physical or digital copy of your
itinerary, including hotel and car-rental confirmations. An
itinerary-storage website (such as
Tripit)
is handy; you can also keep a list of contacts you'll need, including
your hotels — printed on a slip of paper as small as you can read — to
store in your money belt.
source: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/travel-documents
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