THE VOSS POCKET GUIDE TO INTER-TIMELINE TRAVEL

©1996 Steve Voss

Introduction

Contrary to what so called "sliders" tell you, interdimensional travel is neither as dangerous or as difficult as it used to be. With the advances in interdimensional technology and the addition of new tracking technology, interdimensional travel is as safe as taking a plane trip, (probably safer since the engineers test it on themselves first).

Mind you once you get to your destination things may not be safe so you need to plan ahead.

Planning first trip

If this is your first interdimensional trip, it is strongly recommended that you visit a place that has an ITA rep already stationed there. Once you have made several trips,it is recommended that you try a group, or at least small group tour led by an experienced guide. You can tell how experienced a guide really is because an experienced guide will not take you to a world he's never been on before (we all know who caused that rule, we wont mention any names, but his initials are QM, you'll know him because he's only been seen on non ITA worlds.) A good guide will have several contacts on any world that he takes a group to. He will also make sure that you have had your medchecks before letting you come. Always get your Medcheck before you leave and after you come back. Sometimes whole populations have been wiped out when stupid people forgot that the people they were visiting did not have immunity to their colds,flus etc. Also a good guide will have a way of getting you out in an emergency. Never trust a device that works on a timer!

Stuff you need

• Clean underwear (100% cotton ,can be worn or sold)
• Blue Jeans (can be sold on certain worlds)
• Clothing is good
• Hygiene (low tech manual stuff like disposable razors and shaving cream are good)
• First Aid kit (paint over the red cross sign, on Muslim worlds it might be offensive)
• Sport shakes (they're so tasty,plus the food on the world might be really nasty) 
• Canteens of water (at least until you determine local water supply is safe)
• Medcheck- To make sure you are not carrying any communicable diseases before you go and when you come back.
• Money-see section on money
• Language-see section on language
• Nylon Hosiery(In a world of Natural fibers, the man with the synthetics is King) :-)

Money-

Interdimensionaly the good point is whenever you go somewhere, bring gold or silver. You might want to make sure the form you bring it in is acceptable in the society you go to. For instance, gold bullion is illegal to own on a few worlds. If you carry money on you be generous in moderation. Donations to Churches are always good(unless your in the Union of Socialist States of America). Bookmark any particularly good worlds for saving in gold(if you can go there on a regular basis you can save your loot there ConFed savings in Libertarian America is always good(What Great Depression?)). Technology could be quite useful in trade (How much would the Incas in the early 16th century pay for a vaccine against Smallpox?)

Language-

The problem is that most societies you go to you will be vastly foreign to anyone there. Until you are familiar,if you speak English stay in American timelines post 1800, or British post 1832 Once you've become familiar with historical customs you can probably get away with British type civs after 1688.

If you can speak Latin(always a good language),you can probably make your way in most Roman Imperial or Alt Catholic-world types. You might be able to pose as a Pilgrim, (Either direction as long as Christianity has been accepted in the Roman worlds).

Identification-

Many areas like people with IDs much more than people w/o id's. Having a passport even from a country that does not exist in this world is better than not having anything at all. Having a passport from a major country like the US is good. But strangely enough to most newcomers, the best passport to have is a Swiss passport. The Swiss have been essentially unchanged since the 16th century,and noone other the Austrians seem to have a problem with them. The Swiss passports are good everywhere in many worlds which divergence point was later than 1600 except Switzerland. The Swiss government on many worlds will let you buy a non-residents passport for a hefty fee (its worth it)

Customs-

Unless you have your own interdimensionaly untraceable Gridney Dimensional Conduit, (much more rarer than people think), you will have to comeback through ITA customs. Note: do not steal from ITA worlds they do have extradition treaties. However the concept of a raw deal hasn't been put on the books yet, so do come back with a Mona Lisa from another world, (ITA or not), with a legit bill of sale for $100, and the customs men will give you a hard look and levy a duty between $10 and $600 and let you go on your way. Although the tax man will probably make you cough up the big bucks [ED: remember CONFED savings] when you sell it, (if you do). [ED: This is not that uncommon, Artistic tastes vary between worlds. It goes both ways, one interdimensional hopper I know sold one of those original "Dogs playing poker" stupidities on one world for $45 million dollars in Gold. He picked up a Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" original for me for $500. Last I heard he was shopping for works of Michelangelo. Of course art prices on ITA worlds have crashed in the last few years as numerous duplicate "originals" have shown up on the market. However this can be avoided by finding new unknown original on variant worlds.]