Travel insurance - never travel without it.
The free cover that you may receive from paying by credit card is generally quite limited and the excesses to be paid are high. Talk to your Travel Agent about their innovative and competitive travel insurance products - rather be safe than sorry!

Passports - Make sure that your passport is valid for at least 6 months before you travel - many countries will not issue you with a visa or allow you to enter should your passport be on the verge of expiry.

N.B. It takes 4 – 6 weeks to be issued with a new SA passport by the Department of Home Affairs. Temporary passports are available at shorter notice, but are not accepted by many countries, such as The United Kingdom, France, The United States of America & Australia amongst others. Always check with your travel agent regarding the acceptance of temporary passports for your chosen destination.

Flight times - all times that are shown on an itinerary are local times. As timings are subject to alteration you are urged to reconfirm these locally.

Reconfirm your reservation - Be sure your reservations are reconfirmed; flights are very often cancelled or overbooked. If you don’t reconfirm you may not have a reservation at all.

Travel Documents - Always ensure that all your travel documents are in order prior to your departure. It is ultimately the passengers’ responsibility to ensure that they are in possession of valid passports together with health documents and any visas that may be required.

Always photocopy in triplicate all important travel documentation such as, passport, air-tickets etc. to avoid getting stranded through having your things go missing while overseas: one set to keep on you, one to leave in your luggage and the last to leave with a friend at home who can fax them to you if you run into trouble while travelling.

Emergency Numbers - Place inside your suitcase and paperclip inside the back of your passport an emergency contact list and include the telephone number of your insurance people, credit card issuer, and home numbers in case of emergency.

Are Your Personal Papers in Order - Make sure your will and personal papers are all in order. If something were to happen to you while traveling, it's good for your family and heirs to know where your will is, where your insurance papers are kept, where the safe deposit box keys are, etc.

Frequent Flyer Programme Members – If you are a member of a frequent flyer programme always retain boarding passes and ticket stubs of that airline, as proof of travel may be required by the airline when redemming air miles.

Important information when hiring a car - there are some very important issues and pitfalls when travellers hire a car. Please read the following information carefully on car rental:

 

General:

The driver/renter of the vehicle must;
Inspect the car for any damages when you take delivery as you are liable for any damage thereafter.
Read the conditions of the rental contract.

Insurance:

If the vehicle is a write-off, some car hire companies will charge double excess. Read the fine print (as above).
There is no longer 90% and 100% cover; the cover now comes in standard and super. There is also an excess which varies according to the type of cover
Towing costs in the case of an accident are not included in the insurance excess. The administration fee is also extra even if the customer has taken super-cover. This could cost between R250-R300.
The customer’s belongings inside the car are not covered by the insurance in the case of theft.
Even if you are not at fault you are still liable for the excess. You may be able to successfully recover damages from the third party later, but not if there is a knock-for-knock agreement with another car-hire company.
Third-party claims can take a long time.
Ignorance is no excuse. Some customers believe if they don’t know what happened, they’re not liable. They will usually have to pay excess to cover scratches or hail damage, for example.
Hijacking is covered as per write-off if no negligence or fault is found.
Insurance Waiver Exceptions: "Breach of Contract"
Please read these exceptions VERY carefully!!: The following are some of the reasons a driver can be held in breach of contract and will be liable for all costs.

If the driver is negligent, the car-hire company can find that the waivers purchased are not applicable. Negligence is assumed when a reasonable person would have or could have avoided the accident.
If a driver does not advise the car-hire company of an extension to the rental.
If the vehicle is driven by an unauthorised person, the driver (renter) may have to pay the full damages in the case of an accident.
If the driver looses the car keys and the car is stolen, it amounts to negligence and he is liable for the costs.
If an accident involving third parties or theft of the vehicle is not reported to a police station within 24 hours.
If a vehicle is taken across borders without the necessary authority.
If the vehicle is involved in an accident where no other object/person is involved – for example, the driver falling asleep at the wheel – insurance falls away as this implies negligence.
Criminal actions by the driver.

Travelling at off-peak periods is often cheaper and easier to find discounted fares and less crowded.

Prioritize - You want to pack everything but can't. Make 3 piles: necessities, almost necessities and luxury items. Take all the necessities, none of the almost necessities and one luxury item. It will be all you need.

Be Prepared for Conversations - Take a dictionary and notes phrase book. It can be useful.

Camera Equipment - When travelling overseas, declare all camera equipment with customs officials at the airport before departing so you don't have to prove ownership upon return. Consider bringing copies of receipts for cameras and other photo equipment. We suggest try taking your digital camera with you on the plane to help ensure it won't be damaged. Airlines have rules about carry-on baggage; this rule varies from airline to airline, so always check your airline's rules regarding checked baggage before you fly with your digital camera. The equipment you will require in addition to your camera are batteries, a charger, and enough memory cards to get the images you want without worrying about memory card space. If you have a portable storage device or a notebook, you can offload your cards later or even as you shoot. If you have insufficient memory space on your cards get your card images transferred to a CD while travelling. This should not be a problem in big cities. Most hour-photo spots offer this service, and it's relatively inexpensive. A note of warning, make sure they will transfer your images at the same resolution as they are on the card. Check to be sure they don't use a smaller resolution to fit all the images on a CD, and check the CD before deleting your card images. You could also go to an internet café and connect via your camera’s USB cable and e-mail your images to yourself, or even burn them on CD, or upload them onto an online photo storage site.

Connect to the Internet While Travelling - Connecting to the Internet whilst travelling has become a lot easier recently. Many international hotels and most international airports offer fast broadband wireless networking. There are also other services available such as Bluetooth or cell phone internet access. It would be advisable to discuss which method is most suited to your needs with your ISP (Internet Service Provider.)

Liquids Aerosols and Gels

The New Regulation regarding Liquid Aerosols & Gels (LAG’s) for International Flights from South Africa.

As of 1 June 2007, international travellers using South Africa's airports will be prohibited from carrying hand luggage containing liquids, aerosols and gels exceeding 100 millilitres.

The Airports Company of South Africa's (Acsa) announced last week that the new security measures were in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisations standards.

Passengers are recommended to place all liquids, aerosols and gels (LAG) in their check-in luggage.

With these new regulations, passengers will not be allowed to carry on board items in their hand luggage which exceed 100ml, such as perfume, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste and hair gel.

Hand luggage with LAGs exceeding 100ml will be confiscated, and passengers would only be allowed to carry one parcel onboard.

International travellers would be required to place essential liquids to be carried on board in a re-sealable clear, plastic bag with a capacity of not more than one litre and a total diameter of 80 centimetres.

Each item containing liquid cannot exceed 100ml in quantity and must fit comfortably inside of the sealed bag.

Acsa has ordered 200 000 plastic bags, which will be handed out to passengers at the country's three main airports free of charge until the end of June. They will also be made available at retail stores countrywide.

With prior arrangement, permission will be granted to people with medical problems if they produce a doctor's prescription to that effect.

Items carried on board that need to be placed in bags include formula, milk and food for babies in small containers, prescription medicine in liquid and gel form, essential non-prescription medication not exceeding 100ml per container, eye care products, liquids and gels, including juice needed by diabetic passengers.

Lipsticks in tubes, solid deodorant, lip balm and similar solids will be allowed on board as well.Any duty free liquid, gel or aerosol products purchased after security checkpoints should be placed in special security bags by the store and customers connecting to further destinations are advised to keep these sealed throughout their journey.