Visas – the not-so-funny part of the planning

I’m glad to live in Europe where the borders are open, and I can cross them without any special requirements. I’m just used to this freedom and in fact, I couldn’t imagine something else – Well, this opinion of how open the world is, got interrupted deeply while planning my WorldTravel.

First, I’m lucky to be from Luxembourg and to possess the most powerful Passport in the world. I don’t want to imagine how it must be for people from other countries without such a powerful passport. Because even with a passport from Luxemburg it was and is still a very complicated process to get a Visa for some countries. Until today, this has been the biggest issue while planning.

After I chose the countries I wanted to visit, I checked the Visa requirements. Luckily, I don’t need a Visa for most of the destinations or I simply get one on arrival. This will cost some money but at least I’ll be free to enter the country whenever I want to and leave whenever I want to. I don’t need to apply previously, and other than my passport, I don’t need any documents. In Vietnam and in Cambodia I had two choices, I could wait till I arrive or pre-order my Visa online. Pre-ordering would shorten my waiting-time to enter the country, so I chose this alternative. This process was easy, and I got the one for Vietnam already. Australia introduced the new e-visa process, so I can do everything online. I haven’t done it yet because I don’t know when I will arrive exactly. But I think that it won’t be a big problem anyway.

My initial goal was it to travel as spontaneously as possible. I just wanted to take a train and visit the next place and while driving I would book a Hostel for the night. If I want to stay some more nights in a particular place I would just extend my stay or if I would meet people I would travel spontaneously with them. This dream got heavily destroyed when I applied for the Chinese and Russian Visa. First, I went to the Russian embassy, waited there for 3 long hours, standing in a small dark room, just to hear that at this point I couldn’t get a Visa. The reason: I had no Visa for China (My next destination after Russia) so they had no proof that I could enter China. This meant that I would need a Visa for China before I could get a Visa for Russia. After this, my mother went to the Chinese embassy, but this happened to be the next disenchantment. I had bought the ticket to enter China and I had a flight out of China for 26 days after. I wanted to do everything in between spontaneously. But the woman on the embassy told my mother that I have to book every Hotel and every train for my entire journey in China. I wasn’t happy with this development, but as I had no choice, I booked everything for the entire time in China. The next post will be about my route, it is amazing, but it was much more expensive than booking it locally.

I still haven’t got the Visa for China but I’m confident that I have every document needed, so I’ll get it and with that also the one for Russia. The last country I need a Visa for, is Cuba. I have informed myself and learned that I can do everything by mail. I haven’t done anything yet because it is still so much time. I’ll keep you updated about the process when the time has arrived.

To get Visa’s was and is still by far the most annoying thing to arrange for my WorldTravel but it is essential. And again, I’m glad to have started it well in advance.

79 Days to go!