CARRY A RADIO

While travelling carry a small shortwave radio .At least you can listen to the news headlines,so that you can get warned about any natural calamity,short notice evacuation alerts,etc.You may think that ,it is unnecessary because you are not going to keep the radio always on in a place where you went for a visit,you don't know whether it is a rumor or fact..there radio comes handy to confirm things in this uncertain world where information is power.I experienced it and the Radio was the sole source of information when everything goes off..no power..no phone...no TV...BUT the RADIO works,it worked for me during the TSUNAMI.I recommend the SONY WORLD BAND SW RADIO(as shown in this picture) a small sized manual tuning radio.

SBI FOREIGN TRAVEL CARD (FTC)

SBI Vishwa Yatra foreign Travel Card (FTC), a prepaid plastic card issued in association with VISA International, is presently available in three different currencies - US Dollars, Euro and GBP. It is a safer method of carrying funds in a safe, convenient and cost effective way on your visit abroad. It takes away the hassles of going around Money changers and loosing valuable foreign currency by way of high exchange margins. It also relieves the customer of the Annual fees, joining fees, credit limits, Mark-ups, unusual transaction charges etc., usually associated with International Debit / Credit Cards

THE CARD:

· A Pre-paid card presently available in US Dollar, EURO and GBP Currencies
· Issued in association with VISA International
· Accepted at 924,000 VISA ATMs and at over 22 Million Merchant Establishments (MEs) approximately, all over the world except in India, Nepal and Bhutan
· Available at all Branches authorized to sell Foreign currency / travelers cheques

ELIGIBILITY:

· Any bonafide citizen of India who plans to travel abroad except Nepal and Bhutan
· Corporates for their employees whom they plan to send abroad for official purpose subject to completion of KYC norms
· Parents / sponsors of the students going abroad for higher studies, in the student’s name and can be subsequently reloaded up to the statutory ceiling prescribed from time to time
· Foreign Nationals residing in India subject to completion of KYC norms.

FEATURES:

· Minimum amount of issue: US Dollars 500 /400 Euros / 250 GBP
· Maximum amount of issue: US Dollars 10,000 or equivalent / or any higher amount as prescribed RBI/FEMA 1999 depending on the purpose of overseas visit
· Competitive exchange rates
· Reloadable any number of times
· SMS message on your Mobile phone for each transaction
· Operatable by 4 digit PIN at ATMs and by PIN/Signature at Merchant Establishments
· Free balance enquiry at SBI / VISA ATMs(at a charge)
· Free balance enquiry and view / download details of transactions through www.onlinesbi.com/
· Add-on cards not exceeding two in number to be used by the card holder in case of loss/misplacement/defacement of the card
· Balance information after each transaction through SMS
· Free insurance cover upto Rs.2 lacs for 48-hour pre and post card lost liability on non-PIN based transactions. (conditions apply)
· A 24 x 7 call centre to provide information and hot-list (block) the card in case of loss / misplacement.

DOCUMENTS

· Copies of Pass port
· Form A2
· PAN or Form 60 in lieu thereof
· Proof of residence in case the address is different from that appearing on passport
visit for more details and forms download:http://statebankofindia.com/viewsection.jsp? lang=0&id=0,10,462

TRAVEL QUOTES

PHOTO:Kala Subbiah
You can't see the whole sky through a bamboo tube. Japanese saying

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it won't get you anywhere. Van

Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty - his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.Aldous Huxley

A person needs at intervals to separate from family and companions and go to new places. One must go without familiars in order to be open to influences, to change. Hathaway
Katharine Butler

Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order.Mansfield

As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.Margaret Mead

Travel has no longer any charm for me. I have seen all the foreign countries I want to except heaven & hell & I have only a vague curiosity about one of those.Mark Twain

I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.Robert Frost

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. Robert Louis Stevenson

To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions.Sam Keen

Travel Checklist for easy travel

It is easy to make your own travel checklist,start from the feet upto
head ,list what you need,and then from morning to night what you
need,brushing,bathing,toilet,spending,eating etc.note down.Here is
my personal checklist.Remember not to forget the toothbrush.

1. Mobile phones with chargers

2. Camera/handicam

3. Toothbrushes and paste

4. Shaving set/simple makeup essentials

5. ATM card/Money

6. Tickets/I.Cards/documents/Address book

7. CHAPPALS

8. Locks &kEYS

9. Towels/soaps/extra clothing

10.Umbrella

11.Comb/Brush/soaps

12.First Aid Kit 0r Essential medicines

13.Inform Post Office/Neighbours

14.Lighter with torch(chinese)

15.map/guide books

16.Mosquito nets/repellents

17.Swiss knife-multi tools

18.Dalle-cherry pepper (Iam lovin it!)