10
Jul
I finally found award availability for somewhere I’ve been trying to get to for ages, Uzbekistan. It isn’t easy when the country doesn’t have flights to many other countries, and rarely has discounted or award availability in premium classes. I was ready to book until I realised I need a visa, there is no nearby embassy (in my country or any neighbouring country) and I’m not in one place long enough to be able to be without my passport for a few weeks to send away for the visa. Rats.
I have 2 backup options for that travel window.
A) a place much easier to get to, Laos, but which I haven’t yet visited due to an inconvenient schedule. Visa is available on arrival but I’ll waste time en route with forced overnight connections.
or
B) another place in the Balkans which will cost me more (time and money) to get to but doesn’t require a visa (one of a small number of visa free places I can visit that I haven’t already been to).
James said,
This is the vaguest blog post I’ve ever read.
Oliver said,
Is this a riddle? What countries?
Inner West LIVE said,
Book project 2010: update #14…
We found your entry interesting so have added a Trackback to it on the Inner West Live weblog
…
Gary said,
Sounds like you need a second passport!!
Sara said,
Don’t give up on the UZ option yet. You’ll need a letter of invitation, but you should qualify for a visa on arrival in Tashkent. Check out Stantours or Advantours for info (I’ve used both companies for Central Asia visa support – both equally reliable).
The Global Traveller said,
Unfortunately not generally available in my country (diplomats and government excepted). Normally I get around this by having a month free of international travel every now and then to arrange visas for upcoming trips.
gluedtothewindow said,
Highly recommend Laos, FWIW.
becky said,
“Another place in the Balkans” Surely you know that UZ is not in the Balkans. Get a second passport. Use a visa service. I’ve only done land crossings to UZ and they are a pain in the patuti.
The Global Traveller said,
Another is in the context that I’ve already visited the Balkans several times in the past few years, and this would be somewhere new for me.
Unfortunately I’m not eligible for a 2nd passport. I do use a visa service to minimise hassles (I consider their advice and assistance well worth the fees) but if my passport needs to be sent halfway around the world to get a visa I’ll still need to be without it for a considerable time.
Christopher said,
Please find another place to go, I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to go to this dreadful country. They treat their tourists as bad as they treat their own people. Really wish someone would have told me of what I was getting into before going such as being ripped-off by the hotels personnel, robbed from the police, stopped every 5 minutes on the street and metro asking for my passport.
Julian said,
Bulgaria? I don’t think you have been there yet…
jjlasne said,
Which country are you located in?
Martin said,
I had the same problem from Oz, with no local Uzbek Embassy, and couldn’t be without my passport for two weeks. But I was lucky and had a UK passport so was able to transit through Europe for a few days and apply for a visa (without leaving my passport). I came back a few days later and they put the visa sticker in. Very accommodating, but not sure it would work with a non-EU passport. Maybe worth looking into though.
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