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Kenny and I have started to make our dream trip a reality in the last week. We purchased almost all our flights around SE Asia, and were about to book our flights to/from India, when we thought to look more closely into getting a visa. Thank goodness we did!
I went to a tour agent downtown, Hana Tour, and I was told that in order to get an India visa through them, I needed to have 6 months left on my Alien Registration Card. And to get that, I would need to work in Korea another 6 months! Argh!
Then we turned to the internet, and the Indian Embassy- Seoul to sort things out. We took our time doing the paper work, assembling photos and such to make sure all was correct. I ran to the bank wire the 124,070 Won each to the company. Kenny called the courrier service to pick up the passports. By the time I got home, we'd discovered the courrier service no longer works for the Indian Embassy, and get this, the account number/business I'd wired the money do doesn't even exist! (Luckily, the bank sent me a text about this and told me to come back Monday to get my money back.)
So we were stuck. We asked lots of friends who had been there, and some had gotten theirs through a tour agent, but they had 6 months left in Korea. Others had gotten theirs through embassies in other countries- China, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. We didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of obtaining a visa abroad, so Kenny came up with an alternative plan.
Instead of India, we will fly out of Colombo, Sri Lanka into Istanbul and make our way overland via bus and train to Germany, where two of my friends are living. We'll fly out of Berlin direct to NYC on Dec 7. That gives us 6 1/2 weeks in Eastern Europe. We were bummed about missing out on India, but it's hard to be disappointed when we've got such an awesome backup plan!
Some of the cool places we'll be checking out are: Istanbul, Plovidv Bulgaria, Sofia Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria (an ancient capitol with castles and rivers), Brasov Romania (the heart of Transylvania), Maramures Romania (home to 8 UNESCO villages in a medieval region), Sighisoara Romania (Dracula's hometown, see picture), Bucharest Romania, Budapest Hungary, Sopron and Gyor Hungary (both historical and medieval), Vienna Austria, Bratislava Slovakia, Olomouc and Brno Czech Republic (wine region), Prague Czech Republic, and then Eastern Germany- Dresden, Leipzig, Weimar (Buchenwald Concentration Camp), Lutherstadt Wittenberg (where I studied abroad), Halle (where my freinds Rob and Lydia live), and finally ending in Berlin.
We don't have a set plan of course, if we like a city, we can stay longer, or the opposite holds true as well. How does this sound to everyone else? Any suggested places to check out in the area?
- comments
Anne Sounds like a blast! Eastern Europe will be very interesting- so much history!