First, a cautionary tale: In Age twentyFive, I flew from Sydney, Australia to Saigon, Vietnam Using a layover in Singapore. Caught up in the excitement, I failed to find out more about the travel visa requirements for all Americans.
After nearly an whole day of planes and airports, I came in Vietnam, sans visa. In five minutes I had been sent back to Singapore about the specific same airplane. Luckily, Singapore does not need a visa for Americans, and that I planned on flying back anyways. However, it took me eight years earlier I managed to go to Vietnam again...
Here is a few hard won information for traveling visa conditions:
This point was driven home when I came in Vietnam. Many countries will let you purchase a travel visa inside their boundaries, but a few do not. My advice would be to buy them ahead, just in case. Anyway, it is going to save time when crossing the boundary.
Know different visas available. One of my previous customers was disallowed entrance into Brazil for company functions. After hours on the telephone with the embassy, we found that he could enter a tourist visa and save a great deal of headaches.
Keep a Zen-like calm. Let us be fair here: there's not any place on the planet that is much more bureaucratic than a boundary; you receive the pleasure of dealing with not only 1 government but 2 (like your own). Do not be shocked when there are surcharges,"handling fees" and time constraints... do your homework and prepare yourself beforehand to prevent at least some of those flaws.
