Travel to foreign parts is expensive. Before you travel, you must get approval from your supervisor and from whichever body you hope will fund you. To do this you must estimate how much your travel costs will be.
For overseas trips, travel may be booked through Hogg Robinson Travel. The IfA has an account with this travel agent, so flight costs will be paid directly. An alternative is to book through some other agent, and then claim the money back from the IfA - this may not be practical for the majority of students, but quite often works out cheaper. Of course, it is vital that you ensure that your trip has been approved and funded before you spend any of your own money. Enquiries to Hogg Robinson can be made by phone, fax or email
Hogg-Robinson 
Tel. 0870 241 4770, email -
edinburgh.university@btiuk.co.uk
Liz has fax numbers and alternative telephone numbers.
Once you have a quote, you are in a position to fill out a PPARC form, again available from Liz Gibson. In this form you state the destination and numbers of nights away at both hotels and telescope accommodation. Ensure that you ask for the maximum possible number of nights you might need, as the sum they award you is calculated from their opinion of how much it costs to get to a certain destination and a fixed amount for each day spent there. You will not be able to renegotiate your claim when you suddenly realise that, for example, you need to spend an extra two days in Hawaii reducing your data before returning.
Your supervisor will then detail the case for PPARC funding your trip on the form, and you get it signed by your University (not ATC) Supervisor. Keep a copy for yourself, give another to Liz Gibson and make sure that the form gets to PPARC at least one month before the proposed journey.
PPARC will write back having approved your trip giving details of their funding. They tend to take quite a while to do this, so if you desperately need to know whether you have approval or not and for how much because the travel agents are only going to hold your tickets for you for a week, ring them up and pester them. PPARC usually manage to decide very quickly once they have been pestered. Enclosed will be a claim form for you to use once you return. Once you have approval, Liz Gibson will authorise the issuing of tickets by Hogg-Robinson. Liz will issue the tickets on the Institute's account and claim the cost directly from PPARC on your behalf.
Most students are not in a position to finance their trip and then claim the expenses back from PPARC. Students can apply to the University for an interest-free loan which must be paid back as soon as possible after the trip. Requests for such loans must be made allowing at least 10 working days for the loan to be issued (ideally allow a bit longer just in case!). The request should be supported by the P102 and the letter of approval from PPARC. Loan request forms should be signed by the University Supervisor and are available from Liz Gibson. Students may not be in receipt of more than one loan at a time. Alternatively, PPARC can now give an advance of up to 75% of the total claim. This is very easy to arrange and allows for more flexibility.
Upon return you should submit your claim form to PPARC at soon as possible. Expenditure in certain categories must be supported by receipts. If you are not sure what to keep receipts for, just get receipts for everything whilst you are away and then worry about which ones to send off when you get back. Your airfare will have already been dealt with by Liz Gibson, so you do not need to claim the cost, but do include the details of your travel.
Similarly, costs of staying at Hale Pohaku Lodge (Mauna Kea) and the ORM Residencia (La Palma) will be settled directly by PPARC. When staying, have your letter of approval from PPARC with you so they know to bill PPARC and not you. Again, do not claim the cost on your claim form, but do detail the dates you stayed. It is important that you actually book yourself into these places well in advance just as you would a hotel, as they can fill up if you are not careful. Also, they can arrange accommodation at sea-level for you in local hotels at reduced prices, so let them know your whole itinerary by emailing them.
Another important thing to remember is that telescope schedules can often be flexible. The JCMT definitely operates a flexible schedule. This means that if you are about to book yourself a flight, tell the scheduler that this is his/her last chance to change the schedule.
Many students combine foreign trips with a holiday in an exotic location. While you are there on ``PPARC business'', you are covered by PPARC's travel insurance scheme as detailed in the notes that accompany your approval letter. However, if you extend your trip to include a holiday it is prudent to assume that you will not be covered by PPARC's insurers. Students may wish to take out personal travel insurance for the holiday portion of the trip.
For travel funded by the Institute, the above procedure for obtaining approval applies except that the time-scales are more relaxed. However, you must still allow at least 10 working days for a loan if you require one. Additionally, if registration fees are to be paid direct by the University, allow plenty of time for them to do this. On all trips, you must inform Liz Gibson of your dates of absence from the Institute.