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Iran planning

Friday, February 26th, 2010

After tackling Russia in 2008, I don’t think any country could match the bureaucracy, inefficiency and non-tourist friendly levels the post communist country did. Therefore planning for Iran turns out to be not all that difficult. The key for me lies in my NZ passport, the passport that everyone likes given we are too small to piss anyone off and desperately need immigrants so let people come to our country which in turn allows us cheaper visa fee’s. So while the main issue for most people is the complicated and often failed attempt at obtaining a visa, I am relying on the fact that I can get a visa on arrival at the airport.

Fingers crossed of course. Enough experience with these types of countries has taught me to be slightly wary of such promises despite being made by the Iranian consulate in NZ. I do however have an email from them stating this and a downloaded document from the website confirming it, both of which I will take with me in case of any problems at the border. So with the visa issue aside I have my ticket booked to Dubai and now one onwards to Shiraz, a town in the southern part of Iran. Thankfully with with help of uppersia.com who helped me book a ticket with Iran airways, given that is was all written in Farsi making it slightly difficult to book. This website and the guy who runs it are ridiculously helpful and super friendly.

So visa sort of organised, plane ticket booked. I have a Middle East guide book from my last trip so generally that about as much organising as I do. Although I will attempt to book a train ticket to Istanbul before I go.

6 weeks to go. More importantly is trying to get myself organised to leave NZ hopefully indefinitely this time

trip expenses

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

I finally filled out my expense spreadsheet. I kept a pretty good record of what I was spending while away. It’s not totally exact but a general idea of where my money went over the 5 and half months. It average out at $60 a day which I think is pretty good….so if you want to know how much it costs to travel the world…well, here’s an example. It’s all in NZD which can be a bit skewed as our dollar is fluctuating a bit over the last year.

My expense spreadsheet

trip video’s

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
I have started uploading the video's that Rdoc made on our Trans-Sib leg of the leg. They are uploaded in the appropriate posts and they're also in the category Videos 2008 at the bottom of the list on the right. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Homeward bound

Saturday, December 27th, 2008
So came the end of my trip. The ride to the airport I was feeling pretty neutral about the whole thing, not nervous or excited...just that it was the next thing to do. We got to the airport with way ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok fun

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
My final long haul bus ride was pretty terrible, I barely got a seat and the people in charge seemed to have never loaded a bus load of people before. But eventually we were all on and the drivers cranked ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hill tribe trekking

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
I had signed up for a 3 day trek through my guest house, struggling to wake up, eat breakfast and fit everything into a day pack I managed to get everything together by the 9am pickup. Lots of people had ... [Continue reading this entry]

cooking school

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
My full day cooking class was through the Pad Thai cooking school, we selected 6 dishes on the way that we were going to cook during the day. There were about 16 of us, mostly from my guest house, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Eating and shopping in Chiang Mai

Monday, December 8th, 2008
It was good to be in Thailand again, people are so friendly and things are jut so easy! People speak English, the hostels are helpful and will book everything for you and things are just very very cheap! The only ... [Continue reading this entry]

A short expensive detour through Laos

Monday, December 8th, 2008
As my boat wasn't going I was forced to detour through Laos, which isn't in itself a bad thing. I love Laos and had an awesome time there last year, its cheap ad fun. But when I was just passing ... [Continue reading this entry]

the Thai side of China

Sunday, December 7th, 2008
My sleeper bus into Jinghong was long and painful, mostly because I was just a little too big for the beds and also I was in the middle row of bunks and had people on either side of me camped ... [Continue reading this entry]