Roundup of know-before-you-go info

Get quick hits of pertinent travel information arranged by country as well as tips from travelers.

Name: thebasetrip.com What it does: Basetrip provides basic travel information you should know about a country before you leave: visa requirements, currency, tipping, ATM advice, mobile phone options, Internet status, vaccinations, travel advisories and more. If you want to access the information offline, purchase the country-specific information as a downloadable PDF ($5 with PayPal) that you can store on your smartphone or device.

What’s hot: Having travel information all in one spot is a big help, and the “Tips” section is particularly useful. When I looked up the China page a week before my trip I found valuable information shared by an experienced traveler: “Get a VPN [virtual private network] and configure it well before you arrive. Limited Internet access to the outside world and DNS [domain name system] errors when trying to access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram … etc. can be very frustrating for the newcomers. Whatsapp is still available though.” I did need that reminder because I haven't been to China since the advent of smartphones, let alone Facebook.

What’s not: The PDF I bought for China was just $5, but there was lots of white space on the document. That’s not efficient formatting for printing, but the site is young and it didn’t bother me much because I didn’t pay much.