Passport validity
Many countries require your passport to stay valid for six months beyond your return date. Check the expiry now, not the week before.
Before you travel
Travel guide
Entry documents, live government safety advisories, and how to pay for the trip. The advisory levels below update automatically from the U.S. State Department.
Live · U.S. State Department
Safety advisories
The live feed could not be read just now (The State Department feed returned HTTP 429.) — please check the official advisory page directly. We don't show a saved safety level, because an out-of-date one is worse than none.
Poland
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Ukraine
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Israel
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Hungary
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Slovakia
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Czechia
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Lithuania
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Belarus
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Romania
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Moldova
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Austria
No current advisory listed for this country in the feed — check the official page before traveling.
Passports, visas & entry
Documents
Entry rules depend on the passport you hold and change without warning, so we don't restate them here — a wrong answer can leave you at a border. Below is what to check, and the official source for each country we travel to.
Blank pages
Some borders require one or two completely blank pages for stamps. A full passport can be refused.
Visa or travel authorisation
Some destinations need a visa; others need an electronic authorisation applied for in advance. These are separate things, and the rule depends on the passport you hold — confirm on the official page for your destination.
Onward or return ticket
Airlines are often required to check that you hold onward travel before they let you board.
The airline decides at the gate
Even with the right paperwork, the carrier makes the final call on boarding. Have documents on paper as well as on your phone.
Copies
Keep a photo of your passport, visa and insurance somewhere you can reach without your bag.
Official source by country
Ukraine
Wartime conditions. Border crossings, curfews and martial-law rules change frequently.
Israel
Most visa-waiver visitors must hold an approved ETA-IL before boarding. Confirm on the official page.
Lithuania
Belarus
Entry rules and permitted crossing points change with little notice.
Points & money
Paying for the trip
General practice for using points and cards well. Program rules and transfer partners change often — always confirm current terms with your own card and airline programs before moving points.
Points or cash — decide per leg
Points usually go furthest on long-haul premium cabins and on expensive last-minute dates. Short cheap hops are often better paid in cash. Work it out leg by leg rather than for the whole trip.
Know what your points are worth
Divide the cash price of the ticket by the miles required. If a $900 fare costs 45,000 miles plus $90 in taxes, you're getting about 1.8 cents per mile. Compare that against what you'd normally expect from that program before redeeming.
Award seats are inventory, not price
Award space is released in limited quantities and disappears. If you find the seats you need for a yahrzeit date, that is usually the moment to book — award tickets are typically far easier to change or cancel than cheap cash fares.
Transfer points only when you're ready to book
Transfers from a card program to an airline are almost always one-way and irreversible. Confirm the award space is actually there first, then transfer, then book.
Foreign transaction fees
A card without foreign transaction fees typically saves around 3% on everything you spend abroad. Over a two-week trip that is real money.
Pay in the local currency
If a card machine offers to charge you in dollars instead of the local currency, decline. That conversion is done at a poor rate set by the terminal, not by your card.
Cash still matters
Drivers, shomrim, small guesthouses and cemetery caretakers in Eastern Europe often take cash only. Carry some local currency and small notes.
Tell your bank where you're going
Card blocks in the middle of a trip are common and painful. A travel notice, or a second card kept separately, avoids a bad evening.
This guide is general information, not legal, financial or immigration advice. Entry requirements, safety conditions and program terms are set by governments and companies, and can change at any time — always confirm with the official source before you travel.