Holiday Travel Reminder

As the holiday travel season is rapidly approaching, the U.S. Consulate General in Chiang Mai, would like to remind all American citizens to take a proactive approach in travel planning, whether your trip will be for business, pleasure, or study.  The best way to ensure a carefree and relaxing trip is to prevent problems before they happen, and the more you learn about passports, visas, customs, immunizations, and other travel basics, the less likely you are to have difficulties during your travels.

First, have you located the passports of yourself and all of the members of your family?  What are the expiration dates?  Have you have signed the passport and completed the emergency information page of your passport?  Keep in mind that many countries, including Thailand, require at least 6 months of validity remaining on a passport in order to issue a visa.  Also, do you have enough blank visa pages in your passport?  Some countries issue visas that take up an entire page.

If you need a new passport or additional visa pages, please make an appointment for services via our website at http://chiangmai.usconsulate.gov/service.html.  Remember, it takes at least two weeks to get a new passport, so please make your appointment well in advance of your intended travel.    

Have you updated your travel registration?  Registering your travel plans with the State Department is a free service that will help enable us to contact you if there is a family emergency in the U.S., or if there is a crisis where you are traveling.  Registration can be completed online at https://travelregistration.state.gov.

Additionally, all travelers should familiarize themselves with conditions at their destination that could affect their health, and all should be sure to take precautions to stay as healthy as possible while traveling during this season.   The key resource for health information is the Travelers' Health page of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website at http://www.cdc.gov/travel. 

For additional information regarding travel, please take time to visit the "Tips for Traveling Abroad" webpage available from the U.S. Department of State at http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/tips_1232.html#safe_trip.

We hope that you have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.  Remember, for up-to-date information, our website is available 24 hours a day at http://chiangmai.usconsulate.gov/service.html