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The most frequent questions asked about my travels, it could
be you find your answer:
GENERAL
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MONEY
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HEALTH
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VISA
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SECURITY
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PHOTOS
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EQUIPMENT
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GENERAL
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Which
has been
the best country you have traveled?
Pakistan, in particular Northern
Pakistan (best people, best landscape)
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Which
has been the worst country you have traveled?
Senegal
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Generally,
what do you book in advance?
Besides the flight (also domestic ones), nothing else
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Do
you think everyone could do the travels you do?
Generally yes, people tend to overrates the difficulties
of the travels
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What
happens if you don't find any transport getting stuck somewhere?
Even in the worst case, somebody or something will always
come up; it's just a matter of patience.
Once in Zambia hitch-hiking we had to wait 8h, but finally
(in the darkenss) we managed to get a lift
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How
long in advance you begin preparing the trip?
While you can book the flight the day before, visas and
vaccinations could require at least one month and half.
Anyway I often start thinking about the travel 3 months
before
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How
do you choose a destination?
In my head I've at least 15 destinations ready to be picked
up, then climate, visas and costs are the decision drivers
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Which
Frequently Asked Question you hate most?
They are two:
- 'Why do you go there, isn’t Italy more beautiful?'
- 'Aren’t you afraid to be shoot down?'
MONEY
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Where do you keep the money?
Generally I split the money: most of them (with the credit
card and the camera cards) in the underpants money belt
and another part in the big backpack. I avoid putting any
money in the small backpack since it's the first thing that
usually gets stolen
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Do you use Travel Checks?
I don't even know how a Travel Check looks like. Maybe it
could be useful for a one-year travel, but for mine that
takes at most one month, the idea of having money that maybe
I cannot withdraw, doesn't appeal me. I always have all
the money, I calculated I need, in cash
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Do you carry the Credit Card?
I almost always carry a credit card, but only on top of
the cash, that according to my estimations, should cover
all the costs.
I used a credit card only twice, in Uganda and in Mali:
in both the cases I miscalculated the budget and I ran out
of money
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How do you know how much money to carry
with you?
That's called experience according to past travels in
similar areas and then I carry a 40% extra margin in case
of emergencies.
HEALTH
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What happens if you get sick?
It happened few times, but for sure they were hard times.
In particular because most of the times you cannot afford
that much rest if you want to proceed the travel to catch
the flight back home.
The best is always to be prepared with at least a basic
medicine kit. Then, even if most of the people think pharmacies
exist only in Western part of the world, you can find help
everywhere.
Once I got sick in Ethiopia and I find a good assistance
in the pharmacy.
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Do you have always a travel insurance?
Yes, in 90% of the travels and it's a huge expense I never
used. Luckily now if you buy the ticket on line (ie: edreams)
you can buy an insurance relatively cheap (15€)
If I calculate all the money I gave to Europe Assistance
or Globy, I should be at least in their Board
VISA
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Do you always get all the visas beforehand?
No, it depends the country where you travel. Generally speaking
visas are the main hassle when traveling in term of cost,
time, logistic....
In some countries a visa is not enough and you need a Letter
Of Invitation (ie Sudan), in others you can enter but you
cannot travel alone without being escorted (ie Turkmenistan,
North Korea), in others the entry of independent tourists
is simply denied (ie Saudi Aabia)
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What happens if you try to enter the
country without the visa?
If you manage, this is definitely the worst thing you could
do to be in dire straits.
Generally speaking, you will be stopped at the last check-in
of your flight, since the Air Carrier is liable for the
people carried in the country without visa.
As for the land borders, even if you manage to entry (maybe
corrupting the border guards), your passport is usually
checked so many times, that you'll hardly do few km's
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Did you always make to get the visa you
needed?
No, once I didn't manage. I was in Ethiopia and I needed
the visa for the Gibuti; after insisting two days at the
Gibuti embassy I was kicked out and I never entered the
country.
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Which has been the toughest visa you
manage to get?
Sierra Leone.
I finally got the visa few days before taking off, promising
by email to pay 80$ to 'I don't know who' once in Sierra
Leone. This person sent me a number that I passed to the
consulate. When I reached the country I went to the agreed
place and I paid a guy.
SECURITY
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Have you ever been robbed while traveling?
Yes, in India during an overnight train travel they took
my small backpack with the camera and the photos, luckily
passport and money were attached to my body in the moneybelt
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Which part of the world scares you more?
Central Africa: Chad, CAR, Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville,
Congo Kinshasa; it's not a joke travel there.
PHOTOS
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Do
you have a professional camera?
No, I've a handy one as likely yours; I like to keep the
camera in my pocket
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Do
you have a digital or traditional camera?
In 2005 I passed to the Digital world and I don't miss that
much of the former films
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How
do you prevent the pictures from being stolen?
Simply I never save all the pics in just one memory card.
I use three or four cards that I keep in the money belt
or even better in the big backpack.
An alternative is to upload in internet the pics while traveling
(broadband is often available) or to burn Cd's and send
home
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Do
you ever pay people to be photographed?
Never! And I discourage you from doing it. You won't help
anybody and you'll make the life of the next travelers tougher.
If you want to take a snap of a kid, buy him a banana and
take your snap, that is what I sometime do
A lot of times I ask for the address and, once back in Italy,
I send their pictures
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How people react when unexpectedly photographed?
Depends, 40% of the times badly. Few times it happened I
had to run away from people yelling like hell for my stolen
snap.
Once in Sierra Leone I had to find shelter in a restaurant
since some guys wanted to take the camera with the picture
I took of their dragon while dancing against the spirits.
EQUIPMENT
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How
do you know which clothes to carry in the travel?
There's no rule, it's a learning by traveling: in fact after
so many travels I've a checklist that I update every travel.
The toughest travel as concern equipment has been the one
in Siberia in winter.
There's a wise thumb rule stating:"pack your bag, then
unpacked it and take out the 50%; now you have the right
amount of stuff you need"
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Generally, which is the weight of you
bagpack?
For a 3 weeks travel, it's 9- 12Kg (maximum!) + a small
back pack (2kg).
I don't know why at the end of the travel there are always
few kg's more....
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Do you have a check list of the equipment?
Of course I've, and I'm proud of it! With it preparing
the bag doesn't take more than one hour
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Do you have some must-to-do when preparing
the backpack?
Yes, having everything packed in different plastic bags
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What's, beside the passport, you don't
want to forget at home?
The Lonely Planet (or whichever good guide) and the
dental floss
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