Check out The Power of Apology under
Glimpses of the Road, back on
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This section is specifically about sending and receiving packages. For specific information on writing, sending, and especially receiving letters, see my travel tips section on Daily Life, under "Mail".
Sending Packages
This is often a hassle, and is not always reliable in many places. Just sending a box is not nearly as simple as it sounds, but done properly, travelers have sent dozens of boxes from all over the world (including many countries I would call unreliable), without losing a thing. Plan your mailing points ahead of time. Get whatever information you can before you leave home, and ask other travelers along the way which countries are the easiest, cheapest, and safest. You won't buy as many souvenirs if you have to carry them for two months to the nearest safe post office.
Determine the postal rates before you start putting a package together. Costs vary tremendously from country to country. Air mail will be significantly more expensive than sea mail, and, naturally, much quicker and safer. Sea mail will take anywhere from four weeks to four months, airmail should arrive within two to four weeks. When you use sea mail, put everything in at least one heavy plastic bag, inside the box. Even then, everything will end up smelling like the inside of a ship, but it may be protected from soaking and mildew.
Each country has its own rules for wrapping packages; ask at the post office before getting started. While you're there, ask other travelers you see mailing boxes. Often you need paper, tape, and string. In west Asia and the Middle East, you usually must have the package sewn up in a cloth bag! If there is no one outside of the post office performing this service, you may have to go to a tailor shop to have it done. The cloth should also be sealed with sealing wax, stamped with your unique 'seal' -- use a ring or a coin from home.
You must now buy your box, paper, tape, and string. In more modern countries (like Singapore and Hong Kong) you can now buy special mailing boxes from the post office which only require sealing with mailing tape, and this is by far the easiest. Otherwise, you have to scrounge around in shops, often paying for old boxes. Make sure the box is sturdy and all the seams are intact. Then visit a stationary shop and buy more brown paper, string, and tape than you will ever need, although you can occasionally buy sheets of paper or even lengths of string. Try going down to the post office and buying some from other travelers in the same situation.
Put a copy of the destination address inside the box, in case the outside is damaged. Also put the address on the box before wrapping it with paper, for the same reason. A thick permanent marking pen is a real convenience when addressing packages; I sometimes carry one around. After writing the address on the outside, cover it with clear mailing tape, if you can find any, as this will protect it from moisture, not to mention monsoon rains.
In many places, you must show the contents of the package to the postal clerks before you wrap it for mailing! So you have to bring all your materials with you and wrap it up there on the floor; make a dry run beforehand so everything is already cut to size. Find out if this is necessary, and pick another country or city if possible.
You will always be asked to fill out a list of the contents and their value. Be reasonably accurate about the contents but avoid words like "jewelry" or "gold" that will help to get it stolen, or "leather" or "tortoise shell" (shame on you) which will draw the attention of customs agents at home. Since you probably won't be insuring it, underestimate the value for the same two reasons given above.
Always list the items as "gifts"; small amounts of unsolicited gifts are generally immune from customs duties. If you are mailing large quantities of goods, mail them in small boxes to several different addresses; your customs officials notice when twelve boxes arrive at the same address. In Pakistan, you must get permission from the Department of Commerce to mail a package valued at over 500 rupees ($20!); so naturally, all of your packages are worth exactly Rs.500.
In most countries, packages are automatically "registered" and you will receive a numbered receipt. It won't do you much good six months later on the other side of the globe, but it feels good just to have it. You may be able to pay more for certification, insurance, etc. This might help keep it safe, but don't count on any results if the package does get lost. Do not leave your package before you see the stamps stuck on the package -- and canceled! Pay your money, and kiss that baby good-bye. There's no use worrying about it now.
Don't send letters in packages. (Technically, this requires it to be sent First Class, but only if they know.) Send a separate letter at the same time as the package, announcing that it should be arriving within a certain time. Include a list of the contents so someone will know if something has been removed in route. There, that was easy, wasn't it?
Air cargo is an alternative for quicker, more secure shipping, but wrapping and customs requirements are tougher, and the addressee may have to go the nearest customs port at home to claim the package. Inquire at large airline offices if they have air cargo.
Receiving Packages
Don't! In many countries, the only incoming packages that get delivered are those that are obviously books. If you must receive packages, do it in a very modern and reasonably honest country and have your friends pay whatever it takes to get it certified, registered, and with return receipts. If it's lost, you still will never get it back, but it helps keep people honest. Often the package gets held up in customs, and you must go down there (where?) to claim it, going through the contents with them. Usually they have already opened it for you, helping themselves to whatever looks good!
While we're at it, how about phoning home? It is becoming easier and cheaper to make international telephone calls, but it is still something that most people save up for a special occasion, because it is still expensive and usually a bit of work.
The easy way is to phone from your hotel. But hotels usually charge a substantial fee that may be 50% over the regular charge, so before you do this, ask how much extra they charge or compare the rates to the telephone office. You must also be in a country where local phones can connect to the international operator, and it's only convenient if you have a phone in your room, which eliminates most budget accommodation.
Usually you will have to go to the International Telephone Office in a large city. They are almost always next to the main post office, and can be spotted by looking for a large satellite dish atop a high building. If the office isn't open 24 hours a day, you may have to call at inconvenient times. Here's how it works.
First you find the counter for international calls, queue up and tell them the country and number you wish to call. You also must specify how long you want to talk, and pay in advance for that amount of time. Any unused time will be refunded to you, but when you reach the time limit, you will probably be cut off with a short warning. Keep your watch handy so you know how long you have left. Unfortunately, most offices will not accept credit cards, so pay for lots of extra time or just learn to keep your conversations economically short. Depending on the efficiency of the phone system, and the amount of traffic on the international lines, you may have to wait quite a while to get your call through. There will be a separate booth where you take the call, but it can still be pretty noisy.
The rates can vary considerably between countries, so check them as you travel around and ask other travelers where they have made cheap calls. India, for example, is much more expensive than most of its neighboring countries. The easiest and quickest connections will be in more modern countries; it should also be cheaper since you, or the operators, can probably dial direct. Many countries will not allow you to make collect calls (reverse the charges), at least to certain other countries.
A few American Express offices have direct lines to the U.S. (only), and you can make a collect or telephone credit card call just by picking up the special phone. Cairo is the only one I am sure of, but it doesn't hurt to ask if you want to make this kind of call. It is easy to miscalculate the local time where you are calling to. I always seem to have this information except when I want to make a call.
You can also send a telegram from the telephone office, although not many people do this. It is generally cheaper than telephoning, but always seems to cost more than you thought because every word of the address (and your return address) is charged as part of the message. "Express Mail" services are now available in some countries, but it is usually quite expensive compared to airmail, (especially for letters), and not much cheaper than a short phone call. India has a "rush" letter service which costs less than twice the airmail rate, but results in service approximating normal airmail service in other countries.
I hate to say it, but often, the local police on the beat are not very respectable people in many Third World countries. They are usually extremely underpaid if not overworked, and the position does not draw a lot of fine people. Often the only reason men take the poor salary is for the possibility of collecting amounts of money for performing their job in ways that please those who are paying for it. This is more often the case in rural areas.
In general, you don't want to have any more to do with the police than necessary. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't ask them for information, or go in to get permits when necessary, and in many places they may be quite friendly and helpful. But relying on them to track down thieves or con men who ripped you off may be expecting too much. If I were a woman alone, I would think twice before going into a rural police station for anything, especially alone. (See also the section on Security, under What to Do if You Are Robbed or Attacked.)
If you do find yourself being "rousted" by the police, first make sure that they really are police. If someone flashes a badge and tells you to get in a car, this is one case where you want to make contact with a real policeman. Look for a local soldier or policeman, offer to walk to the nearest police station, or ask someone to telephone the police and wait for them there. This may be all that is needed to panic phony "police" into running away.
There are many stories (in a few countries) about having drugs planted in your room, before or after the police arrive. One precaution is to immediately check your new room for anything that may have been left by a previous occupant. You best protection, however, is not looking and acting like the "hippie" type who are the usual targets of these busts, phony or otherwise. A few "dirty hippies" being dragged off to jail makes the locals feel better; hassling "bonafide" tourists might get the police in trouble. I'm not asking you to change your personal style, but just be aware that it may make you a less respectable target of harassment in some places.
If the real police do get ahold of you, and you have not done anything seriously wrong, they do not usually want to arrest you. You could call your embassy and possibly make trouble for them. They often just want to intimidate you into paying them some money so you can leave immediately. Consider this as a good alternative to getting thrown in jail. It all depends on the situation, and as usual, you don't have all the information you need about how the system works. If it is just one bad cop, you could call his bluff by demanding to see his superiors and lodging a complaint. If everyone is in on the scam, it will be cheaper to bribe the lowest level cops to let you go; by this I should specify the highest ranking person among those who stop you on the street, before you get to the station. If you have actually done anything considered illegal, from taking military photographs to smoking dope, it is best to try and get out of it at the lowest levels before reports get written and bribes get inflated, even before you get to a police station.
These officials demand respect; getting angry or indignant with them only encourages them to demonstrate their official powers over you. Force yourself to show respect, apologize, admit your mistake, tell them you didn't know the rules. If your only crime was not carrying your passport or indecent sunbathing, some humble groveling should be all that is required of you. If that doesn't work, you could ask if perhaps you could pay a small "fine" now, to avoid more trouble for everyone.
Check out The Power of Apology under
Glimpses of the Road, back on
Randy's Travel Page.
I am mostly talking here about countries where the justice system is not as honest as you might hope for at home, places where getting yourself into a police station or jail could just lead to more heavy-handed treatment that you want to avoid at all costs. If you have faith in the honesty of the local system and police, (and if you haven't done anything terribly wrong) you may want to avoid getting into bribery, and follow through several steps of the legal process in hopes that you will be let off with a reprimand by some station chief, but definitely try apologizing first. They don't really want to go through the legal process of throwing a foreigner in jail just for a little black market activity, but in some places they will make the most of the situation to humiliate and extort money from you.
I cannot claim to be a real expert in this area; since I have never had a serious run-in with local police, my information is all second-hand. The few times I have been stopped by police, I have gotten away with some abject apologies and pleas of ignorance. I hope that my lack of expertise will assure you that you don't have to worry too much about some of the unpleasant situations I have described above.
In theory, the police are there to help and protect the citizens. Not so, the Army. Any soldier is responsible only to his immediate superior officer, and God and country come in somewhere far down the line. Soldiers on duty, doing their job of guarding some important public facility or check point can take themselves very seriously, and are not to be trifled with. It's usually best to tread lightly with the army in the Third World, and mostly to just stay out of their way.
Should they find fault with you -- perhaps for taking an unauthorized photo of a politically sensitive area (a post office?) -- you'd best just do what they say, even if it means giving up your camera. Disobeying their orders can occasionally bring on fits of violence. A few bad soldiers, like a few police, have also been known to take advantage of their position to extort a little money out of you, if you're not careful.
However, in countries with a separate police force, the army has little opportunity to exert much influence on you, and may be quite friendly. Individual soldiers are mostly just young men far from home and family, and they can be friendly and curious when you meet them on the bus or in a train station.
Happy Trails!
Randy's Travel Page
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