We just wanted to write a quick post regarding the visa & camera insurance for the trip. It’s been really difficult getting insurance for a full year from either of our own camera insurers; Photoguard & Towergate. Although they offer great insurance for UK & worldwide, their trip coverage is limited to either 90 days or 6 months & so this has left us with an issue of finding a company who will insure us for what we want for as long as we want. After some research I came across Aaduki camera insurance who were really helpful & guess what…? They offer insurance for a year worldwide. They also have a very comprehensive cover that enables us to backpack, train travel, walk, drive, run, cycle etc & not be too worried about how our cameras are being ported around! Downsizing has also given us a little freedom on the cost front, yes we still have equipment to cover, but by not having 3 lenses each & two professional DSLR bodies with us means that the cost of our gear is less, along with the size, the weight & the premium for insurance!

With regards to the visas, we just wanted to point out how easy it was to file our own visa applications for China & Vietnam. We printed off the forms from the embassy websites & sent off with our passports, within 2 weeks of sending for both we have both visas sorted & at a much lower price than going through a 3rd party or travel agent. The Chinese forms were far more comprehensive than the Vietnamese one & the only thing that came up is that when traveling into Hong Kong from mainland China & then back into mainland means that you need 2 entries. It also means that each entry is valid for 60 days! It is more costly to have a multiple entry visa, but this gives us the flexibility of going in & out of mainland China.The Vietnamese tourist visa is for 30 days single entry, for Cambodia & Laos you can have up to 30 days on entry & for Thailand we’ll be sorting out a 90 day visa once we reach Laos.

So that’s the informative part done with! I hope it’s been insightful!