Trip Tips for SAS

If the word for money tips is redundancy (see previous post), the word for trip tips is variety. It usually happens naturally but I strongly recommend that you plan to travel in a variety of ways on this glorious journey of a lifetime.

About two months before your voyage sails, the final version of the Field Program and the Pre-Sale process will be available online. In this pre-sale you will be signing up for overnight trips, usually for the first two-thirds of the voyage. These trips require SAS to book flight and hotel reservations and so are called "manifest" trips, or trips that need your name for a booking. Therefore, once you've signed up you cannot, with only very rare exceptions, change your mind and cancel these trips or sell them to someone else - think restrictions on plane tickets you buy here. You actually can cancel but you'll lose your money :(. These trips are the big ticket, multi-day ones like safaris, the Great Wall, the Taj, etc. Day trips for the first few ports will also be included in this sale.

Please be very sure you are not signing up for a field excursions that conflicts with a Field Lab for one of your classes. You will be required to go on the Lab and will lose the money you paid for a manifest trip. The Lab is just not negotiable so be careful to organize those ports well.

The trips other than manifest trips are to places near the port city and can vary from a few hours to an extremely long day to an overnight using a bus. Some of these trips are fairly standard sightseeing ventures, like orientation tours the first day in a port, and others are service visits or special experiences that SAS has been doing for a long time, like the jazz safari in Cape Town - more about these below.

In this category is a very beloved type of SAS trip, the homestay. You will sign up to go with a family to be part of their life for a day or two. On every voyage, these experiences rank at or near the top for every student who does them. On these and other popular trips, it's first come, first served so do your research well and be ready with the choices you're absolutely dying to do on the day of registration. On the Pre-Sale signup form, you will be asked for second choices if you should not get the trip. Just be sure those second choices don't conflict with any other trips on other days you're signing up for.

An aside on homestays: if you're signed up for one, please don't be a no-show. These families are very excited to meet you and have often gone to tons of trouble with special meals, taking off time from work, etc. Also, for that reason, and just because it's a nice thing to do, please bring a small gift for the family, definitely wrapped if you're in Japan. Many students bring something typical of their home or region like maple sugar candy if you're from New England - it shouldn't be expensive, rather a "just the thought that counts" type of hostess gift.

So that's SAS trips in a nutshell. Obviously there's much more to say about them and you'll be getting lots of info from the field office - use them, those folks are great. I'll say more below about choosing among your options but let's get on to independent travel or "doing it indy" as SASers like to say. The sky's the limit here and your choices and plans will be entirely driven by what your preferences are and what you are comfortable with and/or challenged by, a feeling that will definitely change as the voyage progresses - that's one big reason you're doing this, right? These adventures usually fall into three categories. The first has grown up largely as a result of the use of Facebook before the voyage and so have come to be called "Facebook trips". Some enterprising student who has either known a previous SASer or read lots of blogs will propose a trip that often closely follows a trip offered by SAS. The primary idea is usually to try to do the trip at a lower cost and that's generally possible. Tour operators in countries we always go to like China and India are now onto this market so the student organizer may get pitched by them. Again, I'll offer my views on that below but just know it will be an option if you follow Facebook before your voyage. Secondly, you can put a small trip together with a few of your friends after you get on the ship. These trips can be anything from you and your besties putting together an overnight itinerary to someplace you all think sounds cool and letting the details just happen to a more organized adventure that you've researched either in Lonely Planet or online. Just so you remember, your internet access will be metered and very limited for this type of planning, although Wikitravel is a free site on the ship. Using books to do most of your planning is wise. The Library has large collections of travel guides for every port we go to. A hint: although Lonely Planet is geared for student travel and is certainly tried and true, choosing a recommendation from another guidebook will often yield less crowds and prevent the bar you've picked from being packed with SASers instead of the locals you were hoping to mingle with. The third type of indy trip is the solo (or duo) backpacking/just-striking-out adventure. This is obviously not for everyone but definitely the strongly preferred option for a certain sort of traveler. After we leave each port, there usually is a Post Port Reflections get together in the Union where people can share their adventures. I'm constantly amazed and awed by what happens when students travel this way. I'm sure it's my grandmotherliness coming through, but safety is often not in the top five priorities for these folks and that makes me nervous - but I love hearing their stories.

OK, that's the summary of the range of options, so here's my two cents on how to choose: PLEASE travel in a variety of ways as you journey around the world. Each type of trip has its own benefits and drawbacks, which you'll never understand unless you try them.

SAS has been doing this for OVER ONE HUNDRED VOYAGES and the value added on their trips cannot be overstated. They have worked with many of these tour companies for decades and know that they can be relied upon to provide guides with excellent English, many of whom have been loved by students for years, and buses that rarely (as opposed to often, for many other tour groups) break down. Their hotels and restaurants are wonderful and you definitely do pay for that. The field office takes care of absolutely every detail, all you do is sign up and pay, then relax and enjoy the journey. Few people realize in advance that traveling on SAS trips is also a fabulous way to meet people outside your usual, tight group of friends. You will probably get to know some faculty and staff, their families, some Lifelong Learners and some students who will become your new favorite friends, especially after you've had the bonding experience of climbing the Great Wall together (with emphasis on the word climb!). One other point is that should your trip run very late getting back to the port, and s**t definitely and regularly happens when you're traveling abroad, the ship will be held for SAS trips and NOT for Facebook or other indy trips. If you are on an independent trip and are late for on-ship time, you will get dock time. If you do not make it back on the ship before the time it is scheduled to sail because of some travel delay (or for any reason actually with the possible exception of a true medical emergency), unless you are on an SAS trip you WILL be left, I promise. So, fair warning: schedule your independent travel to arrive back in the port city the day before the ship sails and do your exploring around the port that last day. All the port cities have fascinating things to do and, besides, you'll probably want to find an Internet cafe to Skype or upload photos, neither of which you'll be able to do from the ship, or buy stamps for your postcards and snacks to re-provision your stash on the ship. Planning to arrive back before noon of the last day may be tolerable, but only in countries with quite reliable and redundant transportation systems, like Spain but absolutely not India, for instance. Cutting it closer than that is a huge risk - did I mention they will leave you? You will arrive back at the dock with a big space where the ship used to be, the port agent with a small bag of your stuff that your roommate packed for you and the feeling in your gut that you are truly on your own now. In recent years, the deans have been considering all the class days that you will miss if you miss the ship and termination from the program is a real possibility.

For me, the biggest advantage to many SAS trips is that they provide opportunities that are impossible or unlikely to replicate on your own. You might be lucky enough to meet a jazz musician in Cape Town and get invited home to jam with him, but the SAS trip guarantees it. How would you like to meet a deaf child at an orphanage in Viet Nam and take her to the zoo? SAS can arrange for you to do that. Sit in the living room of a professor from a university in Chennai and chat with women, from poets to journalists, to learn about writing and the life of women in India. Visit a cosmetics factory in Casablanca and have a fascinating conversation over lunch with its Berber owners and managers. Any time during your life that you travel you can throw on your backpack and head out to meet interesting people and have great adventures - that's always available to you. So seize the unique opportunities of this special journey and let SAS offer you a gateway to experiences you just cannot have on your own. End of commercial.

Independent travel options will probably look more and more appealing as the voyage goes on. You've probably had enough of larger groups on buses and a packed schedule. BTW, while on an SAS trip, you can always opt out of the schedule and just go off on your own. You'll lose what you paid for lunch, for instance, but you may just need a break from the group and some time by yourself. Please feel free to do that, just make absolutely sure you tell your trip leader and be back in time to re-join the trip when you say you will. By the time you get to Japan, for instance, you'll find it very easy to head out on your own or with a small group of friends, probably on a train, and have a fantastic time. Everyone will go at his or her own pace but your independence will blossom - count on that. It's one of the almost universal ways that SAS changes students. So, as you think in advance about what you want to do in each port, you might plan to do more structured trips in the earlier part of the voyage and rely more on seat of the pants travel later on.

A word about budgeting. When you see that huge list from the Field Office, you will likely be pretty much overwhelmed and feel some sticker shock. Take lots of time to read it and see what's on offer. Think about your biggest dreams and schedule them in first, either as an SAS trip or independently. If you absolutely can't imagine going all the way around the world and not seeing the Great Wall, then figure that out first. BTW, another value added for SAS China trips is that many include partnerships with Chinese universities so you get to meet and hang out with students and let them show you their lifestyle. After you've budgeted your "must dos", look at the things you can only do on SAS and plan time for them. You'll want to put together a rough idea for each country of what you want to do but these plans are just an approximation and will change a lot. Don't forget you'll be doing a number of Field Labs so put them on your schedule first. Only those and your manifest trips are set in stone. Other trips can be traded or sold to a friend or through the Buy/Sell notebook on the counter in the Field Office. As a last resort, people who find that they cannot go on a trip they've signed up for can put their tickets in a box on that counter and anyone can claim them for a free trip - a wonderful bonus on a day you find yourself with plans that have just never gelled. That experience you might never have signed up for may turn out to be your favorite of the whole voyage.

The most common regret from voyagers as they look back on their travel decisions is that they signed up for too much in advance, particularly in the pre-sale. So, if you really having trouble deciding on your list, go for a smaller number and see what develops with your friends when you get on the ship.

So, plan for lots of variety and remember to be patient with yourself. Just as you will get your sea legs, you will also get your traveling pants. Don't get overwhelmed, get excited! It's a big, wide, wonderful world out there and you're about to begin the journey of a lifetime.

How to handle money on SAS

My basic strategy for money on SAS is redundancy. I have seen so many mishaps and calamities around money over the years that I have become a firm believer in several backup types of funds. I enjoy my trip that much more if I'm not stressing about money. Feel free to think I'm being overly cautious but, in that case, I hope you are extremely resourceful - and have lots of friends who'll bail you out!

I bring two credit cards, my ATM/debit card, $25-50 in the currencies of each country on the itinerary, $200 in the cleanest, crispest one dollar bills my bank can find and a significant amount of cash that goes straight from my money belt to the safe in my cabin.

Credit Cards: You will need one credit card for your shipboard account. You actually can pay that bill in cash about once a month during the voyage but obviously that's a hassle. For students, please ensure that your parents or someone at home has legal access to that account so snafus can be worked out by someone with constant access to a land line, i.e. not you. You can set it up to pay the bill online or automatically from a checking account that has PLENTY of funds when you leave. This account is the one that will be charged for all your SAS trips as well as the bills on board such as the laundry, snack bar, spa, etc. It does add up! Also let your credit card issuer know exactly which countries you will be visiting when - otherwise, in the interest of safety, they are quick to cancel your account after the first use somewhere unusual. I keep one credit card with me when I go off ship, carrying it always in my money belt along with my passport and the majority of my cash for that port - I only ever have small amounts of cash in my pocket or purse because pickpocketing is very common. I never use a card except for in very nice places like good hotels, restaurants and shops, never in street markets or stalls. I carry it mostly for emergencies like if I should get stuck somewhere. Mine has a chip which is becoming more and more important abroad; there are places that won't take a credit card without the chip. When I do use it, I never let it out of my sight when they are doing the charge - don't ever let someone take your credit card to a back office or anywhere else out of sight because it is just too easy to copy. Some places still use a carbon or other paper system so make sure you destroy the copies since they will have your number on them. It's impossible to be too careful with your credit card. Every voyage a number of people have theirs scammed or stolen with very inconvenient to disastrous results. So given that s**t happens, I keep a backup credit card in my safe in my cabin so I know I'm covered for the rest of the voyage if something bad happens.

ATM/debit Card: ATM cards are the cheapest way to get foreign currency so I strongly recommend bringing one. I still would have 2 other credit cards but one may be enough if one is your debit card. Be VERY careful about using ATM machines. Not only are you very vulnerable as you leave the machine (people WILL be watching), but the machines themselves have many types of scams in them like false fronts that steal your card or more sophisticated electronic ways to steal your number and PIN. Be extremely cautious about which machine you pick, the ones in banks are the very best. It's worth walking out of your way to find a bank. Always use your other hand to cover the keyboard as you punch in your PIN, remembering those people who will be watching. Don't ever use a machine anywhere at all sketchy or dark. Always go in pairs at least, with one person standing as lookout while you have your back turned at the machine. Don't ever use a machine that looks at all weird - check it out and if there is anything about it that looks like it might have a fake front, for instance, walk away quickly! Put your money away quickly and don't walk away from the ATM still fumbling with it. You probably think all this is overly cautious but I personally know of people who have been ripped off by all these situations. Someone can clean out your account in a heartbeat and then you are SOL for sure. Unless, of course, you've followed my advice about redundancy ;).

Foreign Currency: You can also order them from a national bank with a local bank, a source that can take about 2 weeks so do it ahead. I get about $25-50 in currency from each country on the itinerary, or each one that is available which doesn't include Viet Nam for instance. The exchange rate and fees are a little bit expensive but I think they are totally worth it. When the ship docks in each port, getting local currency is foremost on everyone's agenda - you can't buy a bottle of water, get a cab, etc. without local money. Often, however, you're tearing off on an SAS or independent trip, it's taken a while longer than anticipated to clear immigration so you're late, and finding an ATM can be a challenge and a nuisance. If you have some money already you're way ahead of the game. Also lines at ATMs close to the port can be very long when we first dock as 700 or so passengers head off the ship. If I have like $50 of each currency, that may be all I spend in that country or it at least gets me started. After that is gone, I use an ATM or exchange my American currency only at banks and my hotel - banks have better rates but the hotel is often quite convenient.

American Cash: I bring lots of one dollar bills because they are great to use in markets in many countries, especially Viet Nam. Locals strongly prefer newish ones because their exchange people won't take beat up currency. Vendors might give you a better deal if you have small American bills. Our currency is just so much more reliable than most local currencies so people are happy to have it some places. In other places, they can look at you like You're in my country now what makes you think you can use your money? You'll learn what is appropriate where. I also bring lots of $20 and $100 bills and put them in my safe. This is my ultimate back up plan if I get robbed, as I did the last time I was in Viet Nam. No matter what, I have enough cash for most uses back on the ship so I can stress about all this money stuff a lot less. Honestly, I usually come home with most of it - and then just don't need to go to the ATM at home for months! Other then using it to exchange for local currency when ATM's aren't handy, I also use it on the ship to pay people for various things like arrangements they may have made for a trip we went on together and they just put it all on their credit card - I can pay them back. Same with a restaurant meal when it's a hassle to ask for separate checks.
Then there's tipping. This deserves a post of it's own but basically you will have an amount (I think it's about $300) charged with your tuition that is for tips for the crew. A lot of people wish to tip special people something extra. I usually tip my cabin steward a couple of times along the way, and once again at the end. Not huge amounts but just something to let them know I appreciate what they do for me everyday. I keep up with which ports they're going to be able to get off the ship, it rotates, and sometimes give them a little spending money before we dock. It's also a good reason to have currency ahead of time. On one voyage, for instance, I knew my Jamaican cabin stewardess was looking forward to getting her hair done in Cape Town so I gave her some Rand for that. Just to finish the tipping subject, it's entirely optional, but at the end of the voyage, many people give cash to their cabin steward and any of the dining room staff they've gotten attached to, and it is always much appreciated. These folks work very hard, 24/7, for months at a time without a day off and most send money home to large extended families where they are the primary, if not only, wage earner.

Budgeting: Especially for students, a budget is very helpful. Some students set an amount they want to spend in each port and put that money in envelopes in their safe. The shopping opportunities, heck, many opportunities, in each port are amazing and your spending can quickly get out of hand if you're not careful. Take a look at what you're thinking of doing in each country and make a guesstimate for what you might spend, then add a little extra. Be realistic about the gifts and souvenirs you want to buy, as well as what kinds of accommodations and restaurants you prefer. Hostels, street food, local buses and small trinkets are great fun, but less so if you're going that route because you're down to your last $20.

Again, take all this with a grain of salt and your own habits and preferences in mind. This plan works for me and I've never gotten into a hassle about money on the voyage. Take from it what's workable for you but do make enough plans for handling money so that you can be as stress-free as your budget will allow on this trip of a lifetime.