Top 5 travel essentials this summer

The summer holiday season will soon be in full swing, and while you’re packing your beachwear in anticipation of jetting off to climates with reliable amounts of sunshine, there are other travel essentials you need to plan for too. Luckily, they are all available under one roof, at your local UOE Store & Post Office:

Don’t forget your passport!

It’s surprising how many people forget to check their passport’s expiry date far enough in advance. Don’t leave it too late and then have to take an extra day’s leave in order to spend hours waiting in line at the Passport Office for an urgent renewal – check now and save yourself a lot of stress.

There are many countries that require you to have at least six months left on your passport before you are allowed to travel to them. And, without wanting to mention the ‘B’ word, if the UK does leave the EU without a deal at the end of October, this rule will also apply to European travel. So, if you’re planning trips to the winter markets or an autumn city break, you need to check your passport’s expiry date now.

The most efficient means of renewing your passport is by using the Post Office Check & Send service. For a small fee, we can save you a lot of time by checking that you have the correct details and documentation, and that your photos are in the right format. We will then send your application by Special Delivery to make sure it reaches its destination safe and sound.

Don’t smile please!

The rules about what you can and cannot do regarding your passport photo are long and arduous. They must be a certain size and of professional quality, be taken against a plain background, have no red-eye distortion… And that’s before you get into whether you can or can’t smile (spoiler alert – you can’t), have a bad hair day, do bunny ears or show off your abs. It’s so much easier to ask one of the lovely UOE Store staff to take the photo for you as they know all the rules and will get it right first time!

Cash

Fancy paying 0% commission on exchanging your pounds for local currency? We have up to 80 currencies available at the Travel Money counter and, what’s more, it’s a priority queuing system meaning that even at peak times you won’t have to wait long to get served.

Plastic

If you’d rather carry your currency on a card (and let’s be honest, it’s far safer than having wads of cash in your pocket), you can load up a Travel Money Card with one (or more) of 13 currencies and use it as a debit card wherever MasterCard is accepted. And as you’ve exchanged in one go, you won’t have to worry about the exchange rate or bank charges every time you swipe. Apply for yours at the Travel Money counter.

Fully charged

You couldn’t possibly go on holiday without your gadgets! Even though you’re supposed to be getting away from it all, you’re still going to want to impress your friends on social media with snaps showing how far away from it all you’ve got! Not to mention all the novels you’ve loaded on to your eReader (so much easier than taking up that precious baggage allowance with half a ton of books), your beauty electricals and probably an electric kitchen sink (if there was such a thing) to boot! To make all of this work, you’ll need a travel adapter, so pick one up at your local UOE Store and pay for it when you get your travel money or renew your passport.

And that’s you sorted. Have a wonderful, stress-free holiday! Get in touch if you have any questions before you jet off,.