Financial and Shopping Tips When Traveling Overseas

By: Larry Westfall

Currency

Local banks usually offer better rates of exchange than hotels, restaurants, or stores. Rates are often posted in windows. Above all, avoid private currency transactions. In some countries, you risk more than being swindled or stuck with counterfeit currency _ you risk arrest. Avoid the black market — learn and obey the local currency laws, wherever you go.

Shopping

Mail Small ItemsWhen you purchase small items, it is a good idea to mail them personally to your home or to carry them in your luggage. This will help prevent misdirected packages, no receipt of merchandise, or receipt of wrong merchandise. When you mail purchases, be sure to ask about insurance.American embassies and consulates abroad cannot serve as post offices. They cannot accept, hold, or forward mail for U.S. citizens abroad.Items mailed home are not eligible for your $400 personal exemption. If the item that you are mailing home is less than $200, duty will be waived. Be sure to write on the outside of the package that it contains goods for personal use.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Some European and Asian countries levy a value added tax (VAT) on the items that you buy. In some places, if you ship your purchases home, the VAT can be waived. Other places may require you to pay the VAT, but have a system to refund all of it or part of it to you by mail. You can ask the store clerk for an application to apply for the refund. The VAT refund is only for items that you can ship or carry with you. It does not apply to food, hotel bills, or other services. Because the rules for VAT refunds vary from country to country, you should check with the country’s tourist office to learn the local requirements.

Beware When Making the Following Purchases:

Wildlife Souvenirs

Be careful when you buy articles made from animals and plants or when you purchase live, wild animals to bring back as pets. Some items, such as those made from elephant ivory, sea turtles, crocodile leather, or fur from endangered cats, and many species of live animals cannot be brought legally into the United States. Your wildlife souvenirs could be confiscated by government inspectors, and you could face other penalties for attempting to bring them into the United States. Do not buy wildlife or wildlife products unless you are certain that they are legal for import into the United States.

Glazed Ceramics

Beware of purchasing glazed ceramic ware abroad. It is possible to suffer lead poisoning, if you consume food or beverages that are stored or served in improperly glazed ceramics.

Unless the ceramics are made by a firm with an international reputation, there is no immediate way to be certain that a particular item is safe. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that ceramic tableware purchased abroad be tested for lead release by a commercial laboratory on your return or be used for decorative purposes only.

Antiques

Certain countries consider antiques to be national treasures and the “inalienable property of the nation.” In some countries, customs authorities seize illegally purchased antiques without compensation, and they may also levy fines on the purchaser. Americans have been arrested and prosecuted for purchasing antiques without a permit. Americans have even been arrested for purchasing reproductions of antiques from street vendors because a local authority believed the purchase was a national treasure.

Protect yourself. In countries where antiques are important, document your purchases as reproductions, if that is the case, or, if they are authentic, secure the necessary export permit. The documentation or export permit may be available through the country’s national museum. A reputable dealer may provide the export permit or information on how to secure one. If you have questions about purchasing antiques, the country’s tourist office can guide you. If you still have doubts, consult the Consular Section of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. In places where Americans have had problems because of purchasing antiques, the Consular Section is usually well aware of such situations.

Consular officers can inform you about the local laws and the correct procedures to follow.

Customs

It is important that you keep all receipts for items you buy overseas. They will be helpful in making your U.S. Customs declaration when you return.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Author: Larry Westfall is a frequent traveler to Bangkok Thailand - the City of Angels - and books his Bangkok Hotels at Bangkok Accommodations
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Shopping in Italy is a Wonderful Adventure

By: Alistair White

Shopping In Italy

Italy’s hottest shopping draw is of course fashion. Milan is home of the country’s fashion industry, but Rome is the main Italian bazaar where the threads are put on the market. Here you can find the ultra chic garments of celebrated designers numbering in the hundreds. Quality is very high and the range of materials includes leather, cotton, silk and wool.Other than garments, Italy is pre-eminent in the production of quality glassware, furniture, jewellery and porcelain goods.

Shopping In Rome

While Rome is overrun with international fashion boutiques, shopping in the Eternal City can still offer its own very Roman flavour. For the ultimate in windows shopping, the area around via Condotti at the foot of the Spanish Steps is the place to go. You can gaze at the creations of Armani, Prada, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci and the other grand names in the elegant windows under the baroque or neoclassical facades. But remember that rents in Rome are sky high and so are the prices.For antiques, head to Via dei Coronari. It’s a narrow pedestrianised street near Piazza Navona. The 500-meter long thoroughfare is lined with antique stores and galleries.For the true Roman experience, you have to visit one of the city’s many markets. The Sunday morning flea market at Porta Portese is an overcrowded event where you can buy almost anything. It’s held on via Portuense south of the Porta Portese gate. Beware of pickpockets.From Monday to Saturday, the morning market is in via Sannio, just outside the Roman walls by San Giovanni in Laterano. Here you can browse huge volumes of cheap clothes.

Shopping In Venice

Venice has long been a place of trade and remains a busy retail center. Though the big name fashion houses are well-represented, the joy of shopping in Venice lies in hunting down those local novelty items that evoke the spirit of La Serenissima.

However if it’s brand name fashions you’re after, Venice won’t disappoint. The island’s busiest shopping strip is the Merceri. It runs all the ways from the Piazza to the Rialto Bridge and almost all the celebrated Italian labels have boutiques here.

For other items, Calle della Mandola is the place to browse books and glass beads. And Campo Santo Stefano is the square for antique hunting. However, you can’t leave Venice without getting a souvenir carnival mask.

Carnival is the great event held every February but the masks are manufactured as souvenirs all year-round in Venice’s small workshops. You can get everything from full size porcelain masks with a hefty price tag to inexpensive ornaments such as silver earrings in the shape of carnival masks.

The other great specialty of Venice is glassware from the island of Murano. These include such items as vases, clocks and wine bottle caps. And you can also get decorative items such as rings, bracelets or pendants made out of the delightful colored glass. These can be very inexpensive and make great souvenirs of Venice. Other delights special to Venice include porcelain dolls and Burano lace work.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Author: Alistair White has been in the travel industry for over 20 years and is the founder and CEO of Cheaper Than Hotels. Cheaper Than Hotels offers cheap hotels in Italy , like cheap hotels in Rome.

Conference Gifts - The Right Choice for Conference Goers

By: Gareth Parkin
Conference gifts are the commonest form of business gifts used by all organizations and business enterprises, both big and small as their business promotional tool. Conferences are very important business events and anyone running a business requires attending conferences, seminars and special events like trade shows and trade fairs.Conference gifts are the right and perfect gifts for conference attendees and conference goers. Conference gifts with the business logo and brand name imprinted on the gift products act as effective mediums of brand promotion and at the same time help conference attendees in various ways.Conference gifts are so chosen so that they can be utilized by conference goers and attendees to their fullest.

When one goes for a conference or attends an important business meeting he requires various office tools like pens, pads, CDs or folders. None better than these items can serve as perfect conference gifts if gifted to the conference goers by the organizing company at the conference venue. Conference gifts add significance and weight to the company’s image and make the event exciting, promising and successful.

Business conferences and meetings have been long in practice but the use of conference gifts is comparatively new. The effectiveness of gifting clients and customers with conference gifts for the overall growth and popularity of the company have made conference gifts an inevitable part of conference events. It has now become a practice by organizations to gift conference guests with some form of conference gifts or the other.

Conference gifts with the company brand name and logo remain with the clients and customers for long. As long as these gifts are used by the receivers, they act as real life, first hand advertisers for the brand. The logo and the company’s message not only get noticed by the users, but also by people passing across. This gives the company greater visibility and exposure.

Conference attendees require taking down notes. Pens and writing pads serve as great conference gifts which are very useful for the guests and conference goers. A cup of hot coffee or tea filled in a promotional coffee mug makes the conference event and lecture session refreshing and enjoyable. Nowadays, insulated travel mugs and insulated water bottles have become alluring conference gifts.

Conference gifts are perfect when they can be used within the office and outdoors matching the needs of a modern day professional. Conference gifts for attendees that top the list are conference folders. Conference folders act as organizational tools and help attendees to maintain all paperwork in a systematic and orderly manner. Tote bags and carrier bags are also being popularly used as conference gifts to help attendees carry all documents, souvenirs, and gifts that they get during the event.

Conference gifts are thus the perfect and right choice for conference goers. Make your upcoming conference event a grand success by gifting attendees with useful and attractive conference gifts. Visit www.ideasbynet.com to view our online catalogue.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Author: Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK’s largest online source of conference gifts and other promotional gifts. He has taken the UK gift market by storm by the application of modern business thinking and the latest search engine marketing techniques. For more details on conference gifts visit www.ideasbynet.com