do you need a visa?

Here's the ironic truth. Travel advisors do a fabulous job planning their clients' travels, but we often take shortcuts when working on our own trips! So you can imagine my combination of worry and chagrin when, late Tuesday night, I received an email from A&K Myanmar confirming that I had obtained a visa for my upcoming trip to Myanmar.

Visa? Myanmar? Why, no, this was the first time I had even thought about it. I evidently had overlooked the attachment previously sent me by A&K. With just 15 days before my departure, the whole question of Myanmar visas seemed more significant than whatever I was watching on Netflix at the moment. I booted the computer, did a google search, surfed to the online e-visa portal for The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and quickly took care of the necessary bureaucratic procedures. It was easy enough; you had to enter basic information from your passport, upload a passport-type photo, and pay your $50 per person.

Do you need a visa? A US Passport is all you need to enter many but not all countries. Here's a handy webpage where you can do the necessary research. It certainly pays to do the research well in advance of your trip.

I like happy endings...  Even though Myanmar promised a response to my application within 3-5 business days, I woke up the next morning with two approval letters already in my inbox. But this is just one way in which using a travel advisor is to your advantage. In this case, A&K Myanmar was my travel advisor, taking care of my travels and allowing me to benefit from their world of experience.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.