oming international travels to China, Australia and New Zealand, there is paper work that goes along with it. 1st off, since Olivia got her 1st passport at 6 months old, it expired last week so we need a new one. A baby's passport will last 3 years but you can renew within the 1st 364 days of life for FREE. Canada allows this due to the rapid changes in appearance of the littlest babes. We never bothered renewing her passport and never had any troubles, since technically it didn't expire until now and there is nowhere written that this is mandatory. In her passport picture used 2 weeks ago for our cruise, she is bald and toothless! They judge by head shape & colouring I guess since that is all that has remained somewhat the same! If we had gone anywhere in the past year that was overseas, we would have updated just to avoid any risky hassles, but since we only traveled to the US or Caribbean, we didn't bother. We also brought her original long form birth certificate on all trips, just in case. This is a great document to have as a back-up, because if you lose a child's passport while on holidays, it is very hard to deal with this crisis without any identification at all. The long form birth certificate has all the parents information on it as well.
OH the joys of the passport! I hope to avoid the office line-up by doing all by mail/online. You can get passport photos practically anywhere these days. Then there is the the Visa's. Both Australia and New Zealand require Visa's to enter, even if we only intend on visiting a short time. Sam and I needed one last year for Africa as well. Each country is very different regarding Visas and requirements, so it's important to talk to a travel agent ahead of time to be sure you have everything you need.
Once the paperwork is sorted, then there is the different vaccines and other medications that may be needed in different countries. This can be extensive and tricky, so we pay the extra $50 to see the travel doctor here at home, who can tell you everything you need to know regarding medications/vaccines for your exact destination, if there are any recent outbreaks of viruses or communicable diseases etc. in that area. He can also prescribe and administer any medications & needles during our visit, as there is a pharmacy attached to his office. We then submit those costs to our benefits carrier for a refund. A family doctor just doesn't have the knowledge that a travel doctor has regarding worldly diseases and outbreaks, since that is ALL a travel doc does! Thus, we fell that paying that little extra bit is worth it.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time ahead of your travels as some vaccines require 2 needles months apart ie. Hep A/B (Twinrix). Since we are known travelers, Olivia got her Hep A/B already, and many doctors recommend all children to have it, even if not planning travels just to keep them safe here in Canada. I will have to wait and see what other medications might be needed for Olivia, as I am hesitant to give her strange and unusual medications (obviously) but also want to be sure to keep her safe and healthy. Lots of research may be needed! Here is the gov't. of Canada site for travel vaccines: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/travelvaccines-eng.php
So along with renewing Olivia's passport, contacting our travel agent for help with flights & planning, and booking our travel doctor appointment, we have our list of things to do! Hopefully everything goes nice and smoothly, but we have 6-8 weeks until we leave so we should be fine :) That is a big SHOULD, but ya never know what could go wrong at the last moment, so we
ALWAYS BUY TRIP CANCELLATION INSURANCE!
Happy travels everyone!
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