Tour and Travel

Archive for the ‘Travel Goods’ Category

If you are going to be travelling abroad, whether it is for business, a holiday or a visit to see friends or relatives, you may well be heading to a country which uses a different currency. If you are anything like me, and have a rather slow mind when it comes to math and the conversion of money from one currency to another, you may be interested in equipping yourself with a money converter. This will make you life a lot easier both before you travel and whilst you are away. It could also save you a lot of money. It is no good looking back and realising that you have been duped on account of your not understanding the currency… it is too late at that point.

There are many types of money converter available and these will often cover you for a variety of circumstances. The internet has a whole choice when it comes to currency converters and these can make the job very easy. These are good for working out how much you will be paying for things and how much money to allow for spending money whilst you are away. However, you could do with something a little easier to carry around with you than a computer when you go shopping.

You can now get money converter gadgets which are about the same size as a credit card and will convert all currencies quite easily. They are handy to keep in your pocket or wallet and will mean that you will be able to check how much you are spending on shopping and meals out or taxi fares. Currency converters such as these are not too expensive now and you can usually get hold of them either on the internet or in shops that specialise in travel goods. You may find them in some general stores and you will almost certainly come across them in the departure lounge at the airport.

If you want to do without technology and gadgets, it is perfectly possible to make a handy money converter yourself just by writing down some of the more common amounts and their converted equivalent. For example, if you are going to Europe, you could just write down 1, 2, 5 and 10 euros converted into dollars and vice versa. If you were to have this written on a piece of paper or card you would always be able to see a rough conversion of the figure that you want. A simple chart such as this could be invaluable if you just kept it in your purse or wallet and could save you being taken advantage of by unscrupulous taxi drivers for example. It may be easier than getting a calculator style converter out.

Whichever money converter you use, make sure that you have a clear idea of what the conversion rate is and how much you are paying for goods and services whilst you are abroad. It is very easy to become confused regarding exchange rates and it is always worth taking the time and trouble to establish the cost of your purchases before handing over the money.

If you’re planning to bring goods into the UK from travels abroad or from purchasing on the Internet, there are some important customs laws that you should be aware of. Here’s a handy guide to the regulations.

Buying goods abroad

Entering the UK from the European Union (EU): if you buy any goods on which tax was paid in another EU member country, you don’t have to pay any more tax in the UK. However, goods such as alcohol and tobacco must be for personal use only – i.e. for consumption by you or to be given as gifts. It is illegal to sell or take payment for these goods as they will then be considered to have been brought into the country for commercial purposes, and you could face up to seven years in prison if you are caught.

If a customs officer has reason to believe that you are bringing alcohol or tobacco into the UK for resale, you will be interviewed and expected to provide an explanation, and your goods may be seized (including the vehicle in which they are being transported) if they conclude that the goods are for commercial purposes. There are restrictions on how much tobacco you can bring into the UK from some of the new EU member countries who joined in 2004 without paying UK duty.

Entering the UK from non-EU countries: if you arrive in the UK with goods purchased in non-EU countries, there are limits to how much you’re allowed to bring into the country without having to pay UK duty. These are:

* 200 cigarettes or 250 grams of tobacco or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars

* 60 cubic centilitres of perfume

* 250 cubic centilitres of eau de toilette

* 2 litres of still table wine

* 1 litre of spirits or strong liqueurs over 22% alcohol volume or 2 litres of fortified wine (e.g. sherry or port), sparkling wine or other liqueurs

* ?145 worth of any other goods, including souvenirs and presents

There are also restrictions on how you bring the goods into the country. These are:

* You must travel with the goods.

* You must not sell the goods – they must be for personal use only.

* You must be over 17 to have the tobacco and alcohol allowances.

* If you go over the ?145 limit for other goods, you’ll have to pay the duty for the whole value of the goods, not just the value over ?145.

* You can only use your own personal allowance, i.e. you can’t share allowances in order to bring back higher value goods. If you do, you’ll have to pay duty on the total value of the goods.

If you have more than the allowance, you must declare your goods, otherwise you may face prosecution. Here’s how to declare goods at UK ports and airports:

Use the red channel if you have goods to declare or if you have commercial goods, or if you have more than the permitted personal allowance of tobacco from EU countries with tobacco restrictions.

Use the green channel if you’re entering from a non-EU country and don’t have any goods to declare.

Use the blue channel if you’re entering from an EU country and don’t have any tobacco that’s over the tobacco limit for that country.

Buying on the Internet

You’ll need to pay customs and VAT on goods purchased on the Internet if they are above a certain value. If the amount of duty is ?7 and over, you’ll need to pay customs duty. If the value of the goods is ?18 or over, you’ll also need to pay VAT.

You won’t need to pay UK customs duty if the goods were purchased in an EU country, but you’ll need to pay the VAT on the goods in that country if applicable.

For imports from non-EU countries, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs publishes a table of commodity codes for goods and the duty and tax that’s payable on them, as the rates vary from item to item. This table is known as the Tariff, and it’s updated monthly.

The person posting the goods to the UK will have to complete a customs declaration stating what the goods are, their value and whether they’re a gift or commercial item. Any duty that needs to be paid will be handled by the Post Office on delivery.

There is this phenomenon where people are connected throughout the world, while money, communication and goods travel faster and easier than ever. Globalization may have many faces, some of them positive and others negative, depending on the point of view. There are groups and even countries throughout the world opposing globalization as the greatest fear for their integrity. New forms of business throughout the past and the current decade changed our environment in so many ways, including the areas of education and politics, where the ways of economy are completely separate issue. This has been probably the fastest pacing step in the change of human structure. Everything tends to get global.

The today’s market influences business on all four side of the world with its tripartite forces of globalization, information and communications technology and liberalization of trade. Free trading improves integration on economy lever while national borders melt under the storm of information and technology revolutions, which bring people closer and together faster than ever before. Geography in globalization becomes quite insignificant factor. The refreshing ideas and brand new initiatives are what make today’s economy a culture of innovation and open approach.

We live in demanding times where new form of business and worldwide economy strives to bring out the private sector as one of the most significant indicators of fast and fresh economic development; on the other hand, the public sector is rapidly reducing and losing both importance and influence, not being a willing subject to change from within. The world of globalized business approach stands for coherence, down-to-earth visions from the skilled leaders, who bring their company strategies onto competing forces on the new market. New imperatives in the world’s business today are integration, synergy, competitiveness, advantage and opportunity. Synergy is on wherever people accept the inevitability of cooperation and where various parts will work together for a better outcome and overall quality; synergy will encourage teamwork and teamwork will always bring better results comparing to individual approach towards the ultimate aim.

The synergy, which is a clearly one of the founding stones of globalization both in business and elsewhere, promotes flexible approach to the problem, active responses to various challenges of the new markets and opportunities in today’s economy, where only a quality, plan and team work may survive. Every person related to business and economy today strives to change their mindsets to the international frequency, all in order to easily understand and accept most important conditions for success in a business today.

Various enterprises with similar orientation cluster and change through their merging, guaranteeing more exquisite, fresh and new ideas in directing the business process from the start to the final product – whatever it happens to be. This ongoing process of globalization integrates all areas of human activities, connecting their cultures, habits and economies into a larger and richer engine, which can successfully run the race of the new business era.

It is not strange that the very term “globalization” is sometimes applied strictly as an economic term, due to its specifics in corporate economies and creating the international economy. Trade, the flow of capital, migration of workers, enterprises, goods and investments is spreading technologies farther and faster than before. Globalization is often explained as the planned mixture of economies, technologies, political and even various biological factors, it can very frequently relate to rapid exchange of ideas and languages through so-called acculturation, mixing habits, beliefs, behavior and many other segments which aimed to simplify the world and bring people closer in every sense of the world.

Various international agreements changed the business face of today, incessantly striking down the barriers between nations and their economies, enabling the under-developed ones to benefit from the developed. Many nations and countries actually benefit from such agreements on a higher level than understood by those who constantly advertise their almost xenophobic fear from globalization.

Some of the greatest benefits globalization had brought to various businesses in various aspects were surely free trade zones with practically no rates at all, smaller costs to transportation, cutbacks in capital controls, global corporations, better organization of human resources across the world and so much more.

However and in relation to the pattern, globalization can be both a positive and a negative phenomenon. Whereas it can easily mean melting and merger of cultures to the point where the small and economically significant ones are lost, it surely provides more applicable package of work, products, markets, knowledge, technology and industry, not to mention the benefit to the under developed economies. Ideas, people and money fluctuate on a daily basis, providing fresh products for the market on daily basis. Globalization in its best sense improves and refreshes the market by modernizing and creating both booming and blooming economies out of the cultures yet to be developed in the sense of international business.