Issues, only relevant when you are Dutch, have not been translated
Paperwork
Carnet de passage
A Carnet de passage is a travel document for the car. With a Carnet you are allowed to import and export a foreign car without paying import duties all the time. For Dutch citizens the Carnet can be obtained from the ADAC in Germany. The Carnet costs about 300 euros (for members 200 euros). For every car you need a Carnet and for every Carnet you have to pay a deposit. This deposit can be paid cash or with a bank guarantee from a German bank. In our case the deposit was 5000 euro and as in our case the costs for a bank guarantee were as high as the interest on your savings account, we paid it cash. A Carnet is valid for 1 year. If you need it for a longer period you have to buy a new Carnet before the old one expires. If you have to change to a new Carnet when you are on the road, it is important to change it when you travel from one country to another. So do not enter a country with you old Carnet and exit it with the new one, but make sure you always enter and exit a country with the same Carnet. When you expect the Carnet to expire during your stay, you have to make sure that the customs stamp your new Carnet when you enter this country. Also note, that when you have to change your Carnet in Southern Africa, the countries of the Southern African Customs Union (Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland) are treated as one country. So if your Carnet is due to expire during your stay in this area, make sure you enter this zone with your new Carnet.
Our meaning after the trip: You definitely need this document, especially on Asia route. Without Carnet you are not allowed to enter some countries.
Third party insurance Car
Our Dutch insurance (Green Card) covers liability until Turkey, Marocco and Iran. After that we will decide per country how to insure our car. For all the countries were it is obliged, we will buy insurance at the border. For all countries where it is not obliged and where we dare to take the risk we will travel without insurance. For the more prosperous countries like Australia and the countries of the Southern African Customs Union, we will definitely arrange insurance. We will arrange this somewhere on the road. Alessie in the Netherland also offers insurances outside the Green Card region. They are however quite expensive.
Our meaning after the trip: In some countries we were not insured and all other countries we bought local insurances. This was working very well. In Africa (Kenya) we bought a Yellow Card valid for most of the countries between Kenya and South Africa. Getting an insurance for a foreign vehicle in South Africa is not possible. For driving through Europe you need the original Green Card (a copy is not allowed). Without this Green Card you may not enter Turkey, Macedonia and Servia (or you muy a local insurance which is very expensive).
Passport
We will start our trip with new passports. As we will gather a lot of stamps and visas we bought a passport with extra pages. We both also have a second passport. (only valid for 2 years).
Our meaning after the trip: An extra this passport was no luxury. We used more than 32 pages (which is the normal size).
Solicitor back home
During our absence a lot of things still have to be signed an/or organised. For this we appointed a solicitor; in our case the father of Markus will do this for us. Nowadays, using the electronic highway there are also a lot of things we can still arrange ourselves. With our bank we have an electronic banking account that gives us the opportunity to manage our money ourselves, as long as there is computer with Internet access.
Our meaning after the trip: We could no do without.
Digital safe
Together with an electronic banking account some banks offer the possibility of a digital safe. Here you can store digital copies of important documents like passports, driver's licence, warranty papers, insurance papers etc. This can be very handy in case you loose everything or your laptop breaks down or gets stolen. This way you can easily obtain new copies. You only need a PC with internet connection. A digital safe at your bank however has two disadvantages: the storage space is very limited and to get access to the safe you mostly need your banking card, something that can be a problem in case everything has been stolen. We therefore activated a new email address and we mailed all documents to this address. As long as we remember our login data we can always access our documents.
Our meaning after the trip: A few times we needed documents from this safe.
Copies of drivers licence and passport
In foreign countries, especially at borders, campsites and hotels it is common that you have to hand over your passport mostly as warranty or for administration purposes. Sometimes they even keep your passport until you leave. Personally we always get a bit nervous when loosing our passports out of sight. In Holland we therefore made very good copies that almost look similar to the original. We have laminated them and on the road we will use these copies as much as possible. An extra advantage: your will be much more relaxed when officials, hoping to get a bribe, are not in hurry to return your passport. In worst-case scenarios, they can just keep it. From both our driver’s licence and our passports we made 3 copies each.
Our meaning after the trip: We used both of these copies a lot. In Africa we always used the copy of our passport on campsites and hotels. (is Asia this will not work as they need data from your original visa stamp). Copies of our driver’s license we used everywhere and nobody ever noticed it. As expected the police sometimes tried to rip us off. In those situiaties it feels very comfortable that they only have a copy.
Money
Next to our normal banking card we will carry two credit cards (Visa and MasterCard). We will also bring enough cash. Some visas and entrances of wild parks (in Africa) must be paid cash in US Dollars (preferably with notes of 50 and 100 Dollar). Furthermore it is important that these notes are not older than 2001. In some countries, notes older than 2001 are not accepted.
Our meaning after the trip: During most of the trip we paid or got cash with our Visa card. If you make sure you have money on this account getting cash at a ATM is cheaper than with a normal bank card. Besides withdrawels are protected. A few times an amount was withdrawn but nog paid out. Both times the loss was covered..
Medical passport
We will carry a medical passport with the obliged yellow fever stamp and with information about all other vaccinations we had.
Our meaning after the trip: We never had to show this somewhere.
Medical attest
For carrying medicine and medical supplies it is recommended to have a medical attest. Some medicines are restricted according the opium act and with the attest you can prove that every item you carry is not for trade but on request of your doctor. A medical attest always contains an attachment mentioning all medicine you carry. Please note, that in the attachment not only the product name is mentioned but also name of the effective substance as well as the dose it contains. Example of a medical attest:
Medical Attest
To whom it may concern,
Mr. R.M. Name and Mrs. B. Name are entitled to carry this kit containing sterile medical disposables in order to prevent communicable diseases. The other medicines and the medical objects, mentioned on the additional list, are obtained on medical prescription by Mr. R.M. Name (dd-mm-yyyy) and Mrs. B. Name (dd-mm-yyyy) and are absolutely indispensable for their health.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Berg
Our meaning after the trip: The only country we needed it was Uzbekistan. Here they are very keen on medicine. A document like this will be helpfull when dealing with officials. However make sure your doctor not only signs it but also puts an official stamp on it. We did not had the stamp and they questioned the validity of our document.
Copy of marriage certificate
We will also bring along an international summary of our marriage certificate.
Our meaning after the trip: Never needed it. Please note: for Saoedi Arabia we heard you can not do without.
International diver's licence
This is a translation of your original driver's licence and is obligatory in many countries. At least this is what is adviced. From other travellers we however heard that in reality you actualy do not need it. In almost every situation officials want to see your original licence. Nevertheless we both bought one, just to be sure. An international driver's licence is valid for 1 year and only valid in combination with your original licence.
Our meaning after the trip: Never needed it. They always wanted to see our original license, even it this one was not in English.
International car registration document
An international car registration document (or Carte Gris) is also valid for one year and only in combination with the original document. Just like the international driver's licence is seems to be obligatory in many countries but once on the road you probably never need it because officials only want to see the original one. Still we also bought this document, not only to be safe, but it can be very handy to use in situations were you really do not want to hand over the original one.
Our meaning after the trip: Waste of money. You do not need this.
TIP: Of all important documents we will carry the original and some copies. Furthermore we also digitalised everything and copies are saved on our laptop and in the digital safe.