hey everyone so with the demand for travel on the rise we've been getting lots of questions about
how we plan travel internationally since copied 19. so we finally sat down and organized sort
of our thoughts and put on paper our five-step process for how we plan our international travel
uh since kofi 19. so from our experience we wanted to share what those steps are
with you today if you've been here before welcome back and if you're new to the channel
we're nicole and mikko we've been traveling full-time since march 2021
and we've learned a few tips along the way and we're really excited to share them with you
step one in our process is always to go onto a website called code controls
and kova controls is great because it gives you a color gradient of how accessible certain
countries are based on a couple parameters that you enter such as what country you're coming from
what other places you've traveled to in the last couple of weeks whether you're vaccinated or not
so we start there and just sort of look at the whole world and see what places are fairly open
and accessible to us at that time it's important to note too that
covert controls isn't the only one there's also skyscanner and kayak.com
they also kind of give color gradient maps of of the areas and overall the most important thing
is that you use these websites to kind of get an idea of what the situation is like on the ground
how accessible it is and get a feel for it before you start booking flights
also just so you know all the links to what we're talking about will be in the description below
step number two is to know your entry restrictions so after you've kind of done your initial research
you're going to want to look at a website called iata or international air transport association
and that website will give you some very specific details about country specific
information regarding kind of entry requirements or covid requirements documentation needed that's
going to be a really good start and a fairly official place to look at for information but
quick pro tip on iata is that it's for air travel so if you're arriving into a place by sea or by
land you might have different restrictions that you need to follow we actually had that experience
getting into georgia um we went in by land and then we also went in by air and those
restrictions were actually quite different so just make sure you take a bit of a deeper
dive if you are arriving some other form besides um by a plane the other great thing about iata
is that it sort of gives you additional links that you can follow really usually quite official links
for maybe like foreign affairs websites or tourism websites for the country you're headed to and
that's a great place to start double checking the information that you have found on iata because
we would always suggest you find multiple sources for what you actually need to get into a country
and in regards to things like the foreign affairs website or tourism websites for various countries
just really keep in mind that some countries are excellent about updating the information specific
to covid other countries are really not and we've definitely had that experience where some have
just been brutal and some are awesome so keep a lookout for dates of when the websites have been
updated so that you can really be sure that the information you're getting is actually true for
the dates you're looking to travel and keep an eye on them because they might change so between
the first time you look at them and then closer to your travel dates just continue to monitor it
step 3 is covered 19 requirements and of course this is the big one
and so for this we're going to start by talking about vaccinations so of course countries are
going to know if you're vaccinated or not and they're going to have a lot of restrictions
around whether you can come if you're vaccinated or not vaccinated and for vaccinations for those
who are vaccinated countries typically want to know what type of vaccine you received the date
you received one dose or both doses depending on which vaccination you have and they're going to
usually want that to be at least two weeks old your second dose to be at least two weeks ago
and they're also going to typically want to have proof of your vaccination in english we've noticed
so um they are they offer moana in either their national language or and or english so as a pro
tip if you can get it translated to english if it's not in english that's a good idea it
makes things a lot easier they are also often going to want to know what country issued your
vaccine and then of course they're going to need documentation for all of these things so
for us we were vaccinated in the united states and so we actually have a our vaccination card is from
the cdc and it's literally a little paper card that has our names ours has our passport number
on it and the dates that we were vaccinated and the like the vile number of the vaccine
that we received and that's what we've been traveling with for months um and that has worked
super well it's worked great it's literally just a little tiny card with handwriting on it um so
for now that seems to be sufficient to prove that we are vaccinated around the world yeah it's very
low tech but it's widely accepted i know that some countries require you to upload your certification
online we've done that with our cards like taking photos with their phone both sides uploaded and
it gets verified the next part to this is pcr testing so nowadays pcr testing is very normal
you pretty much need a pcr test every time you enter a new country so normally what we've seen
is that they require a 72 hour pcr test or pcr test 72 hours from the point of first embarkation
that's usually 72 hours from the first time you take your flight on that itinerary
so normally for us if we're flying out on a wednesday we're getting a pcr test
usually on a monday or at least two days before just a few important considerations
when you're getting a pcr test so obviously the results are going to be very important
it's going to be really good if you have it in english you know if you have if you're doing
a pcr test in a non-english speaking country you really want to try to get those results in english
usually that's kind of like a universal language for people to read your pcr results
secondly you want to double check and they'll be specific about this if your pcr test results have
to come from specific labs i know when we went from turkey to to jordan jordan specified that
if you're coming from turkey they want your test to be coming only from certain labs in turkey and
so that's what we did it's not for every country but some countries they do they are pretty picky
about where you do your tests we have always had a minimum of three copies of our pcr test results
going along with us when we got on a flight and the reason for that is because sometimes
the pcr test is often checked in multiple spots along the route and sometimes they'll
the attendant will take the pcr just so you won't see it again so it may be at check-in they take
a look for it and then they they just keep it and so you want to have additional ones because you're
going to be checked again before you board the flight almost always and you might be asked for
the test results again when you arrive in a new country so we always travel with at least three
copies of our negative pcr report if you've only got it on your phone make sure it's downloaded so
you can access it offline because if you drive to an airport and you have no internet access you're
going to want to make sure you can access your pcr results so be mindful of that i would just default
to paper copies if you can the next piece of cover 19 requirements information we'd like to share
is about quarantining of course so that is still happening in some countries but for the
most part it's fairly rare now to see a lot of uh quarantine requirements for entering a country so
we won't talk about it too much but just of course keep an eye out for it you'll usually see that
information right away if they do have quarantine requirements um the only other thing that's
important to know about quarantine requirements is that when you land in a country do take a look
at what the restrictions would be for quarantining if you or a travel companion tested positive upon
arrival or during your trip there that part's really important and something that we always keep
in mind just to know some of those details in case that happens another thing to consider is your
health insurance countries are are now specifying that you need to have travel insurance or travel
health insurance when you get into the country so very recently uh the country that we got into
they asked for proof that we had health insurance or health insurance that covered covid and of
course we had a paper copy you need a paper copy we were able to show that right away and it was it
was quite simple to get in but definitely have a look if health insurance is a requirement to get
into your specific country what we use is safety wing they've been really really great and if you
want to learn more about safety wing and their health insurance they cover kovid it's kind of all
down in the description below so the last few cover 19 requirements sort of miscellaneous items
is usually additional documentation so we have found that lots of countries require you to have
previously completed like health declaration form general declaration form locator apps um as well
we have seen often and so our advice is again kind of get into the weeds with that at this stage of
your travel planning take a look at what exactly you're going to need either fill them out and
send them online some countries require you to just submit them online and some forms you need
to print off again physical copies and have them written out like you fill them out physically so
just be really cautious of what you need try to get all that done ahead of time sometimes you'll
have access to those documents at the airport just don't count on it so get all that done ahead of
time on your own get the apps downloaded because you might not have data at the airport that you
get into of course or access to internet wi-fi so download all those print them off if you can so
you're prepared all these declaration forms and health apps and qr codes and things like that
it's a little daunting but honestly what we found iata once again just as a reminder does a good job
of telling you what you need and then of course with the government website that you're looking
into they'll have a bit more information there as well about what forms are required just make sure
you fill out kind of as much as you can have that all ready and physical printed copies are best
one last thing to consider kovit 19 wise is just the flight path restrictions that you may
encounter when you're booking your ticket it was more of an issue back in the beginning not so much
nowadays i know for us when we went from sri lanka to the united states we were not allowed to pass
over any eu airports because of the travel ban so you know there was a really nice flight from sri
lanka to germany and then to the united states but we couldn't take it nice and inexpensive
yeah we couldn't take it because the united states wouldn't take us then so then we actually had to
fly from sri lanka i think to qatar and then to the united states so that was just something to
keep in mind on again you'll kind of see that right away when you do your research on ita or
that government's website definitely is a tricky additional layer so not only i guess in a way not
only do you have to do your research for the country you're trying to get to but you also
kind of do some light research on the country that you're transiting through yeah so keep an eye on
those airports that you're going to touch base in even though you might not go into those countries
step four in our international travel planning is to get your visa so for that just again look
at government websites typically iata will have some information as well and just see
how can you access the visa now because a lot of voas or visas on arrival are not operating
they're coming back online so it's definitely becoming an easier process again but just get
into the details there and make sure that any websites you're checking you're looking at dates
for when the information was last updated because it was pre-coded you can just discard it and you
need another source really the biggest takeaway here is just don't assume that visa on arrival
is happening just do your research if everything points that visa as an arrival is still on
then go for it if not then you might have to just do a little bit of pre-planning
to apply online or sending your passports to the relevant embassy or consulate
step number five is to always always double check your info so we never rely on just one website for
our information we like to use many many websites again starting with kovic controls is a high level
then digging deeper with iata official government sources we used to we like to use a lot of those
in conjunction to make sure that all our information is very accurate yeah and in
addition to that we also often find that airline websites are really really useful so for example
recently we've been using turkish airlines and qatar airways and those have been really helpful
in getting additional detail and just confirming our information for the countries we're headed to
and a pro tip for another place to double check your information is actually facebook facebook
has been incredibly useful for us since we started traveling in march 2021. we go on there always uh
find groups for the places that we're traveling to just so that we can get really like on the ground
up-to-date live information on the place we're traveling to yeah these facebook groups they're
like they're awesome they're boots on the ground they're people travelers that are there right now
who know exactly what the restrictions are like or are as a good place or resource for you to ask
questions we do ask a lot of questions on different facebook groups typically
everything from kind of like you know how open is this part of the country all the way to what
labs can we get a coven 19 pcr test for leaving that country in all those sorts of things and if
you want to search for them we usually search for things like you know turkey travel group
or travel turkey or foreigners in turkey those are the kind of searches that we use before we
travel there because like we said earlier there are great resources for what's happening right
now once again you're just using this facebook group to confirm you're not using it as a soul
no piece of information because you shouldn't rely on anything you find in internet generally
or facebook facebook for sure facebook for sure but yeah it's a great place to check information
and to keep updated with information if you're checking information now but your trip's not
for two months join a couple facebook groups it's an easy way to keep updated all right and that's
it for how to plan travel international travel we hope you've enjoyed it we know it's a lot of
information to soak in in one video but hopefully it's just here for you to reference and kind of
play and pause through as you plan your travel in 2022 and beyond and if you've liked the video give
it a thumbs up that's really helpful for us so if you think we've missed anything please please
please write it down in the comment below we would love to hear from you and from other travelers who
have got great tips we want to make sure that that's shared with us and also shared with the
entire community here beyond that if you would comment also where you're heading to in 2022 we
would love to get excited with you absolutely we will leave you here for now and we will see
in a couple of days for our regular content which is travel vlogging thanks for watching