Dolphin & Whale Biology/Conservation
in Tropical Asia
Travel Information
Travel Insurance
Travel emergency medical insurance is highly recommended if your university does not cover this. You will find some websites where other useful information about Taiwan and traveling to Taiwan (please at least read over the information provided by the Canadian government on Taiwan) on the links page.Passports
To visit Taiwan, you will need at least 6 months of validity on your passport on the date of entry into the country. No visa is required if you plan to stay for 30 days (not a month) or less and even one day beyond 30 days is a serious issue. Due to recent changes in rules to enter the US, there is a sizeable backlog in the passport office to process applications (some reports suggests up to 2 months for regular passport applications so make sure to get your applications submitted early if you need a new passport).Air Flights And Other Transportation
We will be looking into group rate airfares with a travel agent that we have worked with since 2007 to try to get the best price for you. Once our travel agent makes flight reservations, you will have a limited number of days (usually not more than 72 hours depending on the rules et forth by the airlines) to call and pay for your flight to guarantee the quoted ticket price and seat on the flights. You are not obligated to use our travel agent if you have one that you prefer but you must make sure you arrive at the Hong Kong Airport at or before the field course meeting time (to be announced). We will have transportation arranged to get everyone to our accommodations in Hong Kong. For our trip to Taiwan, we will almost certainly be flying either DragonAir or Cathay Pacific (sister airlines) from Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) (a short flight of about 1.5 hours with a small meal service onboard). We will announce the flights on which everyone MUST be confirmed; no standby or other irregular tickets should be used (confirmed tickets using loyalty rewards are fine as long as these are treated like any other purchased tickets by the airlines). We need everyone to travel together on the same flights as we will be met in Taiwan by the local organizer with transportation to take us around Taiwan for 3-4 days. We will need to clear immigration in Hong Kong as we leave and then customs and immigration when we enter Taiwan. The field course travel agent will also be ready to help you with the HK-Taiwan flights as well (and all your flights can be booked as one ticket, which will likely further save you money).
Since 2007 we have been able to help students get all flights for between $1400
and $1700. We will be working again on trying to find the
cheapest price flights for you.
Because this is such a long trip, it would be worth signing up for a frequent flyer program to
get the mileage from your trip. This trip (return) will get you about
15,000 points, which is enough for or close to a short haul flight
within North America.
While
on route:
HK airport is one of the best airports in the world. It's quite easy to get around and people are efficient and friendly. There is only one terminal, all gates are accessible and there is an underground train to take you to more distant gates. It's also a shopper's dream airport with all kinds of duty free shops.
Seeing HK or Taiwan after the course:
Once flight reservations are made, you can always ask the travel agent for different arrival and departure times if you plan to tour HK or Taiwan before or after the course (usually at little to no additional costs but you have to let the travel agent know BEFORE you pay for the flights – don’t provide your credit card information UNTIL you are completely fine with the details of your flights; CHECK the flights, departure and arrival dates and times well). IF you decide to arrive early, make sure you are at the HK airport in time to meet the rest of the field course group (date, time and meeting place to be announced).
Immigration and Customs Forms
You should get these forms on your flights. In the worst case, if the flight happens to run out of forms, you can always get forms at the immigration gates in HK and Taiwan before you line up to clear passport control. You may also be asked to complete a customs declaration form or a disease monitoring form. However, there has been no consistency with these last two kinds of forms so you will have to wait and see what will be required. We will provide information needed to fill out these immigration forms as your travel date approaches.