It's 7:22am on a Monday morning in late September in Hartington. With Monday being my day off and it being cold, dark and miserable outside the temptation to pull the covers over my head will most likely get to me eventually. There is no particularly interesting reason I am awake at this time, I don't have a day at Alton Towers to look forward to and the new Fifa game doesn't come out until Friday. The truth is I simply felt ill yesterday and came home from work early and spent most of the day sleeping which is probably why I have been awake since 5am.
My mind has gone into overdrive lately, there are a lot of changes happening at work and I can't say I am overly happy right now, sticking it out until September twenty twelve may be much more of a difficult task. In theory I could leave as early as September next year, though it would mean a much smaller budget and less travel time of course.
I have been reading and watching accounts of trips others have done quite a lot over the past few months. I have watched Charley Boorman and Ewan Mcgregor's 'Long way round' and 'Long way down' as well as Boorman's 'By any means' which is pretty similar in a lot of ways to the route I am planning to take. A lot of the countries he went through which I am not planning to go to are ones I have seriously considered and have not yet ruled out, it does depend on circumstances though.
France: Money
China: Bureaucracy
Iran: Visa situation
Australia: Time
The other issue I have with Australia is it is the standard 'gap year' destination all the rich kids from the UK go to when they finish school and if I were to go there now I would like to do something different to that and researching that to fit in with a trip of this magnitude would take too much planning and might well be too much hassle at the end of the day. I'd love to go China but getting a visa for that as well as India might be complex due to the time I'd spend in Europe, I have also heard prices are set to sky rocket along with the economy over the next few years and I cannot afford another expensive destination being added to the trip. France and Iran are more feasible, if I can save a little extra France can be done and if an Iranian visa can be obtained in Istanbul and I have the time then why not. Apparantly Boorman and Mcgregor are planning to do 'Long way up' in 2011 which I believe will see them cycle from Patagonia to Alaska, will be interesting to see if they try and cross the Darien gap.
I am feeling the tiredness now so I will leave you either for my bed or a cup of strong coffee, maybe both
Monday, 27 September 2010
Monday, 13 September 2010
The great visa run
One thing I have not had to deal with during my wanderings through Central America and Europe (or ever in fact) is the wonderful process of applying for visas. It turns out that the visas I will need are going to require a bit of work so maybe its lucky I am planning this trip 2 years in advance! I have searched the forums on Lonely Planet as well as countless external links extensively over the past few months and believe this to be the current requirements:
India: I need to get a visa from the Indian High Commission in London before departure, the maximum length is 6 months. Indian visas are valid from the date of issue, not the date of entry to the country. This means I will have about 3 months in India when I get there and is another reason I will probably bypass Iran and Pakistan. It is not possible to get an Indian visa outside of my country of residence which rules out the idea of getting one in Turkey. I can probably get a second 6 month visa is Kathamandu, Nepal however I can not re enter India until I have spent at least 2 months out of the country. Officially an onward ticket out of India is required to enter the country, this rule is almost never enforced according to reports.
Nepal: Visa up to 90 days available at the border with India or in embassy in Delhi.
Thailand: No visa required for 30 day entry, however may get one as an onward ticket is required out of Thailand if arriving by air which I will be doing form India, I will have to find out which is cheaper, a visa or onward ticket! The second entry to Thailand will be by land via Cambodia, no visa is required but the maximum length of stay is 15 days so I will need another visa as this will not be long enough for Phuket and the beaches around that area, this visa will be purchased in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Laos: Visa up to 30 days available at border with Thailand
Vietnam: 30 day visa available, not at land borders but I can get it Vientiane, Laos beforehand.
Cambodia: 30 day visa available at border with Vietnam, extendible for a further 30 days.
Indonesia: 60 day visa available in Singapore, needs to be applied for through a travel agent. Visa extendible up to 4 times once in Indonesia 30 days each time.
No doubt at least one of these is either wrong or has changed since I wrote this, in all honesty if I get a second Indian visa and that all goes to plan I will feel pretty happy with that alone and if I end up having to book further flights so be it, I won't allow it to ruin my trip.
As you can probably tell with this as well as my budget, itinerary etc as well as things I have not even thought about yet insurance, jabs, equipment... there is a lot of planning still to be done and it will probably take 2 years in all honesty!
India: I need to get a visa from the Indian High Commission in London before departure, the maximum length is 6 months. Indian visas are valid from the date of issue, not the date of entry to the country. This means I will have about 3 months in India when I get there and is another reason I will probably bypass Iran and Pakistan. It is not possible to get an Indian visa outside of my country of residence which rules out the idea of getting one in Turkey. I can probably get a second 6 month visa is Kathamandu, Nepal however I can not re enter India until I have spent at least 2 months out of the country. Officially an onward ticket out of India is required to enter the country, this rule is almost never enforced according to reports.
Nepal: Visa up to 90 days available at the border with India or in embassy in Delhi.
Thailand: No visa required for 30 day entry, however may get one as an onward ticket is required out of Thailand if arriving by air which I will be doing form India, I will have to find out which is cheaper, a visa or onward ticket! The second entry to Thailand will be by land via Cambodia, no visa is required but the maximum length of stay is 15 days so I will need another visa as this will not be long enough for Phuket and the beaches around that area, this visa will be purchased in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Laos: Visa up to 30 days available at border with Thailand
Vietnam: 30 day visa available, not at land borders but I can get it Vientiane, Laos beforehand.
Cambodia: 30 day visa available at border with Vietnam, extendible for a further 30 days.
Indonesia: 60 day visa available in Singapore, needs to be applied for through a travel agent. Visa extendible up to 4 times once in Indonesia 30 days each time.
No doubt at least one of these is either wrong or has changed since I wrote this, in all honesty if I get a second Indian visa and that all goes to plan I will feel pretty happy with that alone and if I end up having to book further flights so be it, I won't allow it to ruin my trip.
As you can probably tell with this as well as my budget, itinerary etc as well as things I have not even thought about yet insurance, jabs, equipment... there is a lot of planning still to be done and it will probably take 2 years in all honesty!
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Welcome!
It may well seem a little premature to discuss plans I have for 2 years time, a lot of my past plans have changed or disappeared in a lot less time and of course there is no gaurentee this will be different so if you believe that to be the case I'd suggest you stop reading now.
My belief as to why this will be different is that this is a trip I have been planning since my last trip ended in March 2009 when I flew home from Berlin. I had taken a while in setting a date to leave which not coincidently is exactly two years from today 12/09/2012. I have had this date in my head for several months now and a lot of planning has already been done and there is so much more still to do.
So firstly a little bit about myself:
I am currently 27 years of age and will be 29 when I start the trip. I currently work in a youth hostel in the beautiful Peak District. The company doesn't pay an amazing wage but it does allow me to save a considerable amount of money due to the fact that a very minimal amount is taken from my wage each month for accommodation and bills. The place itself is a village with not a great deal to spend money on. This amounts to be generally being able to put roughly 3/4 of each months wages into a savings account which is how I am looking to fund the trip. I am saving in other ways too, I recently quit smoking which saves me a great deal and boozy nights out are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. My only real expenses are buying food and paying my internet and phone bills.
The trip itself then:
I will be flying from London to Rome, I will then be spending a few weeks in Italy before heading east through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. I had initially planned to go into Iran and Pakistan but for many reasons not least the current situation in Pakistan I have currently decided against this. So from Turkey I will fly to Delhi, India and then spend several months in India, the actual amount will depend on whether I can extend my visa in neighbouring Nepal where I will also spend a few weeks. Next I will fly from either India or Nepal to Thailand where I will do a loop through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and then back into Thailand. I will then go down to Malaysia and Singapore and then over to Indonesia, again the length of visa I am able to get will affect how long I spend here. Eventually I will head back into Malaysia and fly to Los Angeles where I will spend a few weeks chilling out. I then plan to fly to Bogota, Colombia where I will go through Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and finally Brazil.
Rome to Rio.
Quite a trip hey!
My belief as to why this will be different is that this is a trip I have been planning since my last trip ended in March 2009 when I flew home from Berlin. I had taken a while in setting a date to leave which not coincidently is exactly two years from today 12/09/2012. I have had this date in my head for several months now and a lot of planning has already been done and there is so much more still to do.
So firstly a little bit about myself:
I am currently 27 years of age and will be 29 when I start the trip. I currently work in a youth hostel in the beautiful Peak District. The company doesn't pay an amazing wage but it does allow me to save a considerable amount of money due to the fact that a very minimal amount is taken from my wage each month for accommodation and bills. The place itself is a village with not a great deal to spend money on. This amounts to be generally being able to put roughly 3/4 of each months wages into a savings account which is how I am looking to fund the trip. I am saving in other ways too, I recently quit smoking which saves me a great deal and boozy nights out are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. My only real expenses are buying food and paying my internet and phone bills.
The trip itself then:
I will be flying from London to Rome, I will then be spending a few weeks in Italy before heading east through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. I had initially planned to go into Iran and Pakistan but for many reasons not least the current situation in Pakistan I have currently decided against this. So from Turkey I will fly to Delhi, India and then spend several months in India, the actual amount will depend on whether I can extend my visa in neighbouring Nepal where I will also spend a few weeks. Next I will fly from either India or Nepal to Thailand where I will do a loop through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and then back into Thailand. I will then go down to Malaysia and Singapore and then over to Indonesia, again the length of visa I am able to get will affect how long I spend here. Eventually I will head back into Malaysia and fly to Los Angeles where I will spend a few weeks chilling out. I then plan to fly to Bogota, Colombia where I will go through Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and finally Brazil.
Rome to Rio.
Quite a trip hey!
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