Administrative formalities
After having defined the itinerary of a world tour (complete article HERE), comes the step of administrative formalities. And whether it is those to do before leaving or once there, know that there are many! Some choose not to anticipate anything while others organize themselves months or even years in advance. Indeed, the duration of the formalities can vary considerably depending on each individual's situation (owner or tenant of an apartment/house, material goods, distance education for children, etc.). Concerning us, we started the administrative preparations about 7 months before the big departure. To optimize the trip, establish a budget and avoid unnecessary expenses, or travel more serenely, we can only recommend anticipating these formalities!
In this article, we'll answer the following two questions:
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What administrative procedures must be done before departure?
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What other formalities are to be expected during the trip?
What administrative procedures must be done before departure?
Entry formalities (passports, visas, photos, proofs)
Each country’s entry requirements are specific to the traveler’s nationality. As both nationals of the European Union, the steps have turned out to be more or less easy along our route.
Many countries require a number of blank pages in the passport to be able to stamp their entry visa (up to 3 blank pages!). Not to mention the period of validity, which must often be greater than six months after the date of departure from their territory. It may therefore be wise to renew your papers before leaving, especially when some visas take up a whole page!
It is equally important to learn about the visas required to be able to enter and stay in the chosen countries. Indeed, they can be paid and/or restrictive in terms of duration and/or to be requested well in advance. Fortunately, it is often possible to do them online or at the time of entry into the country when passing through immigration (at the airport by air, or at the immigration office by land or river). Better to check beforehand to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
By the way, don't forget to take several… ID photos before you go on board! It is not uncommon for immigration offices to request color photos to issue visas. Corrupt customs officers can then take advantage of this and take pleasure in increasing the cost of the procedure to carry them out if you don’t have any.
If our international vaccination card has never been requested from us, you should know that some authorities are able to refuse entry into the territory if you have not been vaccinated against diseases (yellow fever in Africa and South America, Covid for example ...). Verification is not systematic but not non-existent nonetheless.
On the other hand, we had to present many times an insurance certificate when boarding, and it is true that during Covid, this criterion comes up more and more often. Check out our article on health and security HERE for more information on vaccination and the choice of insurance.
Last point to consider but which did not directly concern us: countries like Mozambique require proof of solvency (account statement) for the issuance of their visa.
To avoid mixing everything up, it is better to summarize the administrative procedures related to the entry conditions of each country in a summary table like ours (see below). To find out more about the costs involved during these steps, you can refer to our full article on the budget of a world tour, available HERE.
ASIA
AFRICA
SOUTH AMERICA
Banking formalities (opening of accounts)
Traditional banks (Caisse d´Epargne, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, etc.) are rarely suited to long-term travel plans. In question: exorbitants conversion fees for withdrawals/payments abroad. New online banks have evolved to meet the needs of today's youth and now offer bank cards with no conversion fees, and sometimes for free. It is therefore possible to withdraw local currencies and pay anywhere at no additional cost. When traveling for a long time, it is recommended to have a VISA and a MASTERCARD. Indeed, several Latin American countries reject the MASTERCARD while some Asian countries do not accept the VISA. If many online banks exist (N26, Revolut…), we both opted for the AUMAX bank because of its positive reviews and its free MASTERCARD allowing withdrawals/payments anywhere free of charge. For our VISA card, we turned to Monabanq (affiliation of Crédit Mutuel) and decided to open a joint account there for a maintenance fee (the most advantageous on the market at the time). We were delighted with the service offered by these two online banks throughout our trip and would recommend them 100%.
Other formalities (international license, retention of telephone lines, backup of important documents, embassy directory)
There are other steps to take before setting off on a world tour. For example, the international driving license in order to be able to rent and drive vehicles abroad (car, scooter, etc.) legally. Note that the application can take several months and that the international license is only valid for three years and only accompanied by the national license. The latter must therefore also be part of the trip!
It may also be interesting to change your telephone subscription. Usual packages are of no use outside the EU, so it is better to choose the cheapest on the market. It will only be used to keep your phone line active (useful for online payment confirmations, application operations, etc.). We have thus kept our number at a lower cost by canceling with our former operator and by requesting portability to FREE and its advantageous package of 2€/month.
We also recommend printing copies of important official documents (ID papers, insurance, prescriptions, etc.) AND saving them on a cloud so as to simplify the procedures in the event of theft or loss of the originals.
In addition, it may be useful to make a directory of embassies and their respective contacts in the event of an issue (problem and/or no wifi access).
What other formalities are to be expected during the trip?
Entry formalities (verification of conditions and proofs)
Even if the entry formalities by country (need for a visa, cost, etc.) are studied before travel, it is still necessary to continue to inquire regularly to be prepared for any possible changes. This also makes it possible to collect the necessary proofs upstream. Indeed, many countries require immigration or health forms on arrival, and even more now with the covid (you can find more information on travel in covid time on our article dedicated to health and security around the world). These documents are generally available on the official websites of the country of destination and can be printed and completed 2-3 days before the border change to travel more serenely.
It is also sometimes asked to show customs officials a proof of exit from their country (air, land or river ticket), which can be problematic when, like us, you let yourself be carried away by the journey. On two occasions, we had to urgently book cancellable plane tickets in order to be able to present this proof at the check-in counter. For this, we used the online agency Orbitz, which offers the purchase of cancellable tickets (free of charge) within 24 hours, which we hastened to cancel as soon as we arrived in the new country. Note, however, that some travelers have told us they had problems with reimbursements. Therefore to be used as a last resort! Other websites offer the temporary rental of plane tickets for around fifteen euros.
To find out about the final steps to take before each change of destination, we visited the very comprehensive tourdumondiste website and then double checked the information on the website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the country concerned.
Bank formalities (local withdrawal fees/payments, card renewals)
While online banking helps avoiding overseas conversion fees, you still have to watch out for withdrawal fees from local banks. Each of them has its own policy, with ATMs being able to charge from 0 to more than 5€ per transaction! Fortunately, it is possible to have an overview of these amounts and to anticipate them thanks to this comparison table. The best way to keep these costs as low as possible is to take some time on arrival in a new country to test each ATM individually.
Regarding banking formalities, do not forget to anticipate the expiration of your bank cards during the trip. While our VISA card covered the entire world tour, this was not the case with our AUMAX card. Since the renewals and dispatches of new cards are automatic, relatives brought them back to us when they visited us. So remember to send them to you from France at the appropriate time. Note that once the new card is activated, it is not possible to use the old one even if the latter has not yet reached its expiration date.
Other formalities (purchase of sim cards and local packages, offline maps, Ariane portal)
Our 2€ subscription at FREE did not include any calls, messages or use of mobile data outside Europe, so we were almost always in airplane mode to avoid an exorbitant telephone bill, except when we had to receive confirmation codes to be able to validate some payments. In countries where wifi access was limited, we made the choice to buy a local SIM card associated with an internet package. We compared the offers available online before heading to the stores so that we could get what we needed. While this step may seem difficult, it is not: SIM cards can be found absolutely everywhere and easily, even in developing countries.
It can also be very useful to download maps in advance from Google Maps or Maps.me before arriving in a country so that you can access your location at all times. Once downloaded, these maps can be viewed for over a year, even without a local or network SIM card!