Thinking of travelling to the UK or Europe and keep hearing that ominous-sounding word - Brexit - popping up in conversation?

Here's how the UK's (very) likely upcoming departure from the European Union may affect your plans.

Brexit (a combination of "British" and "exit") is the withdrawal of the UK from the EU due to take place on 29 March 2019 at 11pm UK time.

It's happening because a majority of UK voters chose to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum.

The UK Government led by Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated a deal with the EU to leave - kind of like the settlement terms of a divorce. It proposed how much money the UK would have to pay the EU, and how people and goods would move across borders.

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Whatsapp British Prime Minister Theresa May holds a cabinet meeting in August 2016, two months after the referendum.

But the UK House of Commons (like the Australian House of Representatives) voted against the deal - twice. Once in January, and once this week.

The most recent vote has meant that the UK is much more likely to 'crash out' of the EU and reach March 29 without a deal. Many fear food and medicine shortages. For example, every month the UK imports nearly 40 million packets of medicine from the EU.

There's also widespread fears of a post-Brexit economic slump.

To avoid 'crashing out', the UK will need to get a deadline extension from the EU. Even if the EU grant this, (which isn't certain), it's unlikely to be for long.

The European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said this week Britain must leave the EU on May 23 at the latest, or it would have to take part in the upcoming EU elections.

So Brexit is happening, and it's probably going to be soon.

I'm an Australian citizen travelling to the UK

Brexit won't directly affect your ability to work or travel within the UK.

The usual rules will continue to apply. Australian passport holders can enter Britain as a tourist without a visa and remain for up to six months. To work, you can apply for a visa, either through proving a parent or grandparent was born in the UK, through the Youth Mobility Scheme (for Australians aged 18-30), or through getting sponsored by a UK employer.

According to Professor Simon Tormey, head of the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Sydney, Brexit will force the UK to seek a favourable trading agreement with Australia, and this may lead to more visa allocations.

In effect, Australians travelling to the UK would get privileged treatment.

"The UK wants a free trade deal with Australia," he told Hack.

"If anything [the deal it negotiates] will be more favourable as Britain tries to reach out and get countries like Australia onboard."

I don't think there's too much for young Australians to be worried about.

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Whatsapp Postcards featuring the World War II British slogan 'Keep Calm and Carry On'.

These potential visa allocation changes would take many months and possibly years to negotiate and come into effect.

Giovanni Di Lieto, a lecturer of international trade law at Monash University, agreed that visa quotas may be relaxed after the UK exits the EU.

"Australians are likely to be one of the first countries to reach an economic deal with the UK and this is likely to happen relatively soon," he told Hack.

"Australia will have a historically high bargaining stance with the UK."

But he said the situation was a lot less positive for Australian dual citizens who are currently in the UK on their EU citizenship.

I'm a dual Australian-EU country citizen travelling to the UK

Under the terms of membership of the European Union, citizens of EU countries are able to live and work in the UK without a visa.

Many Australians with European heritage have taken advantage of this to avoid the cost and hassle of applying for UK work visas.

If the UK leaves the EU without having agreed to the negotiated withdrawal deal, EU citizens in the UK without a visa may be expelled, Dr Di Lieto told Hack.

"This is the worst-case scenario," he said.

It's unlikely the UK and the EU will expel people right away.

Under the withdrawal deal negotiated by Theresa May's government, EU citizens in the UK would have been granted a status similar to permanent residency. Since the UK Government has voted against the deal, that's now up in the air.

"In the long term with no agreement, the dual citizens will pretty much lose their right to stay."

He said after the UK left the EU, the first priority would be to renegotiate trade relations.

"The first thing they'll negotiate after March 29 will be trade relations - the movement of people will become a bargaining chip.

"It'll be horse trading, pretty much."

If the negotiations go wrong and they don't sort out anything - past a certain transition period the EU citizens would lost right to work in the UK.

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Whatsapp Protesters demonstrate against Brexit on June 28, 2016 in London.

Professor Tormey agreed "it'll be more handy to be an Australian than possibly an Italian" but warned the UK might not leave the EU for some time.

"We could be in this situation for another six months to a year," he said.

"In which point having an EU passport is very useful."

Remember Ireland (but not Northern Ireland) will remain in the EU, and therefore an Irish passport counts the same as other EU ones.

I'm an Australian citizen travelling to the EU

Brexit won't directly affect your ability to work or travel within the EU - that's still covered by the Schengen system, which gives Australians a 90-day travel visa.

"The UK is not part of the Schengen system," Dr Di Lieto told Hack.

"There would be no change for Australian travellers."

What about the exchange rate - should I be buying pounds?

Expect the value of the UK currency to vary a lot in the next few months.

Right now the Australian dollar is pretty strong against the pound - at about AUD$1.85 per GBP1, compared to over AUD$2 four years ago.

With so much uncertainty, it's hard to say which way it will go.

It's value fell more than 1 per cent against the US dollar with news the MPs had rejected Theresa May's withdrawal deal.

"Of course there will be disruption but I don't see it as being so catastrophic," Dr Di Lieto said.

Immediately the pound will go down. The disruption will become evident.

"It may rebound if it's not as bad as expected.

"If I were traveling to the UK I would limit my exposure to pounds in the short term.

"It will be volatile and I'd wait to see what happens."