We're making arrangements for our first real vacation in two years. Paris and Barcelona. I'm so excited!!! But first we have to run through a gauntlet of visa stampings. We need Canadian visas so we can get to Vancouver to stamp our US visa. Without getting the US visa stamped we can't apply for a Schengen visa to Europe. And we can't get the US visa stamped within the US, hence the Canada trip. But wait, there's more! We also have to go down to San Francisco to get our Schengen visa because the French consulate only does in-person appointments. So we essentially end up doing two trips so that we can actually make our vacation. I really envy my friends from Canada and Hong Kong - they don't need a visa to go to Europe. This is one of those times when being Indian sucks!
So while we're getting all our paperwork together for visas, we're looking up places to stay in Paris and Barca. Hotels are way too expensive, hostels aren't bad. But I think the best value for money is a vacation rental. I found a nice Barca apartment, only minutes from Las Ramblas by metro. Paris has been harder. I guess we should have started planning our trip earlier. But we've got a couple of leads so we should be able to sew that up in a couple of days.
I find myself getting quite paranoid. All it takes is one denied visa to destroy the whole plan, not to mention flush thousands of euros down the toilet. Let's hope everything comes together! We're both quite busy at work and our weekends are all booked up for the visa trips. I think we'll be completely exhausted when(if?) we finally get on that flight.
But wild horses can't keep me away from Europe. I have a serious case of wanderlust. I haven't travelled much at all and am dying to see the world and experience different cultures. We've resolved that come what may, we're going to travel like crazy these next few years. It's nice to have a wife who thinks exactly like you do :)
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3 comments:
Wooohoooooo!! And armed with the new Nikkor lens too that's in the mail!! :-)
What would've been the reimbursement on the tickets if you canceled a week or more in advance ? zero ?
BTW, Great pictures taken you two !!
Thanks for the nice post, maybe you can also write about walking tours which are very trendy nowadays across the world, there is a great company in Peru, they are running walking tours in three cities, each one of them got great reviews on triadvisor, you can see all the info at: https://www.freewalkingtoursperu.com/
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