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Wednesday 2004-03-03 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
A thick envelope
The confirmation of my booking arrived today. A thick envelope, with a stack of papers, mostly visa application forms, with a sheet of instructions for each. Reading through it all, I noticed they stated that for the Iran visa application women need a ‘veiled’ photograph. Eerr - what exactly is ‘veiled’? That can mean a lot of different things. So I called the visa agency: it means your hair needs to be covered. Not your face(!).
Thursday 2004-03-04 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Mugshots
I won’t just need visa for seven countries. Before that, I’ll need a brand-new passport as well: my old one has expired, and is not renewable anyway: it’s practically full with visa. So, I’ll need a lot of passport photographs for both a new passport and all the visa applications. Off to the photographer.
A stack of regular pics (they just print it multiple times). One set of ‘veiled’ pics — with a nice scarf over my hair; it turned out very elegant!
Tuesday 2004-03-23 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Passport and visa
I got a phonecall from Sander (from Koning Aap) today - just after I was back home from mailing a photocopy of my brand-new passport to Aap. They needed the new passport data for informing their local agents; he just talked me through the data he needed.
He also told me to send the visa papers to the visa agency (here in Amsterdam) as soon as possible — like today: all those visa take a long time to arrange; no form is needed for Syria anymore: we’ll get a visa on arrival. Since that’s also true for Turkey, the agency will have to arrange the visa for “only” five countries.
Wednesday 2004-03-24 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Visa: papers, papers, papers
Filling in the visa application forms (Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China) wasn’t all that hard — except for working out entry and exit dates, needed for most countries. The itinerary we got just works by day numbers, so I had to count through them to work out where we’d be on which dates. (Well, my parents will want to know that as well.) I added a safety margin either way of about 5 days: I have plenty of experience with all sorts of mishaps that can change a planned itinerary; arriving late isn’t a problem, but arriving early or leaving late could be.
Then when I wanted to staple the passport photographs to the forms, I suddenly ran out of staples. Off to the store…
After lunch I’m off to the visa agency (conveniently in Amsterdam) to deliver my passport with all the forms, indicating that I’ll pick it up myself when it’s all done: I like to be able to make a photocopy not just of my passport (already done) but of all the visa as well; and a quick check if everything’s OK is a good idea, too. (I’ve had incorrect dates entered on a visa — a result of bad form design which confused the public servant doing the visa: half in the group had incorrect data on their visa!)
Tuesday 2004-05-04 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Still passport-less
The visa agency (Amsterdam) had indicated all visa probably wouldn’t be arranged until the final week before departure; they’d call me when I could pick up the passport with them.
I’d heard nothing yet but I’m running around so much with “last-minute” shopping, they might not have been able to reach me. So I called. It turned out they were hard to reach, too: the phone was almost constantly busy, and when it wasn’t, I was immediately put on hold, treated to a tape with irritating music and some commercials, and finally had the connection broken again… When I finally got through to a human, I heard the passports were now at the Iranian embassy in the Hague: they’re always difficult with the visa and prefer to hold on to the passports until the last day before departure. Aargh! They should have them on Friday, they say; I can pick mine up in the afternoon.
Friday 2004-05-07 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
No Passport!
Yesterday I’d checked with the visa agency in Amsterdam and arranged with them that I could (finally) pick up my passport this afternoon. That way I can make a photocopy of all the visa before I leave.
But when I get there, after a tram ride all across Amsterdam, they tell me they don’t have it! They’d given it to the person who came to pick it up for Koning Aap, just half an hour before I arrived. “That’s what was arranged with Koning Aap,” they say. Well, not for my passport! They had a firm agreement with me that I’d pick it up right now, and I’m right on time. I’m the one paying for this service, it’s my passport, so they really have no business to give it to someone else when we clearly agreed I’d pick it up personally. I’m very, very angry.
Back home again, I call the Koning Aap office, but they tell me the person who picks up the passports for them is not actually an employee. I get a phone number, though. But when I call that it turns out the lady does not even live in Amsterdam — I’m welcome to pick it up she says. But it would take hours to get there and back, and I still have too much packing to do. I give up - I’ll get my passport at the airport tomorrow, and will have to try and find a way to make photocopies there.
Tuesday 2006-09-05 - Beijing, China
We really have a group visa!
I wake up a little past six: that means no more jet lag! For breakfast I have the cup of yoghurt I bought last night at the supermarket.
Yvon, our travel companion collects all the stuff that is not allowed in the DPRK. Meanwhile I deliver the powerstrip I borrowed yesterday and get my 100Ұ deposit back.
At the airport Yvon spots a sign “Group visa only” and resolutely walks past all the long rows behind the other counters to find a nearly deserted one. The young official behind the counter has a problem though: he does not recognize our fancy visa (a sheet with passport photographs, our names (in Korean) and lots of other info) as a group visa and shows an example: a computer printout with basically just a list of names. “No, that is a Chinese one,”, Yvon says. It takes teh help of a colleague official (and of course a little patience on our side) but finally te young man sticks up his thumb to signal it’s all right. Next, we sail through security without any problems.
Wednesday 2007-04-04 - Istanbul, Turkey
Plain sailing now
Not much to tell about the second lap of the trip: we have several hours to kill at the airport (but need to set our watches one hour forward), and spend the time shopping (a little), chatting to get to know each other (especially the “new” group members, and (some of us) having our “last” beer — no such thing in Yemen! No trouble checking in without a Yemeni visa in our passports (Sander had given us all a letter just in case they’d make trouble over that, which happens sometimes). Taking off from the airport we have a spectacular view over Istanbul by night. On the plane a nice dinner, with “really the last beer” - Efes, a very good Turkish pilsener.
We arrive in Sana’a on time. Then we just have to be a little patient, waiting in line for our visas, but people are friendly and there’s no trouble at all. Meanwhile Marie Josee is awaiting us, and already collecting our luggage. It’s great to see her again!
Outside we meet our team, three drivers, one each from a different tribe. They seem very nice. But, all in all, it’s 2:30 when we arrive in our hotel (in the old city, just west of the Zailer wadi which crosses it) where Mohamed is awaiting us with a cup of tea. It’s 3:00 when we finally tumble into bed: it’s been a long day, but we’re here!
