MFA, travel recommendations for Romanians for Easter

In the context of the Easter holidays and the May 1st mini-holiday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) reiterates a series of recommendations previously addressed to Romanian citizens that, before planning and making trips, they should carefully document the conditions of entry and stay in transit or destination state(s).

Thus, Romanians are encouraged to prepare their trip in advance, taking into account the following general recommendations:

– To consult, before traveling, the “Travel tips” column (https://www.mae.ro/node/1533) on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where general travel recommendations are available, as well as updated information for each individual state

– To ensure that the travel document is valid for the entire duration of the stay abroad

– Take out travel insurance

– To register their presence on the territory of the destination state, at the nearest diplomatic mission or consular office

– To take care of the travel documents at all times. It is advisable to keep personal documents and valuables in safe places and not display them visibly, including in vehicles.

– In case of loss of travel documents, they must contact the nearest diplomatic representation of Romania abroad, to declare their loss and request the release, as an emergency, of provisional travel documents.

– In the event of theft of Romanian travel documents, the nearest police unit must be contacted to declare the theft and request the issuance of a certificate to that effect. Only on the basis of the statement from the local police, the diplomatic representation of Romania can issue temporary travel documents.

– In the case of Romanian citizens traveling by car, it is mandatory to have an international accident insurance, within its validity period.

– If Romanian citizens travel by plane, they must not leave their luggage unattended and must not accept to carry other people’s packages/luggage.

– It is recommended to book accommodation directly on the hotel page or on the page of travel agencies and accredited booking platforms.

– It is recommended to avoid involvement in demonstrations or street demonstrations in the countries visited.

– It is recommended to follow the website of the MFA and the pages on the social media accounts of the Consular Department and of the diplomatic missions and consular offices of Romania, for advice and other information useful for the trip.

For Romanian citizens traveling to or transiting through Bulgaria, the MAE recommends taking into account some particular aspects:

– the possibility of an increase in waiting times at land border crossing points when carrying out specific controls, in the context of a high influx of tourists during this period. To exit Romania, Romanian citizens have at their disposal the application of the Romanian Border Police (https://www.politiadefrontiera.ro/ro/traficonline/) which provides information on waiting times at border crossing points

– the possibility of spontaneous protest actions that may affect common border crossing points and/or roads and may lead to the blocking of border crossing points.

For Romanian citizens traveling to Greece, the MAE formulates the following recommendations:

– the possibility of increasing the waiting times at land border crossing points when specific controls are carried out, in the context of a high influx of tourists during this period

– to take care of personal belongings/travel documents at all times, especially in crowded areas/highly trafficked tourist spots.

The MFA reminds Romanian citizens who face a difficult, special, emergency situation abroad to contact the nearest Romanian embassy or consulate, via the emergency phone, in order to benefit from specialized consular assistance.