Tag: travel

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Do You Know How To Use Your Passport?

Read your US passport. Did you read it? Now, read through it again. This little booklet is full of a lot of information beyond serving as your ID when you travel outside of the US.
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First of all, it contains a page for your emergency contact information. Let’s say you and your spouse were both in a bus accident while on vacation and both left unconscious. Your passport would contain the contact information on who to contact–and hopefully you listed someone other than your spouse. It’s also a good idea to update your contact information in pencil so that you can easily update it when changes necessitate. You may also want to leave a few copies of your passport home with your emergency contact.

Your passport also contains information on where to find health and vaccination recommendations, healthcare coverage, and travel warnings.  Let’s say you are headed to Mexico for a 2 week stay. Do you know what vaccinations and medicines are recommended due to risk of diseases in that country? The CDC website or Travelers Info Line can help with that. (Which, by the way, the vaccines for Hepatitis A, and Typhoid are recommended for Mexico.)
Additionally, does your medical insurance cover you overseas? Most do not. See my previous post Why You MUST Buy Travel Insurance or consult http://travel.state.gov for more information on maintaining coverage while overseas that will actually provide you with coverage.

https://tlcpostcards.com/2017/07/20/why-you-must-buy-travel-insurance/
Why You MUST Buy Travel Insurance

Finally, do you know if the country you will be visiting is safe? You can check by accessing the US Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings and Public Announcements on the US Bureau of Counsular Affairs page before your trip and evaluate your decision to travel to that locale. You can even set alerts on their website so you know when their safety has changed.
Your passport also contains information on what to do in the event of a disaster or catastrophic event, how to register with the appropriate US Embassy for a prolonged stay, and offers advice on things I would consider pretty “common sense” such as safety, violating foreign laws, illegal drugs, etc.

It’s also a good idea to take a couple of spare photocopies of your passport along on your trip. Typically, when I travel out of the US, the first thing I do upon arrival is lock up my passport so it doesn’t get lost or stolen–I DO want to be able to go home at the end of my trip. However, since most countries do not observe my Missouri Driver’s License as a valid ID, I will carry a photocopy of my passport to identify myself.
Overall, your passport is MORE than a multi-page form of ID. It also contains valuable information for travelers traveling outside US borders and is an excellent place to keep your updated emergency contact information. You may have to read a few pages of it to locate the info you need, but isn’t a few minutes of your time worth it?

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Honeymooning in St. Lucia


Sonny and I were married on the beach in Jamaica. 6 months later, we honeymooned in St. Lucia. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime! We tossed around the idea of different places and different resorts and settled on St. Lucia, staying at Sandals Grande St. Lucian. St. Lucia is a Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles, just north of South America. We liked that 1) we’d never been there before, 2) it’s in the Caribbean, and 3) it looked like an exotic place to visit. Why Sandals? We had never stayed at a Sandals and we were curious if it could live up to the reputation. Sandals also includes scuba diving in its “all inclusiveness”, and we decided we would dive, A LOT. These decisions led to a very memorable trip.
Disclaimer: this is not an advertisement, it’s my personal opinion. If you’re a fan of all-inclusive resorts, and have never been to a Sandals, all I can say is GO! If all-inclusive resorts aren’t your thing, GO ANYWAY! It is worth the higher cost. They run an incredible operation of making you the happiest person on vacay–whatever your heart desires. Their rooms were excellently decorated, beds were the comfiest, and you could even get 24/7 butler service if you wanted. The food was of a higher standard, you never had to make a reservation, and if you wanted to have a lobster dinner at the steakhouse and then a little sushi later, you could. Late night chocolate bar or mimosas with breakfast? You got it!
Beyond the basics, we had a romantic candlelight dinner on the beach. One evening we were treated to a performance by Teddyson John, who is a very talented soca singer.  You tube his videos, he’s incredible.
We went scuba diving nearly every day. Thanks to the patience and diligence of our dive instructor, Marcus Joseph, Sonny completed his advanced open-water certification and I acquired my digital underwater photographer specialty.

And we toured the island. The island of St. Lucia was indeed exotic, lush, and beautiful. It’s a volcanic island, so think lots of hills, that can get nerve-wracking when driving in small vehicle. We took a catamaran ride to see the Pitons (our guide called them “big boob and little boob”) which was followed by a grilled chicken and rice lunch.
We also went shopping in St. Vincent and took a mud bath at the sulphur springs of La Soufriere, which is a live volcano. The mud bath left our skin feeling silky soft, but due to the rotten egg “scent” of the springs, I do not recommend going after drinking an entire bottle of champagne at the Sandals beach party the night before. Lesson learned.
Sandals and St. Lucia were certainly the honeymoon of a lifetime. If you ever get the chance, take the trip to St. Lucia. And if you don’t go to St. Lucia, at least check out a Sandals resort, you won’t regret it!