Travel for field and laboratory research are regular activities for most ARF researchers. This page contains information and links for travel related resources.
UC Field Safety
See the ARF web page for a list of safety trainings and permits focused on field and lab safety.
Before you depart
UC Risk Services Travel Insurance
You may register yourself and your travel companions (even if they're not UC affiliated) for UC travel insurance for the duration of your UC-related research travel. This is for UC travel insurance card > 100 miles from campus, 24/7 travel assistance & location-specific trip brief.
https://www.ucop.edu/risk-services-travel/
Airline Ticket Purchasing
While you may purchase airline tickets using a personal credit card, you won't be reimbursed until you provide boarding passes at the conclusion of your trip. Purchasing your airline travel through Connexxus (UC Travel Program) avoids the use of your personal credit card however your airline ticket purchasing options may be more limited. If you find better airline travel prices (on the website of the actual airline, not a consolidator) these better rates may be suggested to the Travel Managment representative.
Pre-check Luggage
Restrictions around checked bags have increased in recent years. If you are traveling with equipment it is worth checking the website of the airline you are traveling with the ensure that your bags do not exceed their restrictions. With some airlines you can save money by pre-registering your checked bags prior to traveling to the airport.
See the Kayak.com - Airline Fees webpage for a useful summary table showing fees and restrictions together with links to the relevant airline websites.
The ARF has several hard cases for travel with delicate equipment including some long cases on wheels for transport of tripods and stadia rods. For heavy items we have portable scale at the ARF that goes up to 200 kg.
Related Services
UC Berkeley Field Safety Plan Template (for remote sites or hazardous work off-campus)
UC Auto Insurance Programs (managed by Risk Services)
Prevention, Response & Support (regarding sexual violence & sexual harassment)
Funds and Reimbursements
Receipts and boarding passes
Keep all receipts, boarding passes, and itinerary information from your travel. Your non-airline travel will be provided as a travel advance, the airline ticket portion of your travel will be processes upon your return when boarding passes are provided.
All receipts must be taped to a letter sized (8.5 x 11") page. It's fine to use the backside of clean recycled paper for taping down receipts.
Receipts and Currency Conversion
For your own records and for efficient processing you are encouraged to put your submitted receipts into a spreadsheet with the following structure. This system is especially useful when one or more foreign currencies are involved. Here is an example of a table that might be created using a spreadsheet program:
| Date | Business | Category | Currency2 | US Dollars |
| 10 Sept 2011 | Cafe Tanta | Food | S/. 131 | $48.52 |
The fields in the last column should be calculated using the current currency conversion at the date specified (in this case "=* 0.370"). The total in US Dollars is provided to ARF for submission to R.E.S. Please email a digital version of this table as well.
Research Enterprise Services (RES), the UC office that processes ARF travel reimbursements, uses this currency convertor.
Online Currency Converter
http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/