Four things to settle before the flight

A party of twenty-odd will carry several passports, and the boat leaves with whoever is on the list. The table below sets out the entry rules for visitors who arrive for a short stay: the visa on arrival, its online version bought before you fly, how long each lasts, what the passport must show, and the arrival card. Most nationalities use the first or the second. A few need a visa in advance, and the table says where to look.

Treat it as a frame and not as legal advice. Immigration rules change, a fee increase has been announced in the press without a date we could confirm, and the official immigration sites are the only place to buy the online visa; third parties charge extra. Verify every line before you travel. What matters to us is narrower: the name on the boarding list must match the passport, and the passport, the original, must be with you on the day.

Komodo Airport at Labuan Bajo is a small airport with an international label, and almost every guest arrives through a bigger one. Bali is the usual gateway, Jakarta and Surabaya feed it too, and Lombok and Kupang are smaller feeders; the table gives flight times for each and the airlines seen on the routes. Schedules shift with the season, so the table is a guide to the shape of the journey and not a timetable. Check it with your airline before you book.

Two things follow for a boat that sails at 11:00. There is no day trip from Bali on Vhale, because the voyage begins and ends at Labuan Bajo, and we do not promise a same-day connection from anywhere. And the route has no Lombok leg. The sensible plan is to land the evening before and sleep in town; the hotels page makes the case, and the flight home is a question of the hour the boat returns.

The currency is the rupiah, and it is the only one that works in town. You find cash machines on the road by the harbour and in the arrivals hall, but not on the islands and not in the park, so draw what you need before the pier. One bank's machine can refuse a foreign card that the next one accepts, so try a second. Limits per withdrawal are low, and the table gives the range along with the machine fees. Decline the offer to convert the sum into your own currency on the screen.

Your fare is not paid at a cash machine. It goes through the channels on the booking page, and a card payment adds 3 percent. The cash you carry is for tips, small purchases ashore and the things nobody quotes. A party of twenty-four with nothing smaller than the largest note will discover how few people can change it.

Take out travel insurance that covers medical treatment and evacuation, and read the policy for boats and trekking. The booking terms recommend it, and the table says why: hospitals in Flores ask for payment first, and the best equipped one is in Labuan Bajo itself. Pharmacies are in town, not on the islands. Bring your own medicines, in your own bag, with a copy of the prescription.

Tap water is not drinkable here. On Vhale the fare carries free-flow mineral water, so a bottle in the cabin is the least of your worries, but brush your teeth with the water you were given. With a sundeck above you the sun is the real hazard, and a cap, sunscreen and sunglasses do more good than most pills. Anyone in the party who suffers from motion sickness should bring what already works, after a word with their doctor. None of this is medical advice, and your own doctor knows more.