It’s a little early but here goes for the list of paperwork we need.
Visas
We will be applying for all our EU memberstate visas in London. We really want to enjoy as much of the trip as possible without the hassle of paperwork and bureaucracy. The rest of the visas, we will apply for enroute as their validity is based on date of issue and not date of first entry. I have listed the countries together with their visa validity below. Please note this list applies mainly to South African citizens.
France – Hungary:
Appointments can be made online on the French embassy (London) website. One appointment one passport, but you can make more than one appointment for the same time in a row so no problem there. Multi-entry Schengen visa. You get to travel for 90 days over a period of six months activated from date of first entry.
Romania:
Passport and photos
We have the Maxi passport which has the extra pages, 48 to be exact. We have printed out our photos in 3 x 4 sizes. We have a couple of A4 sheets of these each.
Carnet
Our carnet will be done via the RAC. Spoke to Paul Gowen who worked out a wonderful deal for us to go through Egypt. http://www.rac.co.uk/plan-a-trip/carnet-de-passage/
Vaccination certificate
Both Neil and I received the following vaccinations free of charge at our respective GP’s. Mine were a little more forthcoming with the vaccinations and Neils seemed to be very limited.
DTP combination
HepA/B combination booster course of 3 injections
Typhoid
We receive our Yellow Fever vaccinations at Cambridge Park Travel Clinic in Wanstead and the Masta clinic in Margaret Street for £45 and £55 respectively.
IDP 5
A UK IDP is an internationally recognised document, which allows the holder to drive a private motor vehicle when accompanied by a valid UK driving licence. IDPs are issued in the format of the 1949 and 1926 Conventions and are sold at selected Post Office™ branches nationwide. Note you only need an IDP for certain countries. They cost £5.50 and are valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
UK IDPs are available to all eligible motorists over 18 years old who hold a valid UK driving licence. Holders of Channel Islands, Isle of Man or any foreign licence should call the AA on 0800 5500 600 for guidance.
Just been to the post office to pick up our forms, alas only certain post offices offer this service. Nevertheless, I didn’t need to stand in line to find this out as there was an assistant to help me. He recommended that I go to the AA website and download the form. You have an option to hand in the form at some distant post office or simply post it to the AA for £8.80 each plus return envelope. Note it does take about 10 days to be processed.
Travel Insurance
After much research and pricing we decided to use Cambell Irvine. It’s a personal choice, but remember to always read the fine print. Remember that any Insurer works closely with the FCO, thus if you venture into any areas listed as dangerous on the FCO website you might not be covered in that event. We decided not to include the Personal Items category, which gave us a 20% saving on the total cost.
European Green Card
We have our UK insurance with Tesco and although they provided us with insurance for our break-in trip to France. I doubt we will be using them for our actual trip. Reason being is they won’t provide us with a green card now as our insurance expires in July. I’ll have to do some homework in this regard, so I’m off to check out the HUBB…
Comesa Yellow Card
Application will be made in Ethiopia. Will update this once we have go through the process.
Car Export and Importation to South Africa
This is what we need – Certificate of conformity from manufacturer (not needed for vehicles older than 1997) LOA (Letter of Authority) attained from NCRS in South Africa (forms available on the Internet). Import permit attained from ITAC website (note permit is only valid for a year).
We have decided to change our personalised numberplate back to the original one at the request of the previous vehicle owner. Once that is received we’ll start with our application for the LOA.
