Hi, Thanks all for being a great source of wisdom. I have a question
about organising flights when crewing for a sailing vessel cruising
long distance without definite destinations or timescale. Apology if
it is a stupid question to some...

To get into a country one usually needs to show return tickets. Say,
if I travel from Australia to join a boat in Miami, after cruising for
6-12 months or whatever I could end up in Italy or New Zealand etc. Do
I change/refund ticket (which probably means it needs to be a much
more expensive open ticket?) or do I fly back to Miami with a one-way
ticket and face a possible refusal of entry because it is not a
straight-forward return ticket? In the latter case of flying back to
Miami that would be rather stupid if I'm already in NZ so close to
home.

Also when I get to the last destination how do I clear immigration
without a departure ticket to go into town/airport to buy that ticket?
Buy on-line or by phone from the boat (but that's often not possible)?

From one accasion organising a one-way ticket into Vanuatu for a sail
back, it was a tedious and long drawn out affair chasing up the
authority for a letter to be allowed in with a one-way ticket, despite
it being a formally organised inter-country group event with all the
letters to support the application. So this time doing it as one
person I am not too hopeful of a smooth or even successful and timely
transaction. I would very much appreciate your advice and tall or
short tales.

Thinking about it now, this would apply to skippers flying to buy/pick-
up a boat to sail away to undefined destinations too.

Many Thanks
--
Solo Thesailor
http://sailingstoriesandtips.blogspot.com

Consider a 'RTW' or 'Round the World' airline ticket. Many
international carriers have formed alliances / partnerships with each
other (code share) that helps keep the cost down. Many offer almost
unlimited stops on your RTW journey *so long as you do not back-
track*, i.e. you keep travelling in an easterly (for example)
direction.

See: http://www.airtreks.com/

or

http://www.lostluggagetales.com/reso...-tickets.shtml

for additional insight.

MW

On 26 May 2007 07:59:17 -0700, Solo Thesailor
wrote:

Hi, Thanks all for being a great source of wisdom. I have a question
about organising flights when crewing for a sailing vessel cruising
long distance without definite destinations or timescale. Apology if
it is a stupid question to some...

To get into a country one usually needs to show return tickets. Say,
if I travel from Australia to join a boat in Miami, after cruising for
6-12 months or whatever I could end up in Italy or New Zealand etc. Do
I change/refund ticket (which probably means it needs to be a much
more expensive open ticket?) or do I fly back to Miami with a one-way
ticket and face a possible refusal of entry because it is not a
straight-forward return ticket? In the latter case of flying back to
Miami that would be rather stupid if I'm already in NZ so close to
home.

Also when I get to the last destination how do I clear immigration
without a departure ticket to go into town/airport to buy that ticket?
Buy on-line or by phone from the boat (but that's often not possible)?

From one accasion organising a one-way ticket into Vanuatu for a sail
back, it was a tedious and long drawn out affair chasing up the
authority for a letter to be allowed in with a one-way ticket, despite
it being a formally organised inter-country group event with all the
letters to support the application. So this time doing it as one
person I am not too hopeful of a smooth or even successful and timely
transaction. I would very much appreciate your advice and tall or
short tales.

Thinking about it now, this would apply to skippers flying to buy/pick-
up a boat to sail away to undefined destinations too.

Many Thanks


I suspect that you are "doing it wrong". Shipping crews fly all over
the world to join vessels and I'm fairly sure that they all aren't
getting round trip tickets.

I suggest that you contact a Ship's Agent and see how they do it. I
know that in Singapore, for example, crews joining a ship are required
to have a bond posted to ensure that they do leave, and get a two week
visa. In Thailand crews don't seem to need the bond and get a 30 day
visa.

Generally, I think you'll find that most countries do not specify a
"round trip air ticket" as such, rather I believe that most countries
specify that you must show evidence of how you will leave the country.

However, this is a general statement and may well not be applicable in
Australia or the U.S. that seem to now have especially convoluted
immigration regulations =:-)
Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeatgmaildotcom)

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On May 27, 11:18 am, Bruce wrote:
On 26 May 2007 07:59:17 -0700, Solo Thesailor wrote:
......
To get into a country one usually needs to show return tickets. Say,
if I travel from Australia to join a boat in Miami, after cruising for
6-12 months or whatever I could end up in Italy or New Zealand etc. Do
I change/refund ticket (which probably means it needs to be a much
more expensive open ticket?) or do I fly back to Miami with a one-way
ticket and face a possible refusal of entry because it is not a
straight-forward return ticket? .....

I suspect that you are "doing it wrong". Shipping crews fly all over
the world to join vessels and I'm fairly sure that they all aren't
getting round trip tickets.
..........

Thank you both Mike and Bruce. I haven't worked out the final solution
yet especially for when cruising with open-ended destinations that
could back track with the long.'s so a round-the-world ticket won't
work either, but will keep investigating.

Cheers
--
Solo Thesailor
http://sailingstoriesandtips.blogspot.com