Archive for the ‘Preparation’ Category

Health & Travel Insurance

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

After quite some time browsing the various Health and Travel insurance deals there are I have chosen Bupa Travel Explorer Gold. Why? Well I looked at a few others, i.e. Endsleigh (recommended by the NUS), my banks etc and overall Bupa has the best benefits.

Since entry to New Zealand requires Medical Insurance if you’re on a Working Holiday visa Bupa is ideal it provides £10 million hospitalization coverage, £1,000 emergency dental and various other covers, also being a renowned medical insurer it should reduce any hassle at immigration.

They were also surprising the only ones to offer a semi-decent amount on “valuable items” if they’re loss with a maximum of £750 per item (Endsliegh had £350) which covers half a mac so better than nothing, I’ll have to get contents insurance once we get to New Zealand to cover the laptops fully, another expense anyone travelling might want to consider. Most content insurances in the UK will cover the item for up to 30 days after that it’s tough luck!

The Bupa Explorer Gold also has no excess! Which is great all the others had at least £50 excess, and bizarrely Bupa was around £50 cheaper for a slightly longer coverage, most policies cover 365 days, I extended it to 372 (end of June 2010) just in-case we get delayed on the way back.

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Flights Booked

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

The flights are booked. We’re off on the 23rd June 09 and Arrive 2 days later on the 25th! You have to love the 12 hour time difference and 32 hour flight!

We’re going via Dubai, somewhere I have never been before so it should be interesting. The best part is we don’t have to go via London which is a nightmare with security these days.

It took a while to find the best flight. Previously we flew via Los Angeles but with the American security tax it is becoming less and less cost effective to fly through there.

The other options are Hong Kong and Dubai.
Originally we were going via Hong Kong but the prices changed radically over a week period (an increase by 200 GBP per person) so Air New Zealand was out of the picture.

After some searching on sites like www.lastminute.com and www.expedia.com I found decent priced flights via Emirates something I hadn’t considered. They fly all the way to New Zealand then we just catch a Domestic flight from Auckland to Napier.

More posts will be coming in over the next week since the travel time is getting closer.

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Preparation

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Since this is the first post on A Year in New Zealand I thought I’d post about the preparation and tell you a little about what this is all about.

My girlfriend and I have applied for a Working Holiday Visa for New Zealand.  This visa enables us to work and live in NZ for up to a year.

Why are we doing this? Well because last year we visited for 6 weeks house sitting for some friends, we loved it so much we decided we want to spend more time there, so we are!

The Preparation

Well before you start you have to apply for a visa. You can do this online in most cases. And will be charged a small fee when you get it (except for those in the USA where it’s free, for the UK it’s around £45).

To do this you need your passport, second form of ID i.e drivers licence, details of your job, address, phone number, email address, criminal record, and possibly health record, it’s all pretty self explanatory when you go through the application process.

It took 4 days for the visas to be approved which was mightily fast if you ask me!

Once the visa has been approved you have up to one year to travel to NZ once you arrive you are issued with a work permit which lasts one year from the date you arrive. This means you can apply whenever you want (as long as it’s within a year of when you want to travel) and you still get to stay a year regardless of when you arrive inside the year bracket.

That’s all for now folks, more coming soon!

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