I am starting to plan how to obtain visas for our world trip. Last month I had checked one website covering the countries I was due to visit and found that I would not need visas for Mexico or Colombia, and probably not for Japan.
ROL Cruise, through whom we booked our trip, suggested we book our visas through a specific company. Today I looked at their website to check whether we can obtain visas through them for the USA (our ten year visa was last valid in 2012, when we went to New York with Sandro), India, Egypt, Vietnam and China. Apparently for Vietnam we will not need a visa if our visit is less than 15 days. Also China is at present not offering visas, presumably because of the harsh zero-covid protection policies, even though we will only be visiting Hong Kong and Shanghai for one day each.
However that company's offer was horrendously expensive. A visa for India cost £144.57 with a company visa service fee of £337.20, totalling £481.77. The process would take 10 days. A visa for USA cost £145.60 with a outrageous service fee of £486, totalling £631.60 and the process would take 7 days. For Egypt the visa cost £23.53 with a service charge of £173.53 and would last 5 days. I assume these are the sorts of fees buisinessmen pay who have no time pottering around consulates. I was also concerned by the time factor. Albina will be in Poland at a spa in Kolobrzeg for 4 weeks from October 26th till November 23rd. There will be barely be time after she is back to get all the visas done. I will try and see if I can get the US visas sorted directly with the US consulate before she goes to Poland.
The recommended company have now summarized the visa situation as follows:
Egypt: can apply for Electronic visa
India need to apply for paper visa; for the time being no electronic visa available.
Vietnam: Visa exempt for a stay of up to 15 days, check regulation on CIBT website; alternatively can apply for Electronic visa.
China currently unable to assist with processing tourist visa
Japan: The following new border measures below will be implemented from 0:00 AM (JST) on 11 October, 2022.
Visa will no longer be required for British citizens for short-term stays up to 90 days.
USA :can apply for an ESTA
We bought a matching set of four suitcases on Wednesday at a shop in Ealing. We even got a good deal at £160 all in. They all fitted snuggly inside each other like Russian dolls. However, once we had got them home Albina was dissatisfied. The wheels on the bigger suitcases were too small, she contended, and in fact they were smaller than the wheels on one of the smaller cases. Also the straps in the case appeared too short and did not have a proper clasp. We had an argument about this as I absolutely hate returning goods that have been bought. Once it has crossed our threshold we should either keep it or give it away to some needy friend. Yet she is quite happy to order goods online and then decide to return them. Of course it was I who had to go the shop, not Albina. It was not one of those big stores that are happy to accept returns. I showed them the receipt and they said they had a policy of no refunds. I could not see any sign to that effect, so I left the suitcases with them and took the receipt back. When I got home I contacted Barclaycard on my wife's account and we asked to cancel the sale. They said they would send a form to complete the next day and asked me to put in the details and a copy of that receipt.
In the meantime the Ukraine news is really depressing. Putin had organized pseudo-referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhe and Kherson claiming that each of these oblasts is now Russian territory. Now the falsified returns have been published, ranging between 89% and 99% in favour of joining Russia. So no more fictions about independent republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. More seriously, by organizing a mass rally in Moscow celebrating the new territorial acquisitions and rousing a massive crowd to fever pitch with a virulent anti-Western hate speech, he is transforming Putin's war into Russia's war. It is Putin's Anschluss. The majority of Russians will now fervently support this annexation, no matter how many young Russians seek to escape the draft abroad. A putsch against Putin now is surely just a pipe dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment