Will credit cards and mobile charges make life awkward in Ohrid?

Q I’m travelling to Lake Ohrid in the first week of June. I wondered if you had any advice regarding money, credit cards and mobile phone use.

Brian R

A I’m delighted to hear you are travelling to this lovely corner of the Balkans. The lake is shared between two fascinating nations, Albania and North Macedonia. Imagine the lake as a clock face: Albania has the portion between 5 and 9, while North Macedonia has the rest. I shall infer that you are planning to base yourself in North Macedonia because the Albanian portion is much less developed for tourism; having said that, I recommend that you make a circuit of the lake.

The main holiday location is the North Macedonian town of Ohrid itself, a gorgeous location with a deep history – but also offering lots of lakeside fun. You can eat, drink and relax while enjoying prices generally less than half what you would pay across the border in Greece. I call it “Lake Como on the cheap.”

But how are you going to pay for those treats? Cash is definitely king. You can change sterling notes for North Macedonian denars (MKD) quite easily at decent rates: aim for 70 MKD for £1 at current rates. If you have any spare euros, take those: the rates are even keener; in addition, some tourist services are priced in euros. Credit cards are increasingly accepted, though they are still mainly the preserve of more upmarket establishments.

If you take the opportunity to travel around the lake (best arranged with a local driver, and likely to be a cash transaction), euros will be best for buying snacks or lunch while in Albania. I hesitate to state the obvious, but don’t forget your passport; it will require crossing two international borders.

As both North Macedonia and Albania are, for now, outside the European Union, almost all mobile phone contracts require some payment (and at least two of them, Vodafone and Three, still refer to “Macedonia”). If your provider wants an excessive amount, just buy a local sim on arrival at a convenience store or petrol station. Around £10 of credit should see you through a week of reasonable data use.

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Q I have always wanted to visit China and am keen to travel there independently rather than on a group tour (I usually find I am the youngest, currently 48, and I get a little impatient at the slow pace). But I am concerned about security, especially after a rail trip in Italy last summer when I was robbed.

Liz M

A Sorry to hear about your experience in Italy; it happened to me, too, on an overnight train (though so long ago that the main loss was travellers’ cheques – if you remember them). China is generally very safe; the security apparatus sees to that, and the Foreign Office says: “Serious crime against foreigners is relatively rare.”

The official travel advice is particularly concerned about drink spiking, which is often followed by sexual assault. “Do not leave drinks unattended or accept drinks from strangers,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says. “Personal attacks and sexual assaults are rare, but they can happen, including through drinks being spiked. Women, travelling alone or with female friends, could be at higher risk.”

You might want to steer clear of late-night bars anyway because of the possibility of a police raid. “If you’re in a bar that’s raided, you will be subject to on-the-spot testing and immigration checks. This may involve being kept at the location, or another location, for several hours [and] giving hair and urine samples.”

Having said that, none of the women I know who have lived in or travelled through China have experienced any problems. You are more likely to fall victim to petty crimes – such as passing off fake banknotes (especially the 100 renminbi, worth about £11) and, yes, thieves on trains: “Petty theft from overnight trains is common,” says the Foreign Office.

My main concerns, though, are about road and hotel safety. Try to avoid travelling long distances by road. Pack a personal carbon monoxide alarm for use in hotels. When you check in, locate the nearest fire exits – and ensure they are free of obstructions.

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Q On passports: is it only the EU that ignores the expiry date and just uses the issue date? Do no other countries do this?

Mark D

A Your question highlights one of the most serious misinterpretations of the rules for British travellers to the European Union: the fallacy that the EU regards a passport as expired when it is 10 years old. This is nonsense: the European Union is very interested in the expiry date of your passport.

The context: after Brexit, the UK government negotiated for its passport holders to be treated like dozens of existing “third countries” in terms of travel to the EU. Citizens of more than 60 nations, now including the UK as well as countries such as Australia, the US and Venezuela, can visit the European Union without having to apply for a visa. But they must comply with strict and unusual rules on passport issue and expiry dates.

The passport must not be over 10 years old on the day of entry to the EU and the wider Schengen area (including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland). As far as I am aware these are the only countries in the world that give a hoot about the issue date of a passport: to the best of my knowledge, no other countries do this. The International Civil Aviation Organisation says 10 years is “the maximum recommended validity for a travel document”, but this is not a legally enforced global standard.

The European Union does not ignore the expiry date of passports. Quite the opposite: your passport not having had its 10th birthday is only one requirement for entry to the EU. The other that the document has at least three months to run before the expiry date. Many countries have such a requirement. The aim is to avoid situations in which a foreign visitor who has only days or weeks to run might fall ill and miss their planned departure date – effectively becoming passport-less and raising the prospect that the host country may find it difficult to get rid of them. If you plan a trip to an EU country, check your passport now.

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Q In your travel podcast you were talking about Air Canada now flying from London Heathrow to Mumbai. You said you would love to travel to Mumbai, but on any airline except Air Canada. What did they do to you?

James H

AAir Canada has a long and proud heritage. Thousands of great people work for the airline. Yet in all but one of my last six flights I have encountered poor service and shoddy aircraft – nothing dangerous, just not especially well cared for. Those forgettable five started with Toronto to Amsterdam, a freezing endurance test – another passenger nicked my blanket and I wasn’t going to be getting another one, the cabin crew made clear. A second drink was also pushing my luck.

Chicago to Montreal was next – a flight three hours late, resulting in a 2am arrival in the Quebec metropolis with zero communication or apology. Quebec City to Toronto was just one of those “meh” flights. The tired old Airbus A320 (with crew to match) left half an hour or so behind schedule, and on arrival hung around for a further 30 minutes waiting for a gate.

Next, Winnipeg to Toronto – with zero information, as the minutes ticked by, about the cause of the delay. With a connection in Toronto, I was increasingly concerned. I need not have worried: the onward flight to Heathrow was itself delayed, and another fairly lackadaisical experience.

The one great flight was actually in November 2021, while Covid rules were still in force, and the crew and new Boeing 787 could not have been nicer. But overall, given a choice between Air Canada, Air Transat or WestJet either of the latter two would be just fine.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that many problems can beset a flight – but half-decent communication costs nothing. And other airlines have also cheesed me off, in particular Air France after a lousy London-Paris-Havana-and-back experience. But if either the French or Canadian national airline offered the best deal, I’d be back. Including to Mumbai.

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