+NYPaddleCacher Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I've had an on-again, off-again, on-again trip in the works to go to Rome for a few days for a project I'm working on. Now it looks like I'll either go on April 19th (immediately after flying back from California) or in mid-march. Depending on when I go there are several possible itineraries. If I go next month, the best airfare rights go through Moscow on Aeroflot. I know that that airline doesn't have the best reputation but I've heard it's improving. The tricky part may be getting a transit visa in time but I found a pretty good rate (better than any other airline) that would give me a 23 hour layover in Moscow. The other option, for either April or May would be on SAS through Norway, Copenhagen, and/or a stop in Sweden. I could pick up two new countries that way. Another is on Iberia through Lisbon and/or Porto Portugal and there's a 15-20 hour overnight layover for that route. Suggestions? Anyone know how long it typically takes for a U.S. citizen to get a tourist or transit visa for Russia? I know that it's expensive (~$175) but the airfare difference might make it worth it. Quote Link to comment
+FunnyNose Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Anyone know how long it typically takes for a U.S. citizen to get a tourist or transit visa for Russia? I know that it's expensive (~$175) but the airfare difference might make it worth it. I used a local travel service who specializes in Russian Visas, I had to submit my passport plus some additional photos. I had my passport and Russian visa back within 10 days. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Anyone know how long it typically takes for a U.S. citizen to get a tourist or transit visa for Russia? I know that it's expensive (~$175) but the airfare difference might make it worth it. I used a local travel service who specializes in Russian Visas, I had to submit my passport plus some additional photos. I had my passport and Russian visa back within 10 days. I've usually used visa processing services when I needed one (unfortunately, there aren't any that are local) in the past. Some are more expensive than others. I looks like I'll be going May 10th (I mis-typed "March" instead of "May" in the last post). It looks like a layover in Lisbon or Dublin, Ireland are my best option if I booked tickets today. Istanbul is another option. Quote Link to comment
+sarahmcmur Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 It looks like a layover in Lisbon or Dublin, Ireland are my best option if I booked tickets today. Istanbul is another option. Come to Dublin and visit Europe's First! Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 It looks like a layover in Lisbon or Dublin, Ireland are my best option if I booked tickets today. Istanbul is another option. Come to Dublin and visit Europe's First! That's tempting. It looks I'd have to rent a car to get to it. I'm not sure that's worth it just for an overnight layover. If I had a two night layover it looks like I could get a real nice full day of caching with a round trip from Dublin to the Europe's first cache. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 Still not ready with vacation planning, but I realized we might get quite a few new countries this year: advantage of living in a new region I'll have training scheduled in Vienna and we'll hop over to Bratislava for a day (2 countries) We'll also hop over to Bahrain soon to see what the differences are with here (three) some tropical island get-away for a week will be country four main vacation might give us one or two more countries and we're thinking about a double city trip Singapore/Kuala Lumpur. That's a lot of new colour on the map! Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 If you're going to Bratislava, stop by GC12ZCW. Ask this guy where it is. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 If you're going to Bratislava, stop by GC12ZCW. Ask this guy where it is. Cool! He's on my list of caches to find! Didn't have time to do any preparations yet. Just solved a D5 cache in Vienna, but other than that we were mostly busy with turning our empty, far too big house into something cozy and being down with a cold Quote Link to comment
+.Flo. Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I have been asked to take some of my faculty and lecture in Niarobi this year. I'm thinking about it, I haven't been to Africe (unlike S'cycle) Do it! Nairobi has a fair amount a caches for an African city (outside of South Africa). There's a local cacher (SawaSawa) that has hidden quite a few in the last year. I've been through Nairobi airport three times but so far haven't been out of the airport. It's a fairly major hub for KLM, Turkish, and Swiss airlines. On the other hand, Nairobi has a reputation for being somewhat dangerous. There are some places where you just want to go at night. There are some places where you probably don't want to go during the day. However, the same could be said for Johannesburg, Cape Town, and many other African cities. My parents will move to Nairobi this year, and I'm looking forward to visiting them in 2015 or 2016. The caches there look quite interesting and are located in tourist areas like the museum or small forest. I'll go there with my parents anyway, since I'm not courageous (or crazy) enough to drive in a large African city (on the left side of the road!). Quote Link to comment
+.Flo. Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I'll take a trip to Denmark which is only a one hour drive. And perhaps I'll drive to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Quote Link to comment
+docNwitchjy Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Doc and I are going to America in May for 8 weeks. We'll be visiting 24 states, 1 District and 2 provinces by the time we are done. So if anyone wants to meet up, let me know and I can tell you how close and what dates we'll be closest to you. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Doc and I are going to America in May for 8 weeks. We'll be visiting 24 states, 1 District and 2 provinces by the time we are done. So if anyone wants to meet up, let me know and I can tell you how close and what dates we'll be closest to you. Wow, that sounds like quite a trip. I've got 25 states, but DC, and no provinces since I started geocaching. I should be able to add Washington, Texas, and Michigan this year though. I'm in New York State, but it's a bit off the beaten path (not on a major highway). Quote Link to comment
+Inmountains Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Why is there no souvenir for Russia? Estonia? Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Why is there no souvenir for Russia? Estonia? GS created country and other regional (U.S. States, Provinces in Canada,...) souvenirs for awhile, starting first with the U.S. States, Canadian provinces, and "states" in Germany. Then a few countries were added based on an old feedback forum (the countries that got the most votes got souvenirs. Then awhile back they release a whole bunch more but stopped at that point. The countries which have souvenirs are mostly those countries which have the greatest number of geoaches and neither Russia nor Estonia have enough to make the cut. Other countries which didn't make the cut include Italy, Mexico, and Belgium. There's a thread in the Web Site forum section which I started which asks that GS continue releasing county based souvenirs. Despite the fact that it's had overwhelming support, GS has decided not to do so. Quote Link to comment
+BBWolf+3Pigs Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Doc and I are going to America in May for 8 weeks. We'll be visiting 24 states, 1 District and 2 provinces by the time we are done. So if anyone wants to meet up, let me know and I can tell you how close and what dates we'll be closest to you. Will you be visiting New England area, Rhode Island specifically? We love meeting new folks! Quote Link to comment
+docNwitchjy Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Our list of states: Massachusetts, DC, Maryland*, Virginia*, Georgia***, Tennessee, Arkansas*, Missouri*, Kentucky*, Alabama*, Mississippi*, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah*, Montana, Idaho*, Wyoming, Colorado*, Nebraska*, South Dakota, North Dakota**, Washington and California. * Dipping into long enough to get a cache. ** Is still up for discussion *** A quick virtual at the airport Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Back from Curacao- did some nice geocaching, both at the event and driving around the island for a day with my brother. Never did snag the Netherlands Antilles caches though unfortunately for one reason or another- mainly it being way too friggin' hot and clear that there are nonexistent paths that would require long pants and good footwear, and I had neither on at the time. But hey, very fun trip and loved the island and got a new one that's unusual only problem is it's too small to appear on the stats map! #geocachingproblems Norway is looking like it's going to happen next month which is great and I'm seriously looking forward to... have one other four day break next month due to the Dutch holiday schedule, which is looking like Stockholm more and more. Went over to Sweden for the day last year when in Copenhagen but that was more to say I had than anything, and I think Stockholm would be fun to see sometime! Plus the other option is Helsinki- a new country but I don't know if the city interests me enough for 4 nights. I may well do it so it's 2 days Helsinki/ 2 days Estonia- two countries!- but researching if that would be too big a hassle or not. Then unfortunately it turns out I have a Hungarian cousin getting married in the middle of a workshop I got money to attend in Boston, so that trip to the US is out. I'm also going there for Easter already actually, and I'm wondering what the odds are I could convince someone to roadtrip with me up to Slovakia to snag that country to make it more interesting on my end, but I need a better argument than "hey let's go to Slovakia briefly!" I think. Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Where in Norway? If you're going to be around Bergen, I know a nice earthcache nearby. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Where in Norway? If you're going to be around Bergen, I know a nice earthcache nearby. If I ever get final trip for a trip to Rome next month, one of the itineraries has a 20 hour layover in Bergen that's about the least expensive I could find. I had a 3 hour layover in Oslo a few months ago but just wasn't sure I could get to a cache and back in time for me connecting flight. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 I'll take a trip to Denmark which is only a one hour drive. And perhaps I'll drive to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. If you're doing that, you'll be in the corner belgium/luxembourg/france, so with really minor detour you'll add Germany as well. We did a little trip from the South-West of the Netherlands picking up a few caches in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Luxembourg again. Just a bit of fun 'doing' five countries in a single cache trip. Cheers, Mr. Terratin Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Where in Norway? If you're going to be around Bergen, I know a nice earthcache nearby. This thread needed a bump. That looks like an interesting earthcache but doesn't look like it's all that close to Bergen. As I mentioned before, I'm working on some travel options for a trip to Rome in May and one of the best fares I can find is on Norwegian Air and has a 20 hour layover in Bergen. What can you tell me about Bergen? I'd be arriving there around 10:30 in the morning and would stay in the airport hotel overnight as my connecting flight leaves for Rome at 6:30AM. It looks like there is a regular bus that goes to Bergen city center but also a shuttle to Flesland Quay (I can't seem to find Flesland Quay on a map) and a boat to Bergen. That seems like the more interesting option but I've also noticed that "ground" transportation seems to be very expensive in Norway. One of my other options has a long layover in Oslo but the train to city center seems to be almost $30 each way for a 30 minute trip (each way). Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 (edited) Bergen was a nice town. We enjoyed our stay thoroughly. The local beer, Hansa, is very drinkable -- I got into the habit of ordering a half liter and asking for another half liter in 5 minutes. The town is great, the setting is beautiful, and the surrounding fjords are well worth a visit. p.s. I don't remember how we got to town from the airport. I assume we took the bus. Edited April 29, 2014 by hzoi Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Bergen was a nice town. We enjoyed our stay thoroughly. The local beer, Hansa, is very drinkable -- I got into the habit of ordering a half liter and asking for another half liter in 5 minutes. The town is great, the setting is beautiful, and the surrounding fjords are well worth a visit. p.s. I don't remember how we got to town from the airport. I assume we took the bus. Thanks. Whenever I travel, I like to try local beer. I'm hoping to get approval to book my flights this week. I might not go through Bergen after all. Now I'm looking at a flight from NYC to Lisbon that gets me there early on a Saturday morning, then taking a flight in the evening the next day to Rome. That would give me about a 36 hour layover in Lisbon and it's still under $1100. Quote Link to comment
+BBWolf+3Pigs Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Thanks. Whenever I travel, I like to try local beer. While I enjoy beer, I prefer to sample the local hard liquor. I picked up a great Single Malt in Germany (Slyrs) and plan on trying and bringing home a bottle of Brennevin from Iceland. Anyhting refered to as "Black Death" must be good, right? Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 (edited) Bergen was a nice town. We enjoyed our stay thoroughly. The local beer, Hansa, is very drinkable -- I got into the habit of ordering a half liter and asking for another half liter in 5 minutes. The town is great, the setting is beautiful, and the surrounding fjords are well worth a visit. p.s. I don't remember how we got to town from the airport. I assume we took the bus. Oh, only read this now. Did you do the EarthCache with the polished slab of seriously folded rock layers? I remember we were really impressed! I just had a look at my accumulated airmiles and what I could do with them. The most expensive flights with the lowest mile spendage would be to Kuwait and Erbil, Iraq. Shame the Erbil cache constantly goes missing, but even without it I'd really love to visit that place. Lets see what we do. Mrs. terratin edit: after some discussion and 'on one hand' or 'other hand' comparisons we decided to fly to Bahrain for the coming weekend Edited April 29, 2014 by terratin Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 No speculation of what we might or might not do. Just the facts: We had a really successful two days of caching in Bahrain. In the meantime we also booked a trip to the Maldives (hey, it's less than 5 hours flying. Of course we HAD to do that) later in the year. Not many caches around, but we should be able to get at least an EarthCache, and maybe one or two others at the airport island. Near the end of this month it's time to add Austria and Slovakia to our map - unless, coming back to the first sentence, we don't manage to find a single cache. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I found out a few days ago that my business trip to Rome is pretty much not going to happen to plans for a layover in Lisbon, Oslo, Bergen and a few other candidates are not going to happen either. It looks like I might be going to Costa Rica instead. As much as I enjoyed Costa Rica a couple of years ago I'm likely going to be much busier this time (and probably won't be adding some vacation time) and I've already found a few cache there anyway. Quote Link to comment
+Viajero Perdido Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Costa Rica, hmm, reminds me... Some day I'd like to fly into Panama City, and a few weeks later fly home from Cancun. That's eight countries along the way, with caches in each. Travel would be by bus, the way the locals do. I've always wondered if I could convince any cachers to join me on a crazy quest like that. (Any interest? Eight countries in three weeks, definitely not a numbers run.) Probably I'll have to do it solo. That's okay too. Hmm, the gears are turning... Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Costa Rica, hmm, reminds me... Some day I'd like to fly into Panama City, and a few weeks later fly home from Cancun. That's eight countries along the way, with caches in each. Travel would be by bus, the way the locals do. I've always wondered if I could convince any cachers to join me on a crazy quest like that. (Any interest? Eight countries in three weeks, definitely not a numbers run.) Probably I'll have to do it solo. That's okay too. Hmm, the gears are turning... I'd love to do something like that. My wife would hate it if I did something like that. You could probably find some travelogue books that cover that route. I read one called "Backpacked: A Reluctant Trip Across Central America" by Catherine Ryan Howard. It covers a portion of that route, most of it by bus. Don't forget your Malaria pills. Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 (edited) Hi guys, checking in to this thread for an update! Went to Stockholm two weeks ago and holy hell guys, they have amazing geocaches there (and I even got to make an event and hang out with local cachers!). Sure I already had Sweden, but this was well worth it and I highly recommend Stockholm for anyone looking for a great town to cache in. Going to Norway in two weekends for four full days, flying in and out of Bergen (country #32!). Not really planning out the details yet because I want to play it by ear in terms of the weather, ie do the fjord tour etc on any days where it looks like it'll be exceptional. I did see that Earthcache hzoi and plan to do it! (And to be completely weird, I was going down a trip of memory lane so to speak and checked out geocaches at the summit of Mt Lemmon where I used to observe years ago... and recognized y'all in a log. So you have an official geo-stalker. ) Future trips confirmed: - Vienna for a weekend in early June with family- was just there in February, in Salzburg, but hey I've heard good things about Vienna and am looking forward to it! - Hungary for a weekend in June due to a cousin's wedding- not sure if caching will happen... - My big adventure this year is going to be Alaska and Canada for four weeks- fly into Vancouver to join my parents for a cruise up to Seward, then renting a car to explore the interior of Alaska and the Yukon for a few weeks. So I will get British Columbia, Alaska, and Yukon Territory this summer- not countries in their own right of course, but they'll fill up my US and Canada maps nicely and are surely filled with amazing geocaching! (Extra bonus, might be able to squeeze in an extended layover in Minneapolis on the way home to get Minnesota... depends on which day I decide to leave as the long layover is pricey on some days, and I am shelling plenty out of my wallet when in Alaska anyway.) Things I still want to do this year in countries I haven't been to yet, but still very much in the idle planning stage (and I'll probably only do two of): - Prague weekend- not sure when yet, but I have yet to get Czech Republic and reckon that's a good weekend if I want a getaway to see some pretty architecture and hang out in a backpacker's hostel this summer, in July perhaps - I noticed there are surprisingly cheap fares from here to Belgrade, Serbia of all places, which I don't know a thing about but hey, how bad can a place be for a weekend? (You can also go to Bucharest pretty cheap but I seriously have no interest in going there... same with Kiev these days!) - Still want to go to Krakow, Poland very badly, but know I will want more than a weekend there, so think I'll take off a day or two in the fall and finally go. - Also on the list is a weekend to Nice, France, as there are cheap fares there, and head on over to Monaco for a day trip. As a final thing, I find it kind of interesting nowadays to go back and see the number of caches I've found in a given country and how that relates to how much time I've spent there. I have 13 finds each in Iceland, Italy and Belgium, for example- only ever went to Iceland once but have been through the other two several times, so it's kinda fun to pause and think if that "makes sense" in terms of amount of time I spent there, and if it makes sense in comparison that I ended up finding 17 caches in Sweden. Yeah, I probably think about this too much. Edited May 14, 2014 by Andromeda321 Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Boy, you have some great plans. My best opportunity for some new country caching this year is pretty much cancelled. I had lots of different options for layovers in countries in which I had not yet found a cache for a business trip to Rome but funding for travel never came through. That trip might be replaced with one to Costa Rica but that wouldn't involve any new countries. On the other hand, it's Costa Rica. I still have an unscheduled trip planned to visit at least two countries in Africa in the fall but it's not yet clear if it will include a country I have not yet visited. Uganda is a good possibility though and there's a remote chance of going to Burkina Faso (where there are only three cache, only one of them previously found). Hi guys, checking in to this thread for an update! Went to Stockholm two weeks ago and holy hell guys, they have amazing geocaches there (and I even got to make an event and hang out with local cachers!). Sure I already had Sweden, but this was well worth it and I highly recommend Stockholm for anyone looking for a great town to cache in. I haven't been to Stockholm but I highly recommend getting to an event to hang out with local cachers while traveling. I had a wonderful day in Zurich attending a WWFM event and a sit down dinner event later in the evening. (Extra bonus, might be able to squeeze in an extended layover in Minneapolis on the way home to get Minnesota... depends on which day I decide to leave as the long layover is pricey on some days, and I am shelling plenty out of my wallet when in Alaska anyway.) Minneapolis is a pretty busy hub city so if you can't do it on the Alaska trip the opportunity might come again. It would be fun to find a King Boreas cache though. When I visited I had grabbed a "King Boreas 1000 hides geocoin" locally (in NY) that had not been to Minneapolis so I assume that he'd never seen it. I was able to drop it into one of his caches. Of course, the opportunity to meet Knowschad would be a bonus too. Things I still want to do this year in countries I haven't been to yet, but still very much in the idle planning stage (and I'll probably only do two of): - Prague weekend- not sure when yet, but I have yet to get Czech Republic and reckon that's a good weekend if I want a getaway to see some pretty architecture and hang out in a backpacker's hostel this summer, in July perhaps - I noticed there are surprisingly cheap fares from here to Belgrade, Serbia of all places, which I don't know a thing about but hey, how bad can a place be for a weekend? (You can also go to Bucharest pretty cheap but I seriously have no interest in going there... same with Kiev these days!) - Still want to go to Krakow, Poland very badly, but know I will want more than a weekend there, so think I'll take off a day or two in the fall and finally go. - Also on the list is a weekend to Nice, France, as there are cheap fares there, and head on over to Monaco for a day trip. Whenever I look at airfares to Europe a layover in Moscow (on Aeroflot) always seems to be one of the least expensive options. I've seen a decent fare with a layover in St. Petersburg as well. Don't know about Kiev though. The Ukraine seems to be a bit too volatile right now. I also saw a possible itinerary that went through Casablanca but discovered that there were only 4 caches in the city, two of them are currently disabled and one is a puzzle cache. Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Whenever I look at airfares to Europe a layover in Moscow (on Aeroflot) always seems to be one of the least expensive options. I've seen a decent fare with a layover in St. Petersburg as well. Don't know about Kiev though. The Ukraine seems to be a bit too volatile right now. I also saw a possible itinerary that went through Casablanca but discovered that there were only 4 caches in the city, two of them are currently disabled and one is a puzzle cache. Well to be fair there are many cheap fares to Russia from here too (Moscow and St Petersburg) but the real issue I have there is obtaining the visa. You actually have to apply through an embassy in the country where you have citizenship- for me meaning going to the embassy in either Hungary or to the USA- and that's just not going to happen due to the hassle factor. A real pity too as I'd love to see the Hermitage. Morocco is also an odd one btw as I know a lot of folks who love traveling there, but it sounds so much of a hassle as a solo female traveler I'm just not that interested in it. Maybe someday if I was dating a guy who really wanted to go... Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Whenever I look at airfares to Europe a layover in Moscow (on Aeroflot) always seems to be one of the least expensive options. I've seen a decent fare with a layover in St. Petersburg as well. Don't know about Kiev though. The Ukraine seems to be a bit too volatile right now. I also saw a possible itinerary that went through Casablanca but discovered that there were only 4 caches in the city, two of them are currently disabled and one is a puzzle cache. Well to be fair there are many cheap fares to Russia from here too (Moscow and St Petersburg) but the real issue I have there is obtaining the visa. You actually have to apply through an embassy in the country where you have citizenship- for me meaning going to the embassy in either Hungary or to the USA- and that's just not going to happen due to the hassle factor. A real pity too as I'd love to see the Hermitage. Are you sure about the Russian visa. I asked about here awhile back and someone said that they were able to get it through the mail using one of those passport/visa service (like bcvisa, cibt) that specialized in Russian visas. If I had to apply directly at an embassy that would I'd have to take a trip to New York City (about 4.5 hours from here) or Washington D.C. (about six hours). Last I checked a Russian transit visa was $175US Morocco is also an odd one btw as I know a lot of folks who love traveling there, but it sounds so much of a hassle as a solo female traveler I'm just not that interested in it. Maybe someday if I was dating a guy who really wanted to go... Sorry, I'm already taken It's unfortunate that there are still places in the world where you'll get hassled solely due to your gender. I don't have any particular interest in going to Morocco, other than it's a country in which I haven't found a cache. Quote Link to comment
+cheech gang Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 (edited) Are you sure about the Russian visa. I asked about here awhile back and someone said that they were able to get it through the mail using one of those passport/visa service (like bcvisa, cibt) that specialized in Russian visas. If I had to apply directly at an embassy that would I'd have to take a trip to New York City (about 4.5 hours from here) or Washington D.C. (about six hours). Last I checked a Russian transit visa was $175US Last time I went I did it all by mail with these folks PVS International It is still$175 plus a $50 fee to the handling agency. Be aware you do need to mail in your passport, which may be problematic for a US citizen living abroad... Edited May 15, 2014 by cheech gang Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Are you sure about the Russian visa. I asked about here awhile back and someone said that they were able to get it through the mail using one of those passport/visa service (like bcvisa, cibt) that specialized in Russian visas. If I had to apply directly at an embassy that would I'd have to take a trip to New York City (about 4.5 hours from here) or Washington D.C. (about six hours). Last I checked a Russian transit visa was $175US Last time I went I did it all by mail with these folks PVS International It is still$175 plus a $50 fee to the handling agency. Be aware you do need to mail in your passport, which may be problematic for a US citizen living abroad... Sorry- to be clear yes you can apply by mail, but I cannot apply to the Russian consulate in the Netherlands (either by mail or in person) despite my residency here. So I could courier my passport abroad, but who really cares that much? (I mean unless I have business that sends me there sometime.) Sorta like me and going to Morocco- in a world where there are so many nice places to go and things to see, I don't see why I should go out of my way to visit places where you're not exactly welcomed. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Are you sure about the Russian visa. I asked about here awhile back and someone said that they were able to get it through the mail using one of those passport/visa service (like bcvisa, cibt) that specialized in Russian visas. If I had to apply directly at an embassy that would I'd have to take a trip to New York City (about 4.5 hours from here) or Washington D.C. (about six hours). Last I checked a Russian transit visa was $175US Last time I went I did it all by mail with these folks PVS International It is still$175 plus a $50 fee to the handling agency. Be aware you do need to mail in your passport, which may be problematic for a US citizen living abroad... Sorry- to be clear yes you can apply by mail, but I cannot apply to the Russian consulate in the Netherlands (either by mail or in person) despite my residency here. So I could courier my passport abroad, but who really cares that much? (I mean unless I have business that sends me there sometime.) Sorta like me and going to Morocco- in a world where there are so many nice places to go and things to see, I don't see why I should go out of my way to visit places where you're not exactly welcomed. I've used those visa services quite a few times and always get a little nervous about putting my passport in the mail. Are they going to lose it? Will I get it back in time? I've never had an issue and it almost always comes back quicker then I expect. I can't remember which service it was but there was one of them that would send an email message as every step was completed. I've never tried to send a package from Europe but I'm not sure what the problem would be in doing so. You might have to talk with a real person to get it sent back though. Those of use that live in the U.S. or Schengen countries have it a lot easier than people I've talked to from other countries (I've witnessed a few horror stories that others had first hand) but I understand why you might not want to jump through hoops to enter a country when there are so many other nice places to visit. On the other hand, living in the U.S., visiting Moscow or St. Petersburg feels more exotic to me, and probably less so if you're living in Europe with access to so many different countries and wonderful places (that trip to Bergen sounds wonderful). I'm not sure that Russia is exactly unwelcoming but I guess it is more expensive and a little more difficult to visit. Quote Link to comment
+Viajero Perdido Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. Just in case anyone wants to start a list. Of the countries I visited in Africa, I had to get a visa in advanced for Tanzania and Zambia, but not for ZImbabwe, South Africa, or Ethiopia. A visa can be obtained at the airport in Addis if you're a citizen from the U.S a Schengen country and I think Canada, Australia, and Japan. I was traveling with a couple of people from FAO in Italy and another participant for our meeting came in on another flight about the same time. He is from Peru, didn't get a visa in advance, and is not from a country eligible to obtain one at entry. Fortunately, my colleagues from the U.N. were able to get an official letter sent over from the FAO office in Addis and he was out of the airport in about 2 hours. For my Zambia visit I was there for a week long meeting/workshop attended by about 40 people for many different countries. There was a woman from Sri Lanka that had no trouble getting a visa for Zambia but was on a Zambia airline called Nationwide that connected to a KLM flight back to Sri Lanka. It would have cost her about $1000US for a tourist visa to enter South Africa so she didn't get one. Unfortunately, Nationwide didn't have an agreement with KLM that allowed her checked luggage to be transferred so it went to the baggage carousel, but she wasn't allow to leave the transit area to get it. I almost lost my luggage there myself because it took so long to get out of the airport. Quote Link to comment
+Pan314159 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I should get a few countries this year... Definitely: USA, Canada, & Greece. Possible: France, Ireland, & Germany. (if not this year then will get them early next year). Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. Just in case anyone wants to start a list. Of the countries I visited in Africa, I had to get a visa in advanced for Tanzania and Zambia, but not for ZImbabwe, South Africa, or Ethiopia. A visa can be obtained at the airport in Addis if you're a citizen from the U.S a Schengen country and I think Canada, Australia, and Japan. I was traveling with a couple of people from FAO in Italy and another participant for our meeting came in on another flight about the same time. He is from Peru, didn't get a visa in advance, and is not from a country eligible to obtain one at entry. Fortunately, my colleagues from the U.N. were able to get an official letter sent over from the FAO office in Addis and he was out of the airport in about 2 hours. For my Zambia visit I was there for a week long meeting/workshop attended by about 40 people for many different countries. There was a woman from Sri Lanka that had no trouble getting a visa for Zambia but was on a Zambia airline called Nationwide that connected to a KLM flight back to Sri Lanka. It would have cost her about $1000US for a tourist visa to enter South Africa so she didn't get one. Unfortunately, Nationwide didn't have an agreement with KLM that allowed her checked luggage to be transferred so it went to the baggage carousel, but she wasn't allow to leave the transit area to get it. I almost lost my luggage there myself because it took so long to get out of the airport. There's a very convenient wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Dutch_citizens You can of course replace Dutch with all sorts of other countries of origin. I would of course still check with the respective embassies, but it's a good start! Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. Just in case anyone wants to start a list. Of the countries I visited in Africa, I had to get a visa in advanced for Tanzania and Zambia, but not for ZImbabwe, South Africa, or Ethiopia. A visa can be obtained at the airport in Addis if you're a citizen from the U.S a Schengen country and I think Canada, Australia, and Japan. I was traveling with a couple of people from FAO in Italy and another participant for our meeting came in on another flight about the same time. He is from Peru, didn't get a visa in advance, and is not from a country eligible to obtain one at entry. Fortunately, my colleagues from the U.N. were able to get an official letter sent over from the FAO office in Addis and he was out of the airport in about 2 hours. For my Zambia visit I was there for a week long meeting/workshop attended by about 40 people for many different countries. There was a woman from Sri Lanka that had no trouble getting a visa for Zambia but was on a Zambia airline called Nationwide that connected to a KLM flight back to Sri Lanka. It would have cost her about $1000US for a tourist visa to enter South Africa so she didn't get one. Unfortunately, Nationwide didn't have an agreement with KLM that allowed her checked luggage to be transferred so it went to the baggage carousel, but she wasn't allow to leave the transit area to get it. I almost lost my luggage there myself because it took so long to get out of the airport. There's a very convenient wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia...._Dutch_citizens You can of course replace Dutch with all sorts of other countries of origin. I would of course still check with the respective embassies, but it's a good start! I've always used travel.state.gov (as a US citizen) for entry/exit requirements but those wikipedia pages provide a good summary. Like you said, I'd still check respective embassies or something more official than wikipedia. The visa requirements for U.S. citizens page tells me that South Africa is "visa-free" yet I seem to have a couple of visa stamps on the visa pages in my old passport that I received upon arrival. The only difference between getting the visa stamp in South Africa and the one in Turkey or Ethiopia was the SA stamp was applied by someone at immigration/passport control while the others required going to a separate location first to get the visa and have it put in your passport before going through passport control. Although that wikipedia site indicates that one can get a visa upon arrival the travel.state.gov site recommends getting it before arrival and that's what I did both times I visited. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 Some experience from Madrid airport: If you happen to end up at Terminal 4S it's difficult to get to the caches at Terminal 1,2,3. I originally had three hours time, but due to a plane delay I only had two, which was too short in the end: you need to take a kind of train to terminal 4 (only place with food nearby!) that seems to go every 10 or 15 minutes and then a bus that only takes a few minutes but it's uncertain how often it goes, and go back through customs again on the way back. No cache for me. Given the choice I rather take a better airport next time. At least this terminal is what I would call the worst I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. Actually I find Brazil an interesting case because they have a pretty simple rule- any country's citizens who want to enter Brazil just have to do the same as what Brazilian citizens have to do to enter the others' country. So if it's a hassle, blame the US policy on Brazilians. I actually have yet to enter Brazil for this reason too, or visit South America a lot for that matter (just waaay too many countries where US citizens have to drop a couple hundred bucks a pop just to enter... or I can go to SE Asia where I don't have to!). Now that I have a Hungarian passport too though with no such requirements on it (no visa required to enter Brazil for example) I am looking forward to exploring there sometime. The only visa I ever had to get in advance, mind, was my student visa for New Zealand when I studied there in 2007 (before I was a geocacher unfortunately!). Everything else was just at the border- NYPaddleCacher I'm surprised you needed Tanzania in advance as I just forked over $100 at the border and they gave me one- except China where my brother and I just had that arranged while we were in Hong Kong. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 A friend of a friend used a visa service ... that LOST his passport. He was unable to join the adventure with friends he had planned (an independent cycling trip in India), and I think he was even out the airfare. That's one reason - out of several - that any country insisting on a visa-in-advance gets dumped in my Not Bloody Likely pile. With over 200 countries out there, there are plenty of welcoming ones - eg visa-on-arrival, or none at all - that I will look at first. Yes Brazil, I'm looking at YOU. In addition to your visa- and courier fees, the questions you ask on the application form (please sir, may I visit your country?) are pretty darn nosey. The only visa I ever had to get in advance, mind, was my student visa for New Zealand when I studied there in 2007 (before I was a geocacher unfortunately!). Everything else was just at the border- NYPaddleCacher I'm surprised you needed Tanzania in advance as I just forked over $100 at the border and they gave me one- except China where my brother and I just had that arranged while we were in Hong Kong. As I said, the travel.state.gov site recommended getting a visa for Tanzania beforehand. Both times I went there I flew into Dar es Salaam and I probably could have got one when I got there but I was scheduled to get there late both times and didn't want to risk being told "come back tomorrow". I will probably be going back in the fall and will probably get my visa in advance for that trip as well. I got lucky with the China visa. I got it beforehand, then was invited back to China a few month later and the visa was still valid. Quote Link to comment
+Viajero Perdido Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Actually I find Brazil an interesting case because they have a pretty simple rule- any country's citizens who want to enter Brazil just have to do the same as what Brazilian citizens have to do to enter the others' country. So if it's a hassle, blame the US policy on Brazilians. No, I blame Brazil. (And Argentina, and Chile, ...) It's childish logic - an eye for an eye - but much of South America has bought into it. "Reciprocity Fee" is what some countries call it. "Spite Fee" is what I call it, or "Excuse for another tax". Anyway, there are lots of friendly countries above them on my to-do list. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 There are more countries doing that. Actually, I'm surprised Turkey is not. Germans don't need a visa. This was based on Germany loosening the visa rules for Turks, but they never did. So when we went to Turkey last summer my husband needed a visa (he's from another EU country) and I didn't. Quote Link to comment
+Andromeda321 Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Got Norway! Country #32 for caching... think it's #55 overall. And man, what a nice country- glorious weather right now in Bergen, which I understand is super weird but I seriously appreciate nonetheless. Quote Link to comment
+terratin Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 Yiha, got Austria and Slovakia for our country collection and are at 29 now. We'll stay another week in Austria, thus we'll get a few more caches here The weather is ok-ish though a bit cold. But then we're used to over 40 degrees C by now Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Yiha, got Austria and Slovakia for our country collection and are at 29 now. We'll stay another week in Austria, thus we'll get a few more caches here The weather is ok-ish though a bit cold. But then we're used to over 40 degrees C by now Sigh. No new countries yet for me this year. The trip I had hoped for to Rome (with a potential layover in a variety of possible locations, including Bergen) isn't going to happen. Instead, it looks I will most likely be going to Costa Rica the second week in August. However, that won't be a new country for me and I may only have one day to get out of San Jose and go to some place in the country I've not yet seen. I might rent a car and drive up to Poas Volcano...it's a fairly easy day trip. I still have tentative plans to go back to Africa in the fall but it's not yet clear which countries I'll be visiting. I'm hoping for a short visit to Uganda as that would be a new country. Quote Link to comment
Glory Hunters Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) Just booked the plane to Munich to attend the Giga - but we will go 2 days earlier, rent a car and drive to Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and then finally Germany. That will be 2 new countries for me and 5 for my friend Sooo nervous about it already! this is me http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=ba32380a-7243-487c-8d2e-5f6ea72e4e4a Edited June 4, 2014 by Glory Hunters Quote Link to comment
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