Nepal Visa
Nepal provides visa on arrival , just fill in the form, provide a passport picture and have the money needed with you. Visas are available for 15/30/90 days fo 25/40/100USD.
If you intend to stay longer than 30 days, but less than 60 days, it pays off to take a 30 day visa only and extend it at the immigration offices in Pokhara or Kathmandu which seems to be pretty easy.
If for whatever reason you need to overstay your visa by 1 day only as in Alex' case (bad planning, we know), don't worry. It looks like the Nepalis do not count the day of departure and you only meed to extend your visa if you o erstay by 2 ot more days. We had got that information from the immigration office in Pokhara and Alex did not have any issues upon departure.
Visa Stuff
-
- Moni & Alex
-
- Moni & Alex
Vietnam Visa
Luckily, these days it gets easier to apply for Vietnamese visas. Some countries - France is one of them, Austria not - can even enter the country without visa if staying up to 15 days only.
For all others: if you do not want to or simply do not have the time to, you can also apply online for a so called "visa approval letter". It costs you 15USD and the letter us issued within 2 working days after the payment is processed. With this approval letter you enter Vietnam, fill in the true visa application (passport pics needed), pay another 25USD for single entry 1 month validity and the visa is issued directly.
NOTE: this procedure is only applicable if you enter Vietnam by air via one of the international airports. If you enter overland, you don't come around pre-arranging your visa.
Online application is possible e.g. here (check that your country is eligible):
www.vietnameseembassy.org -
- Moni & Alex
Laotian Visa
Getting a Laotian visa is pretty easy for most nationalities and straight forwards as you can get it upon arrival at both international airports and land borders (but make sure you verify before crossing overland as there might be differences for different border points).
If you do cross a land border, bring a passport picture, USD (at the border where we crossed they did not even accept Laotian Kip) and be prepared to pay the "idiot tax": 3USD weekend surcharge here, 2USD tourism fund fee there and 4USD visa stamping fee (hallo?!?!?). If you do not have a passport picture with you it costs you another 2-3 USD fine ;).
But apart from that the visa process is fairly easy and fast and we did not encounter any problems. -
- Moni & Alex
Myanmar
Since the country opened up more and more in recent years it also gets easier to get a visa to enter Myanmar. Instead of sending your passport to Berlin for 28days to have the visa processed, you may now apply for an e-visa online (www.evisa.moip.gov.mm). Similar to Vietnam, you fill in an application form, upload a passport picture (if yours does not work there is even a link to create your own online passport pic) and process the payment (50USD for a 28day tourist visa). Within 1-3 days your application letter is processed and sent to you, you print it and show it to the immigration officer to stamp the actual visa in your passport upon arrival.
At the time we went to Myanmar, it was only possible to enter the country by air with an e-visa, but overland crossings might be possible in the future - just check on the page above, it gives all necessary information. In case you still need a common visa already stamped in your passport, you might get it in Bangkok a lot faster than in Europe.
For us, travelling with an e-visa was super easy, immigration was very fast and we did not encounter any issues when entering or leaving the country. And: no additional fees apply to the 50USD! -
- Moni & Alex
Indonesian Visa
Entering Indonesia was so far the fastest and least complicated of all.
For many European nations (incl. both Austria and France) it is possible to get visa on arrival free of charge for a maximum stay of 30 days. For longer stays you will have to pay, but this is also possible at the international airports.
As we stay less than 30 days, we got the free tourist visa, did not need to fill in any form, immigration officers just asked for the length of our stay, put a stamp in our passport and we were done within 2 minutes. Easy :) -
- Moni & Alex
New Caledonia
As New Caledonia is a part of France (an overseas territory) you do not need a visa to enter the country if you a citizen of the European Union. Super easy, they just check your passport at the airport and you are in. The downside is: you do not get a stamp of this paradise country into your passport to proudly show it around ;). -
- Moni & Alex
Australian Visa
If you are travelling as a tourist, most of the European countries can apply for the e-visitor online. It does not cost anything, you fill in all your details (it will remember and store previous information and applications) and the approval is usually issued immediately. The e-visitor is valid for 12 months, allowing you a stay of up to 3 months for each entry. So within a year you can theoretically go to Australia as many times in a row as you want, just make sure latest after 3 month you leave the country (usually to Bali, Fiji or New Zealand) and then come back on the same visa. Easy, no?! -
- Moni & Alex
Colombia
Pretty much all of South America is quite easy and chilled for Europeans. You actually do not need a visa, when you enter the country by air or by land you get a stamp in your passport with a maximum validity of up to 90 days. No extra fees for entry or exit apply.
Just one hint that almost made us miss our flight: officially you need to prove that you have a valid ticket leaving the country again. Well, a lot of countries claim that, but nobody really checks. However, when we wanted to get onto our Avianca flight from Santiago to Bogota the staff did check and as we did not have any onward or return ticket they did not want to let us board the flight. So we quickly HAD to book a flight in order not to be offloaded. But yet another good advise: in Colombia there is a similar law like in Europe and for every online purchase with a credit card you can cancel your ticket within 48h completely free of charge. Or you book a fully refundable ticket (that is what we did in a rush) and cancel and refund it once you are in Colombia. Worked pretty fine with Avianca and we received our money back before we even left the country. -
- Moni & Alex
Ecuador
Same like Colombia, pretty easy and you receive a stamp with up to 90 days validity in your passport when entering the country. Officially it was also written that you need to have an onward or return ticket, but we entered by land with the bus and nobody checked. We do not know though if they check when you enter by air. Definitely, no entry or exit fees apply! -
- Moni & Alex
Peru
And Peru is also the same: we entered and left by land with the bus and everywhere the procedure was straight forward and without any complications or corrupt officers (our favourite border was between Ecuador and Peru between Zumba and San Ignacio where no more than 5 people cross each day). According to your planned length of stay you can get a stamp for 30, 60 or 90 days validity. No fees apply! -
- Moni & Alex
Bolivia
And last, but not least Bolivia! We entered by land and left by air, both times no issues at all (90 days permit free of charge as well). While for land crossings we read that the officers sometimes ask for a "collaboration fee" we did not encounter this problem and leaving via the airport was as well straight forward and easy. Just be aware that when you fly out of Bolivia the authorities will most likely search your entire bags for drugs. Our backpacks looked like a real mess when we collected them in Bolivia and Alex' sleeping bag was missing as well...
Post a reply