Travel??

[jstolaruk]

Company pays for international medical plan and evacuation insurance.

Good tip.

 

[jstolaruk]

slightly O/T concerning overtime

The last couple of weeks I've been working with a couple of field service reps out of Switzerland. They have a nice compensation plan when working weekends. Instead of getting O/T pay, that is taxed at an extremely high rate around 60%, they take it in additional vacation time. The s/w guy said he has accumulated a couple of extra weeks in vacation last year.

 

[Binaural]

Actually I found out today it is Thailand, but anyway thanks for all your input.

Spent 3 months working there commissioning a new plant this year. You have a real treat ahead of you - the Thai are lovely people, food is just about the best in the world, and the place is unbelievably cheap. Two thumbs up!

Tip: Make sure you still have 500baht left for the departure tax, that catches a lot of people out

 

[Beggar]

One other comment:

Keep the phone number for your hotel programmed in your phone. Any major hotel will (probably) have an English-speaking person available 24x7. If you get stuck somewhere, that's the quickest way to an interpreter that I've found.

 

[Beggar]

And to follow up on Binaural's comment: Make sure you set aside at the beginning of the journey enough local cash to get yourself back to the airport.

Another tip: It's much cheaper to do a currency exchange through your bank in the US than it is in the airport in-country.

 

[LadderLogic]

Yet another useful tip for those traveling to Asia: make sure you do not use your left hand when giving cash or a credit card. Most local people know there is no such custom in the West and will not object, but it is always a good idea to use your right hand for that purpose.

If invited to someone's house, you would be expected to take your shoes off before entering.

Waiter's tips are usually included in the bill in that part of the world. Also, it is common wor the waiters not to ask you if you want the bill unless you explicitly ask them for it.
If you are exchanging currency in a predominantly Moslem country, expect that there would be two separate people: one who takes your money and another one who gives you change - never the same person.

 

[Binaural]

One other comment:

Keep the phone number for your hotel programmed in your phone. Any major hotel will (probably) have an English-speaking person available 24x7. If you get stuck somewhere, that's the quickest way to an interpreter that I've found.

Another thing!!! Thai is a non-latin script and the vast majority of taxi drivers do not speak or read english. Get a copy of the address of your hotel in the local language and take it with you when getting a taxi. It's can be hard to get the message across when you have just stepped off such a long flight and have no idea how to speak the local language!

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

I use match books

Most hotels have match books with their name on it. I once got lost in Japan because the streets didn't run in a grid pattern, but I could say please take me to .... and I would point to the match book. It works.

This thread has been timely for me too. I am going to Australia around the Wagga Wagga area. I expect to see Alan Case there in a saw mill at Tumbarumba. I think I have found Tumbarumba on Google earth but the name doesn't appear. I had to look at another map and compare the road patterns.

I have an Australian cell phone and Skype loaded on my laptop to call home. I am ready I think. I just need to make sure that my credit or debit cards will work there. I have been in place in the US where it is hard to find a ATM. Think NW Arkansas.

I got stuck in Turkey one time. A steel mill controls integrator that had hired me to help with the hydraulic controls part. We got the hydraulics working, but they kept asking me to stay one more day. They found out I could program a PLC a little and needed the help although I don't really think of myself as a PLC programmer. Eventually I ran out of cash. Fortunately one of the Turk managers took me into town and vouched for me at a bank so I could use my credit card to get cash for the trip home. The integrator still wouldn't help me get back to Instanbul, but one of the guys I worked with was a seventh day adventist or something like that and didn't work on Saturday so he was nice enough to get me to the airport on his day off. It is good to have friends when away. It is good to alway keep in mind how you are going to get home.


One thing I can say about the traveling I do is that I miss the tourist spots.

 

[Rod]

Miss the tourist spots.

Oh yeah, having to trot past the Louvre to get to the airport shuttle

Or being stuck in Nuevo Larado on Christmas Eve cause DFW is snowed in

Or the people who were going to pick you up at the airport FORGOT!. You have a contact phone#(no answer) and a scribbled address. It's 11PM (4PM your time), no taxis, they were going to take you to your reserved hotel BUT you don't have the hotel's name!

Bottom line:
Have multiple contact names and phone #s. Know where you're going and have everything printed out on small pieces of paper to show the taxi driver, ETC with a map so you don't get the 'scenic tour' for double the taxi price.

Expect to pay some baksheesh (half their asking price)
Know where your embassy is.

Button down trouser pockets for the pick pockets, some will razor your pocket though.

Stay the hell away from bars - sip your drink in your hotel lobby unless one of your foreign company contacts is with you.

If you rent a car, get the foreign travel insurance. Bending a tire rim or ripping off the muffler can cost you the price of the car otherwise.

Other than that, HAVE FUN!

Rod

 

[Tom Jenkins]

they were going to take you to your reserved hotel BUT you don't have the hotel's name!

And make sure you have the hotel's address and phone number and your contact's cell number. My wife and I had a wonderful morning in Barcelona on Dia de Reyes when I lost my contact's car in a traffic circle. It turns out that wanting to go to the "NH Hoteles in Barcelona" on King's Day is a bit like wanting the Holiday Inn in Chicago on Christmas morning. To put icing on the cake this was 6 days after Spain went to the Euro, and Euros were exchanged for dollars at the airport, but the pay phones and such had not been converted from pesetas yet.

Thank God for two students who passed by, understood what I was trying to explain to a local constable, and graciously escorted us to our destination. God bless Martine and Monetka!

Also, your US cell phone may be useless where you are going without a chip transplant.

 

[KEN_KACEL]

Travel our way

We pay for all travel expenses. 1.5 OT after 8 and 1.15 multiplier for hours worked in the field ,15% travel bonus incentive helps with the family sacrifice.
------
And we eat very good, Outback being a favorite.
-------
Most days are min of 10hrs and up 16hours, average 14hrs of work.

 

[jstolaruk]

Or being stuck in Nuevo Larado on Christmas Eve cause DFW is snowed in

Ha! some tourist spot. just avoid the kidnappers. I was going there 4 times a year for probably ten years straight; i don't miss it.