Thanks for the travel tips KBers
At the start of May I started a thread seeking advice for us as newbie overseas travellers on our recent trip to Samoa. FEEDBACK TIME:
Everyone who said "drink bottled water". Cheers. That's the only water we drank and we had no problems. Of course we decided drinking beer and cocktails was even safer as it contained alcohol to kill the germs.... One thing; don't wash your toothbrush in tap water before using it. That could be enough to get them dreaded tummy bugs.
Everyone who said "don't eat the chicken". Um yeah. I guess in some places that'd mean a fairly boring diet. We did risk chicken a few times because otherwise it would have been 9 days of seafood.
"Preload the credit card with cash to avoid transaction charges when getting cash". Yep. Did that. Thanks
"Get Travel Insurance". A no brainer! You may think you'll be careful but there are things out of your control ... even stuff like the weather which could have disrupted our ferry transfer back to the main island to catch the plane home.
"Duty Free. Just get booze and smokes as everything else is about the same price in town". Yep. Correct. 6 bottles of good spirits for $128. Sweet!
Chisanga advised:
"Respect the country you are visiting and the people that live there". Yep. We studied up their protocols/customs etc before we went. It was good to know how to conduct ourselves in the villages so as not to offend the locals. Useful to know why they rang a bell at about 5.30pm each evening.
MacD advised:
"Take copies of your tickets and passports and keep them separate from your actual documents, but keep both sets secure" That saved us as one of our early connections accidentally took our original voucher for a connection at the end of our trip as well as the correct one. The photocopy saved us paying again.
A few of you mentioned the 'Lonely Planet' book. We got one and although it was a few years out of date it was a useful resource. Apart from the touristy stuff, customs and a bit of the language we got from it, it saved us being overcharged by a taxi driver who knew ' a shortcut'. I'd negotiated the correct price beforehand and even though he took us twice as far as he needed to (Mrs Oakie was monitoring the map), it didn't cost us more than it should have. NOTE. He didn't really know the place where we wanted to go so make sure the taxi driver comprehends the destination before you go anywhere.
"Insect repellant". Thanks to those who said to get the tropical strength stuff. (DET 80 strength we got). Some mozzies still dined on us both but I think that was more because we forgot to put the repellant on. Doh!
"Sunblock". Oh yeah. We took a litre bottle and used about half. Funny thing is that the sun was harsher in Twizel where I used to live than in the tropics. All to to with altitude and the ozone layer I believe.
2much advised
"vialima is a good drop". True true true! We had at least a couple of stubbies each per day. We've got the beverage manager from the local supermarket trying to source some for us locally.
2much also advised "watch out for the fafa's they're abit pushy but mostly harmless." True again. We came across a couple ... one very obvious and a bit pushy, the other was neat and we didn't realise she was a he until the second time we saw her. (Actually Mrs Oakie spotted it. I couldn't tell)
MotoGirl advised:
"It also pays to take a first aid kit with standard medications in it (e.g. Panadol)". Yep. We did actually need the first aid kit. Coral really IS sharp (and I just dug the last tiny bit out of my knee tonight)
Several said "Don't argue or joke with customs officials. They have no sense of humour". True ... although they were all polite and processed us without unneccesary delay. Serious people though!
Dilligaf advised:
"Customs were actually quite strict especially when it comes to alcohol. You are allowed a litre per person and THAT"S IT. (Other countries usually have 1125 ml of spirits and then allow you wine as well - Samoa Does NOT)" Thanks. We purchased 1 litre bottles of gin each to take in and customs were happy.
Someone somwhere told us to take a torch. Priceless info, especially as the second place we were at had a flaky power supply which meant the power went out 3 of the 4 days we were there.
The tip I'll throw in is to get a fly swatter at the first opportunity. The second place we were at had a lot of large wasps around and of course a few got inside. (Incidentally, surface spray intended for cockroaches kills wasps on the wing very quickly.)
Thats about it. Sorry if it's a bit long but I had to give feedback and credit where due. Cheers for your contribution to a wonderful holiday guys.
Oakie and Mrs Oakie
Grow older but never grow up
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by kerfufflez
Bookmarks