Passport

It’s time to renew my passport.

I’m not happy about this. Renewing my passport means I have to start all over with stamps.  And it’s going to be stiff and brand-new looking, with an RFID chip in it. My old passport doesn’t have the chip in it.  This occasionally causes problems with airport personnel trying to check me in, which is amusing.

Although on the bright side, I’ll get a new picture, maybe one that actually looks like me so security doesn’t do a double take every time they compare me with my passport photo.

I’ve heard the rumor that US passport fees are going to go up in the near future. It’s already $100 for an adult passport – so if you’re thinking about getting one or will need yours renewed soon, get on that and do it now.

If you don’t have a passport yet, go get one. Now. And then use it.  The United States has the smallest percentage of passport holders of any developed nation.  Everyone travels more than we do.  And with all of our nation’s wealth and affluence, that’s just sad.

So…how does one go about procuring a passport?  Very simple.

1. Go to the US Government passport page. Find and fill out the proper form. If you’re over sixteen, you’ll be getting an adult passport, and if you’re under sixteen you’ll be getting a child’s passport, which is only good for five years.  You can either fill out the forms on the computer, or print out blank ones to fill in by hand.
2. Get your passport photos taken.  It’s possible to do this yourself – look up how to do it if you’re really interested.  Or let a professional do it for you at a place like Walgreens, Ritz Photo, Meijer, etc.
3. You can go here to search for the nearest place to apply for a passport.  Most post offices and government buildings will do it.
4. Follow the directions on your form and on the website.  You’ll need to bring proper ID with you when you apply (and you must apply in person, unless you’re only renewing an adult passport.)  You must have either a previous passport or a certified birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or certificate of citizenship to prove that you’re a US citizen.
5. Submit a photocopy of your identification.
6. Give them money.  Rates are supposed to be going up, so get in there soon.
7. Give ‘em your two passport-sized photos that fit all the specs.  (See above.)
8. Sign on the line. Don’t sign the form until they tell you to.
9. Become a proud passport holder. –Once they send it you, ages later.

Win.  You’re now authorized to travel many places on the globe, with the exception of Cuba.  Border Patrol will be keepin’ a close eye on you if you travel to the Middle East for any reason, and Russia’s visa laws are silly.  Luckily, you can pay people to “sponsor’ you on a visitor visa so Russia really isn’t a problem, just more difficult. But you now have one of the best passports on earth–many countries don’t require visas for Americans to visit.  Do you feel lucky? Good.  Don’t take it for granted.  Try talking to someone from a third-world country and ask what countries welcome them in with open arms.

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4 Travel Websites You Should Bookmark

Whether you’re in between trips, planning a trip, or just returned from one, here are four websites with quality travel advice to keep you inspired and help you plan your next trip.

1. Bootsnall.com As adventure travel sites go, Bootsnall is probably the best. Nothing against the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forums or anything, but…they’re not as good as Bootsnall.  The site can also help you plan your trip, from helping you purchase Eurail passes to RTW plane tickets.  There’s not a lot you won’t find here. They have free city travel guides, an active community, a plethora of resources to help you plan your trip, and best of all their website isn’t full of advertisements for their own products.  I’ve never bought plane tickets through them, though I’ve heard good things about it. They also have a fare search that covers all the major aggregate search engines like Vayama, Kayak, etc.
2. Oneworld or Star Alliance RTW fare calculators.  Hmm, maybe its’ just me, but I can waste good time making up theoretical round-the-world trips.  And if you’re actually trying to plan an RTW, these interactive maps are great for mapping out exactly what you want to do.  Depending on where you start your trip, the RTW fare might be higher or lower (the USA is a fairly expensive place to start, due to low demand and relative inaccessibility to the rest of the world, while the UK is the best deal I’ve found so far.)  Each program has different fare rules; Oneworld is based on continents visited and country of origin, while Star Alliance is based on miles traveled.  Check both with your planned itinerary to see which can give you a better deal.
3. Nomadic Matt: Nomadic Matt has travel advice, articles, and  a good travel blog.  He’s actually developed his site to the point where he makes money off it — no mean feat in the oversaturated world of travel-writing-on-the-internet.  Look him up on Twitter too; he always has interesting travel article links.
4. Vagabondish: “The travelzine for today’s vagabond.”  If it’s possible to make vagabonding posh, then this site has done it.  It’s a good way to stay inspired to travel and has some good travel advice.

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Travel Disclaimer

From the excellent files of Bootsnall.com comes another sterling piece you might find interesting…

Travel Disclaimer

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It all started with a llama…

So, I was having a bit of a think the other day. I know, that doesn’t happen often.

Somewhere in Lima. It's amazing how the mind lets one down after only a few years.

I was trying to figure out where this need to travel comes from and when I first realized how awesome it is. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m slightly obsessed with it.  But I haven’t always been like this.  Indeed, I was once a small child with an affinity for road trips and no inkling that a few short years later I would be addicted to something outside my power to control.

I think it must have been Peru. More specifically, it was when a llama decided to chase us on Machu Picchu. (Macchu Pichu? I can never remember.)

I know what you’re thinking. What did I do to that poor llama? Nothing. He came out of nowhere like an avenging angel with a spitting problem and lunged toward us with destruction written in his bugged-out eyes.  We had no choice but to run and hope we didn’t fall off the side of the mountain, a thing which is easier to do than you might imagine.

What was I doing in Peru? It was my very first trip out of the country as a wee tenth grader on a school trip.  There were tour buses, there was bottled water and jungle cabins and a scenic train and ruins and cathedrals. My god were there cathedrals.  Our tour guides just could not get enough of cathedrals.  It was a guided “educational” trip which meant they wouldn’t let us try the Inca beer, which looked slightly like a milkshake and probably like it could kill you. I believe it was made out of corn and Incan spit.

Now I don’t remember fact one about the cathedrals or most of the ruins. (Hint to tour guide operators: no one can enjoy that kind of thing for ten hours a day, every day.)

What I do remember is getting chased by a llama off the side of a mountain.  And bargaining with people in the markets for a llama-hair blanket and finger puppets of llamas.  You may notice a certain llama theme here. This is because we were in Peru, whose main exports are llamas and Inca-themed merchandise.

I think back now to the moment I stepped off the plane into the violently yellow Cusco airport.  First of all it was the longest plane ride I’d ever taken so that was exciting, because there was a full travel story in itself on how long and awful it was to be cooped up in a metal box for five hours. Yes, five whole hours.  You can see I had never considered going to Australia at that point in my life.

Forgive me this next part.  I was expecting something rather more third-worldly here.  Other than being intensely yellow, having a propensity for peeling plaster, and a noticeable lack of air-con, the airport was certainly an improvement over certain third-world airports, ones like Chicago O’Hare.

My timid classmates, our chaperone, and I were found by the tour guide and we were shuffled hastily on to a bus complete with curtains in the windows, air-con, and bottled water.  The height of luxury. You must understand that at this point I, coming from a small town in Northern Michigan, had never experienced anything like as advanced as public transportation, international airports, currency exchanges, or malaria pills.

When the hotel we were taken to had open windows on the seventh floor – one careless slip and you’re gone for good – I thought that was a pretty Notable Event.

Anyways I got over it.

But on that guided, air-conditioned, educational trip, I learned several important things.  First, that I never wanted to give my money to tour operators again.  Second, that the world wasn’t, in fact, a terrifyingly disease- and crime- infested place and was in fact Pretty Cool. And third, I learned holyshitIlovethisandthisandIwantogoeverywhererightnow.

So while I still cringe at the amount of money I had to pay for eight days being dragged around every historical site in Peru, that trip was the spark that fueled this traveling obsession and I wouldn’t change a thing.

It’s been over two months since I’ve been anywhere and I’m getting the withdrawal shakes: not being able to sleep at night, compulsively budgeting money I don’t even have yet, checking skyscanner on a daily basis, and finding myself on travel websites with no memory of how I got there.  This is going to be a long summer.

You know, I do wonder what I would be doing today if I hadn’t gone to Peru.  I almost cancelled for the stellar reasons that most of my friends weren’t going, it was expensive, and it was rather intimidating. Would I be sitting in a university somewhere wondering why I felt so dissatisfied with life? Or would something else have happened to help me realize how awesome getting in a flying tin can and hurtling to strange destinations full of malaria and yellow fever can be?

On a slightly related note, I’ve decided to learn French.  I made a good effort to learn Hungarian but without an actual speaker here to help me out I just can’t get the pronunciation.  It’s too difficult to try and learn from my limited resources.

But French, French is a piece of cake compared to Hungarian. It’s just like Spanish with a few extra sounds.  You say cafe au lait instead of cafe con leche.  Big deal.  In any case, I can get coffee almost anywhere.

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Top Signs You’re Addicted to Travel

Did you catch the travel bug along with the stomach bug in Mexico?  If you’re addicted to travel, I’m sorry to say, there’s no cure. It’s like heroin. You’ll need more and more just to feel normal. That’s the good news. The bad news is that others around you might not be so enthusiastic about your obsession as you are.

Corfu

Signs you’re a travel addict:

• You read guidebooks for fun
• Your friends flee when they see you coming, because…
• …you begin every sentence with, “I remember one time in…”
• You become offended when someone thinks Aussies actually drink Fosters
• Your passport is with you at all times, just in case.
• You feel strange not wearing flip flops in the shower
• A room full of twenty drunk snoring people no longer fazes you
• After more than a month without traveling, you get the shakes
• While websurfing, you find yourself on a travel site 10 times out of ten, with no memory of how you got there
• The vast majority of your Facebook friends live across the world
• Your bookcase is half-filled with beat up travel guides. The other half has Bill Bryson.
• When entering public bathrooms, you automatically do a scan for the possible places a flusher could be hiding, and another scan for the person trying to charge you to use the toilet.
• There are at least twenty euros in your wallet at all times. Just in case. (See passport.)
• When people ask what your hobbies are, you can’t say a sentence not containing the word travel.
• You have detailed critiques of the world’s major airlines and judge them by the quality of their in-flight food.
• You wake up in the morning and you can’t remember where you are.
• You’re talking to somebody and you can’t remember what country you’re in or what the last country was
• Kebabs.
• A hostel shower big enough to turn around in is enough to make your entire day better
• And…
• You spend hours every day daydreaming about trips you’ll never take, trips you’ve taken, and people you’ve met on the road.  Doing almost any daily activity (laundry, driving, listening to music) can give you a flashback to a random moment on the road.

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Traveling, Living, Karate, and Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison, lead singer of the sixties rock band The Doors (if you haven’t heard of them I don’t know where you’ve been living but your existence is flat and empty) once said,

“The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.”

So what is he talking about and how does it relate to traveling, life, or karate?  Let me explain…

I brought this up specifically because of a post I saw on Facebook the other day.  A friend is doing quite well and moving up in the state/national karate championships.  He’s up to nationals now.  And his aunt posted on his status with words to the effect of “Congratulations, but we love you so don’t go too far because we want you to be around here.”

I know she was well-meaning and everything, but the basic message she was sending there was, “You should sacrifice what you want so that you can stay here with your family and make us happy, even at the expense of your own happiness.” (There’s my karate reference.)

And this kind of situation happens all the time.  Family and friends aren’t trying to be malicious, but by being thoughtless and putting their own wants in front of your own, they can be very effective at sabotaging your dreams. (Jim Morrison quote.) It’s the famous guilt trip of the mother on a huge, subtle scale.  It’s your family, thinking they’re doing what’s best for you when really they’re trying to do what’s best for them–all they’re doing is holding you back, making you doubt yourself, making you fear, keeping you from achieving what you have the potential to achieve. And because this “advice” is coming from people you care about, you naturally respect and value their opinions, making it even harder to look at them dispassionately to see the truth behind the words.

And to go further into this, what is an appropriate sacrifice to make for the people you care about?  Would they be willing to make the same sacrifice for you?  Say, for example, that you wanted to move to New Zealand, about as far away as you can get from the United States and still be on Earth.  It would be pretty common for your family and friends to try to talk you out of it, or at least try to get you to come back and visit them as often as possible.

But is anyone offering to go visit you in New Zealand?  Or, if they’re the ones trying to talk you out of moving, would they be willing to move as well?  To go with you?  Because what they are, in essence, suggesting is that you should sacrifice what you want (to move to NZ) in order that they should have what they want (for you to stay close to them.)

And if they’re not willing to go the distance for you, but expect you to do for them what they would not for you, then perhaps you should re-evaluate your relationship.

And when people give you advice about a big change you’re considering in your life, examine their motives behind the words, even (especially) if it’s your own mother speaking. In the end, you have to listen to yourself, do what you want to do, and not be swayed by people trying to change your mind.  (The reference to life.)

In my not lengthy life so far, the majority of the people I’ve talked to have or have had some kind of dream to go on a big trip.  But almost none of them think of this as a realistic dream–they immediately come up with excuses: work, family, commitment, money, etc etc.  And these people regret not achieving their dream.  (My travel reference. Title is accurate!)

So are you going to be the person who listened to everybody’s advice and stayed home and is now regretting the choices they made for other people, or are you going to be the person who takes personal responsibility for what they do and lives a rich and fulfilling life because they’ve properly recognized and made the appropriate choices to achieve their goals and dreams?

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Wow

That tour was pretty intense. I just got back to Edinburgh a few hours ago and I’m about half dead from exhaustion, but I can’t sleep yet.  I still have a few things to do–namely delve into the frighteningly unwashed depths of my backpack and repack everything–somehow–because I’m leaving at about 4 o clock tomorrow morning for my  flight to Amsterdam.

I decided to skip London and England altogether, for the moment.  I just wasn’t super excited about it and I’ve never been really interested in the English countryside.  The Netherlands and Germany I am excited to explore the tiny wee villages and all that so it’s straight to Amsterdam tomorrow.

This is just brief.  I’ll tell everything that I did on the tour later.  Right now I must jsut say that the Highlands are nothing like I expected but they are spectacular beyond all description.  The most gorgeous, rugged, barren, fairytale landscapes can be found in the Highlands.  I never would have imagined the millions of lochs or the mountains or the groves of somber Scotch pines–but most of all the mountains.  These are the oldest mountains in the world.  They are ridiculously startling.  I wasn’t aware that geography could do that, but apparently it can.

Anyways, I’ll be back tomorrow or so with more.  Right now I have a lot of stuff to and about 30 hours of sleep to catch up on in 7 hours.  Hmm.

Cheers, kids.

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Why Hostels Are Awesome

Sunday in Edinburgh is pretty slow, and it’s freezing outside so I’m inside for a bit, waiting for my room to get ready.

I’ve stayed at a different hostel every night.  Edinburgh is great for hostels–I’ve paid about £12 a night at each hostel I’ve stayed at, and they’ve all been clean.

Friday night’s hostel was great.  It lacked character, but the building was brand-new, and the rooms were super clean, modern and quiet.  I stayed in a mixed 12-bed dorm and it was quieter than six bed dorms I’ve been in.  And there were two sinks in the room, as well as two separate bathrooms and two separate showers, which was about the best arrangement I’ve ever seen.

Saturday night I stayed right on the Royal Mile.  This place was alright.  It was clean and other than the reception guy being a jerk to everyone, it wasn’t bad.  But it was full of long-termers and long-termers are always weird.  No exceptions.  The dorm did have reading lights at every bed, which was phenomenal.

Tonight I’m staying at Castle Rock Hostel, which is at the end of the Royal Mile right–almost across the street from Edinburgh Castle.  Talk about a great view.  This place is huge.  I haven’t seen my room yet, but the reception is super friendly, there are computers and wifi, a huge common room and at least two smaller ones, perhaps multiple kitchens, and at least one dining room.  I haven’t even seen it all yet.  And it’s in this ancient building.  This is a winner for sure.

A lot of people only know about hostels through um, the movie Hostel.  I’ve never seen it but I’m fairly sure it didn’t do a great job of providing an accurate picture of a hostel. You meet so many people at hostels, even if you’re trying not to.  For instance, on Friday night as soon as I walked into my room I met Soo Young from Korea, and Phil from Chicago.  We ended up going out for a pub crawl where we met a few Canadians and Australians.  Somewhere along the line we lost Soo Young, because she decided to go back to the hostel, but Phil and I people-watched as the drunk pub crawlers continued to get drunker, which is always entertaining.

The next night I stayed at the hostel and met a person from London and two more Americans (this place is crawling with them) who live in Oregon.  The two girls decided to take a backpacking trip around Europe and Turkey and this is the end of the road for them.  They left this morning for Ireland, and they’re flying home from Dublin in a few more days.  People are coming and going everywhere, and everyone likes to talk about where they’ve been and where they#re going.  Phil is almost done with a three-month around the world trip.  One of the Canadians was flying by the seat of her pants, going wherever she felt like it and not planning ahead at all.  I mean, at all at all.  She didn’t even know what continent she was going to end up in next.

That’s why hostels are great places.  Staying in a hotel, you don’t get to meet people and that’s where the real fun comes in.

Agh, my time is up.  It might be a few days before I’m back as I’m leaving on my tour tomorrow.

Later!

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It’s A Bonnie Wee Land

I finally made it to Edinburgh yesterday afternoon after some interesting setbacks.

My bus/ferry to Edinburgh was supposed to leave at 6.30 in the morning because the other time was 11.15 and of course that was already full by the time I bought my ticket.

That night I could not sleep.  I have insomnia and apparently it was acting up.  Plus, I was a little worried about walking the streets of Belfast by myself before daylight–not that I was going anywhere other than the main road, but it is kind of a dodgy town and I’d just spent about an hour talking to a Polish guy who was living there and he couldn’t hate the place more.  So with that encouraging conversation, I proceeded to fall asleep at about 3 am.  You can see where this is going.

I woke up at 8.30 and as soon as I realized it was light out I’m thinking…oh shit….there are only two buses a day to Edinburgh.  I just missed the first one, the second one is full, and I’ve already booked my hostel for the night in Edinburgh so I’m paying for that whether I’m there or not.

At the bus station the lady looks at me like I’m an idiot.  Maybe I am but there’s no reason to be so sassy.  I’m still jetlagged, you Irish wench.

She was pretty insistent that there was no room on the 11.15, even made a big show of looking it up on the computer.  As I was about to give up in despair and try to find Plan C, a guy in the back of the office pipes up, “Is it just for one?”

Yes, yes, yes.  Turns out there was indeed a space available.  I had to pay a £10 late fee but by that time  I didn’t care.  It was cheaper than paying for a hostel I wasn’t going to be at or trying to buy a completely new ticket altogether.

The buses weren’t full, by the way, and neither was the ferry.  I’m convinced that woman just didn’t like me.

While I’m waiting in the Europa Bus Station this old Irish couple sits down next to me and the woman starts talking of course.  They’re Irish.  She pegs me as an American right away and then proceeds to tell me about how much they enjoy John Wayne and want to go visit America.  She wants to see Hollywood and Los Angeles and New York, but they’re afraid to travel to the US because they’ve heard it’s so dangerous.

They think I’m very brave for traveling on my own.  “Don’t trust anybody! Not even your own mother,” admonishes the old man. They made sure I got on the right bus and wished me luck.  They were adorable.

Finally finally after almost a full day of traveling I got into Edinburgh at about six thirty at night.

This is the most utterly medieval, pretty town I’ve ever seen.  The streets are cobbled, the buildings are fantastic, all ancient and stone.  There are churches everywhere, a lot of them now housing cafes, reception halls and the like.

And of course there’s Edinburgh castle looming on an extinct volcano right at the end of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s main street and the place to go if you have a sudden urge to buy a kilt or listen to bagpipes.

Earlier today I paid the extortionate £12 fee to enter Edinburgh Castle.  I wasn’t exactly disappointed, because there’s a lot to see and a few small museums and a lot of information, but the tiny bits of the actual castle that you get to see are not very authentic, and you can’t wander through the place.  They let you see Mary, Queen of Scots’ bedchambers, an old room where important political finaglings went on, the great feasting hall, and a small area underground that shows the remains of a tower that was built there before the present castle. I also got to see Scotland’s Coronation Regalia–the real stuff.  It looked old and not as impressive as I thought.  Any third-rate noble could have afforded that.  With the Regalia was the Stone of Destiny which sounds like something out of a trashy sci-fi novel and in actuality is a giant white, chalky square boulder with an iron loop in either end for carrying.  They didn’t, of course, explain the story behind it so I guess it’s up to me to solve this mystery.

There was also a National War Museum, which was interesting because of the information on the Jacobite uprising and the pictures and artifacts from the Scottish and English past.  The poor Scots have had a hard time of it with the English.  It seems like most people have, actually.  India, Ireland, Scotland, etc etc.

There is a profusion of walking tours in this city and I’ll probably go do one later today.  Last night I did a pub crawl with some people from my hostel dorm.  It was supposed to take us to local places, but instead we went to two hostel bars, a tourist pub on the Royal Mile, and  a not-very-happening student bar in the basement of some place.  Oh well, at least I got a few “free” drinks out of it and a shot of terrible whisky.  Yum.

Edinburgh is seriously awesome.  I wish I had more time here, but I’m leaving on Monday morning for my Highlands tour.  Scotland, what I have seen of it so far, is rugged and gorgeous.  There are a lot of trees, mostly melancholy pine forests and wild, bushy stands of trees which are jsut now starting to turn yellow.  The place feels a lot wilder than Ireland.  There are coos everywhere as well as sheep.  And food, even in downtown Edinburgh, is almost affordable.  There are these great kebab-falafel-fish n chips shops called Yum Yum, and they have these huge long tubes of lamb and chicken spinning on a vertical spit.  When you order, they cut thin slices off of it.  It’s cheap and tasty.

My time in the internet cafe is almost up so…later kids!

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What I’ve Learned After Two Days on the Road

1.) Everybody is an Australian.  No exceptions.

Ok, a few.  But the percentage of Australians traveling compared to other nationalities is staggering.  And they literally run every hostel ever.  They are the ultimate traveling nation.  And their cousins the Kiwis, according to an Ozzie I was talking to last night, have supposedly over half their total population overseas at any given moment.  Wow.  Imagine if half of America was off gallivanting about in SE Asia and Europe and Africa and South America.  No one would ever be able to get anything done with us hanging around.

2.) Frozen dinners are never edible.  No exceptions.

No, really. There are no exceptions this time.  They are always made out of radioactive material.

3.) Americans have the best passports on the planet (with the possible exception of a passport from a strong EU nation)

With an American passport, you can freely travel or get a visa for almost anywhere…except Cuba.  With passports from many other countries, you’re limited.  Or visas are nearly impossible to get.  With a Polish passport, for example, you need a visa to get into the USA.  Not a problem, right?  Except the visa is only given out in cases of never, or if you have a lot of money.

PS. Polish people believe that JFK was killed by our government.  A theory worth looking into.

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