|
Ecosystems Center Forms and Assistance
|
|
|
Use this form to request reimbursement for project or center related travel. Original itemized receipts must be included for each expense claimed. If receipts are not available, please provide a detailed explanation.
Mileage Rate: $.55/mile - Meal Per-diem: $49/day.
|
|
|
Please use this form to claim reimbursement for any non-travel related expenses (supplies, registration fees, etc.).
|
|
|
Commonwealth Travel is the travel agency servicing the MBL and accepts our PO’s for business-related travel. You may contact them directly or ask Mary Ann Seifert for assistance.
|
|
Planning Your Trip
|
|
|
It’s travel information you’ll use only once in a while – the U.S. Department of State’s passport site. But it will answer virtually any passport question.
|
|
|
Will you need both a passport and visa to enter China? (Yes.) And at what point will you need a visa in the Netherlands? (After 90 days.) The Department of State untangles entry requirements of other nations.
|
|
|
The State Department’s travel web site contains all the “Consular Information Sheets,” popularly read advisories on safety concerns in different countries and cities.
|
|
|
Everything you need to know about diseases, outbreaks, vaccinations and the like, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s site.
|
|
|
This is the invaluable “Know Before You Go” page by U.S. Customs, which deals with rules and regulations about bringing things back into the country, as well as taking things from it.
|
|
|
Travel insurance is a difficult aspect of trip planning to pin down. This site explains (and also offers) 63 travel insurance plans from 14 countries.
|
|
|
The Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory, at last glance, contained 1,421 entries – toll-free numbers, faxes, addresses and web sites for every state tourism office, plus government-supported offices around the world.
|
|
Airports, Flights
|
|
|
Link up to the Federal Aviation Administration’s air-traffic command center, and you’ll be able to click onto your destination airport in the United States, and to learn general conditions on the runways.
|
|
|
For international airports in the United States, this site is an invaluable tool; you’ll find airport codes, links to individual airport sites, and parking and airport hotel information. For international airports out of the country, it’s not as complete, but still very good.
|
|
|
The site is called “Airline Toll-Free Numbers and Web sites,” which explains it all.
|
|
Travel Particulars
|
|
|
To find the current weather somewhere in the world, www.weather.com and www.accuweather.com are two popular sites with current temperatures and extended forecasts. But if you want an average temperature at the time you’ll be going, or you wonder whether the place will be wet or dry, worldclimate.com lists average highs and lows and rainfall for each month of the year, plus longitude, latitude and altitude.
|
|
|
This currency converter is simple and has some great features. Not only do you get a currency converter, but you can also click on “currency photos.”
|
|
|
Will your hair dryer blow in Bologna? Will your computer recharge in Rio? Plug in with the correct plug or connection on this site.
|
|
|
Get useful words and phrases down before you leave home by entering them on this web site.
|
|
|
This web address contains the fullest list of cities. Once you see the city and the current time, click on the city name for more info, including semi-user-friendly telephone dialing codes. If it’s only the current time you’re looking for, and your place is not among the most popular destinations, use www.worldtimeserver.com. The scroll-down box on the left-hand side of the screen holds an enormous database of cities.
|
|
|
(Perhaps not necessary for scientists, but just in case.) Much of the rest of the world measures distances in kilometers, temperatures in Celsius, weight in kilos, and gasoline in liters. This site is a great converter.
|
|
Communications
|
|
|
This is the Big Mama of all international calling code directories, whether you want Cluj, Romania (city code 64) or any phone in Qatar (country code 974).
|
|
|
Here are all the area codes in North America, in numerical order or by place name.
|
|
On the Ground
|
|
|
All aboard on Amtrak’s easy-to-use site that has anything you need to understand train travel in the United States.
|
|
|
Traveling by car, truck or RV? The American Automobile Association is your authority.
|
|
|
Get the lay of the underground anywhere in the world, and the overland too, because this site includes commuter trains as well as subways.
|
