What Should You Do Before Embarking On Your Expedition?

Waiting the days and weeks until you embark on your adventure can be pretty hard. All you want to do is climb aboard, set sail and start to experience the wonders of your destination.

However, you don’t have to sit at home and anxiously stare at the calendar! No, there is a whole range of small tasks that you can do to ensure your trip goes off without a hitch. Here is your Aurora Expeditions pre-departure checklist!

Passports and visas

As a key part of our pre-departure checklist, you’ll need to make sure both your passport and visas are up to date. Entry into certain countries will require a special visitor’s visa, while other nations require passports to have at least six months’ validity upon arrival.

If you have any concerns about either your passport or visa situation, feel free to reach out to our reservations consultants who can help ensure everything runs smoothly.

Travel insurance

Due to the adventurous style of travel offered by Aurora Expeditions and the remoteness of the areas in which we travel, it is a condition of travel with Aurora Expeditions that all passengers are covered by comprehensive travel insurance prior to departure, and that they maintain such insurance for the duration of the expedition. This may help protect your travel investment, your belongings and most importantly, you from many unforeseen circumstances that may arise before or during your trip.

Passengers travelling with Aurora Expeditions are required to be covered by a reputable travel insurance policy that includes baggage loss, cancellation & curtailment of holiday, medical, accident and repatriation/emergency evacuation coverage worth at least $250,000 USD. Proof of insurance will be required ahead of travel and we will require that it be emailed to Aurora no later than 60 days prior to departure.

Fitness and exercise

There is no boring day with Aurora Expeditions. We take in pride in taking you on an adventure of a lifetime, offering you the chance to explore environments that few people in the world have never seen. Of course, this may mean you need a little bit of fitness in order to complete the daily excursions and extra activities.

In the months and weeks leading up to your expedition, perhaps do a few walks or exercises to pick up your fitness. It might also be a good idea to wear in your shoes to avoid getting any blisters while on holiday!

Organise pre/post accommodation and travel

If it’s your first trip overseas for a few years, you could take the opportunity to extend your break around your expedition with us. Perhaps, spend a few days in the United Kingdom before touring Scotland or exploring the streets of South America before heading south to Antarctica.

Our reservations teams can work with you to create a personal itinerary to include pre and post travel options. Whether this be flights, accommodation or transfers, plan your ideal adventure and really enjoy your time away from home.

Make plans for your home

While you’re away from home, there is no doubt that you’ll want to make sure everything is looked after. Maybe the cat needs to be fed, the laws need a trim or the mail needs redirecting or collecting. Give yourself peace of mind by organising all the small things in your life that need to be covered while you’re having a ball.

During this period, it’s also a wise decision to circulate and update your emergency contact details. If something were to happen either during your voyage or at home, it’s vital that we can contact the right people in a timely fashion.

Update your address book

Make a more personal gesture by sending off a postcard from Antarctica or Svalbard.

In an age where technology dominates our communications, it’s always nice to receive a little bit of ‘snail mail’ from overseas. Instead of your friends and family seeing another Facebook post of your time away, make a more personal gesture by sending off a postcard perhaps from Port Lockroy, location of the world’s southernmost post office!

All you need to remember to do is update your address book with the right addresses and postcodes. You could create an address book in the notes section of your smartphone or go old school and jot it down in your physical address book!

Download new apps

Although we just mentioned the merits of physical post, most people will be travelling with smartphone so you may as well take advantage of the technology at hand.

There is a range of different apps that you can download prior to your departure that will make your journey more enjoyable. This can include, but is not limited to currency conversions such as XE, language translators such as Google Translate, free destination guides and photo applications such as Instagram. You may also love a couple of free, offline games like Candy Crush, or update your iBooks app to pass the time during sea voyages.

There you have it – the Aurora Expeditions’ pre-departure checklist. If you have any questions about planning your expedition, get in touch with our team today!

There’s still time for a last-minute Antarctic adventure!