Documentation when abroad

[Tom89]

Hi, I'm hoping to do some travelling next year and do some volunteer work which will involve staying in jungle camps etc. If anyone has experience going aboard in a hiking/ bushcraft way could they please tell me what they did with their passports, tickets etc to keep them safe and dry etc. cheers

 

[Ahjno]

Hi, I'm hoping to do some travelling next year and do some volunteer work which will involve staying in jungle camps etc. If anyone has experience going aboard in a hiking/ bushcraft way could they please tell me what they did with their passports, tickets etc to keep them safe and dry etc. cheers

www.loksak.com

They're great!

 

[wingstoo]

Stuart on here sent me some great advise for such a trip a few years back, I'll see if I can find it again, maybe a PM or an email to him will help with your question?

 

[Lister]

Scan all your documents, that way if you lose your passport etc and cant get to an embassy, you can generally get internet access at airports and access digital copies of them.

 

[sandbender]

Scan all your documents, that way if you lose your passport etc and cant get to an embassy, you can generally get internet access at airports and access digital copies of them.

Leave copies of the scans with a trusted friend or relative, if things go pear shaped have them do the leg work and forward the copies to the relevant folks (you should provide them with a list of consulates and card company numbers before leaving). I know one chap who lost everything in Thailand, no money, no documentation, no luggage. He managed to speak to a friend in the UK via a borrowed international phone card, that friend arranged for a room at a local hotel and even convinced the hotel to lend him some cash while all else was sorted.

In my travels, passport and cards live in an underarm passport holder similar to this one, it almost never lives there as in warm weather it would get a bit stinky, however it was handy to have the option when out and about of an evening. Most of the time that passport holder (wrapped in a couple of poly bags) lived in a bumbag which was carried over my shoulder and across my chest. Things are kept dry and nothing has been lost to theft so far.

 

[wingstoo]

Stuart on here sent me some great advise for such a trip a few years back, I'll see if I can find it again, maybe a PM or an email to him will help with your question?

Found the info I received from Stuart.

Hi Dave

firstly I would suggest she download, print off and read this:

http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/15DE...restManual.pdf (I have had a quick flick through on screen, really good read, worth printing off BUT nearly 200 pages!!!)

She will probably be spending most of her time in villages, which doesn’t require anything out of the ordinary.

For her time in the actual jungle however she should familiarise herself with 'wet and dry routine', it should be impressed upon her that using more than two sets of clothes trekking in the jungle will just cause her problems.

she can pack separate clothing for every day in the villages if she wants too, but these should stay packed in waterproof bags (not to be used in the jungle) until she arrives at the village.

in the actual forest she should have one pair of clothing which she will use during the day, they should consist of a pair of jungle boots, good socks, long hardwearing trousers which will tuck into the top of the boots, a long sleeve shirt (tuck into the trousers), these will quickly become saturated and filthy, swim fully clothed in the river for a bit in the evening to remove most of the dirt, wring them out and hang them up for the night, these will be worn again each morning. CHECK THE BOOTS AND CLOTHING CAREFULLY EACH MORNING FOR VISITORS BEFORE PUTTING THEM BACK ON!

They will not dry, nothing will, multiple sets of clothing will only result in a pack growing heavier and heavier each day as the pile of wet, dirty clothes growing fungi inside increases.

In the evening you remove your wet set of clothing, wash, put alcohol gel on your cuts etc, and power your armpits groin and feet with antifungal powder before putting on your dry clothing (soft cotton long trousers, socks and shirt), then roll into your hammock and off to sleep.

KEEP YOUR DRY CLOTHING DRY AT ALL COSTS!

for jungle boots, the new British army jungle boot is made by magnum, it looks identical to the old US jungle boots we used to have but is a much better fit. they can be tricky to find (they haven’t been around long enough to hit the surplus market yet) but you can find them on line search for 'magnum jungle boot' don’t be confused by the 'magnum tropical' this is unsuitable. Here is the magnum jungle boot: http://www.yanix.co.uk/shoe-stop/magnum/jungle.htm

Be sure to thoroughly break them in before you leave, they will need it.


The best stuff for water purification is 'polar pure', provided you don’t mind a slight iodine taste, I use 1.5lt Coke bottles in the jungle, they are stronger and last longer than commercial water bottles and ortieb makes a drinking hose which screws onto all pop bottles

Hennesy hammocks are the most comfortable and convenient way to sleep in the jungle, they have had some quality control issues recently so abuse it a bit before you leave to make sure all the seams etc are good

Take a good waterproof camera, the shock/water proof Olympus digitals ones seem to be by far the best

that’s about all that will fit in the text limit of the PM system, let me know if she has any other questions
__________________
Success is not measured by what you have, but by what you can do without.

 

[Tom89]

Cheers everyone

 

[Gweedo]

All the above plus the following:

Scan all your docs and put them on an encrypted usb thumb drive. That way, if you have access to a computer and printer you can print them off. Consider also putting copies on secure cloud storage.