A visa for Thailand?

Only several days left until we leave for Bangkok and still can't believe that we'll soon escape the Berlin Autumn yo-yo weather.

We got the Visas for Thailand this week. I know some of you might say "hey Mitch, When I went to Thailand I didn't need a visa" but we need one.
Why? If your stay is longer than 30 days, i.e your outgoing flight is after 30 days, then you need a tourist visa.
"But you can just go to Cambodia and get a new one on the way back in". Yeahhhh No. That's what my very informative and friendly (let's not forget motivated) travel agent told me...I now know why internet travel agencies are prospering. The Thai embassy also just said "no pwoblem, no wori, you go in, border guard check passport when leave". So far so good.
However, after stumbling across some stories on the internet about people not being let on planes by their airlines I thought we should call Qantas. And yes, Airlines leaving Europe (and I guess from anywhere) will NOT let you board without proof of meeting the entry requirements, regardless or whether that country enforces them or not. There are stories some funny stories of very stressed travellers if you take the time to look on Lonely Planets Thorntree Forum. Quad erad demontrandum...we got visas.

In the end the visa application was a nice way of getting into the Thai way of life anyway. The embassy is in a nice leafy suburb, the people aren't in a hurry, nothing was made complicated(I neeee passport,ok, form please, money please,ok you come back, one week) and I actually saw people smile. When I think of my visits to the German Immigration Department to get my visa for here...

3 weeks to take off

So this is how things are looking before the trip to Thailand and Australia:

- I plan to go and apply for the visas for Thailand this week in between lessons sometime (very busy at the moment)

-Anne is busy studying for her final uni tests

- It's only another 3 weeks till we leave and we are almost certain that a friend of ours will sub let the flat while we are away

- We are getting terribly sad that we'll miss the German winter and have to go and hang out on tropical Thai island beaches and in Sydney in Summer.

- The general plan for Thailand is: arrive 5 November in Bangkok, avoid riots and eat curry; take bus down south to Krabi and hit Ko phi phi, Ko lanta, Seafood, Thai Buckets, Massage, Boat Tours, Snorkelling, Railay and another Ko or two maybe (pan ngan, tao etc) on the other coast; Nice and sun tanned we plan to go back north on about the 23 Nov to Bangkok, get visas for Cambodia and go looking for lara croft at Angkor Wat; back to Thailand for more curry, pad thai, tuk tuks and red bull; north towards Chang Mai from start of December, lounge, wats, hippy about; then leave Bangkok for Sydney on the 10 December.

- In Sydney the general plan is:arrive 11 December, see family and friends, see the McKenzie manor in Sydney, beach, more sun tan, Terrigal, Sydney, Anne's first birthday celebration in Summer, Anne's first Christmas in Summer, New Years Eve on Sydney Harbour, Camping in January, etc. etc. leave on the 20th January for wintry Berlin and back to work.

I don't believe in signs but-...

I'm starting to wonder if it is the best time to be travelling. Ever since we booked the flight:

- Thailand has had its biggest time of unrest in the past 15 years with travel warnings for some parts.

- Qantas (our airline) has had 3 separate incidents involving words like "passenger safety""torn fuselage""emergency landing" and "we don't know how this could have happened".

- The world financial crisis has reared its ugly head making everyone just flip out (in turn making the situation worse) . Just hoping my banks stay strong and that there is still enough work available when I get back to Berlin in January. It's also not an ideal environment for new graduates who will be looking for work in January 09.

- The AFL season finished.

- I've had some ongoing health issues that have led to me giving up smoking, cutting back on alcohol and eating a (relatively) balanced diet.

- One of my language schools has reassigned all my classes to other teachers because of my prolonged absence. This means I'll have to find all new classes on my return to Berlin.

- In Anne's ongoing battle with the university red tape and professors who don't reply to emails, it seems that she won't be able to finish all of her tests by the 4th November as we had planned. So she'll have to wait until January to finally do her last oral exams. The German university system needs to look up the word "system" in a dictionary,then "service" and then "yes that is my area of responsibility, how can I help you" and then "oh gosh, you've been waiting for 6 weeks for a reply so you can find out when you can do you exams and get on with your life,,,I'm so sorry, we'll do something about that immediately".

In the beginning there was a...

...blog.

So welcome to my first blog.

The inspiration for the name came from an in joke with Anita Hernandez that the Spanish for "it's a small world" is "el mundo es un panuelo", meaning "the world is a tissue".

So I do intend on writing in here as often as possible during the trip( and afterwards too) to keep everyone up to date. Anne has a blog as well however as it's in German, I thought I'd spare you the time of deciphering it and write mine in a sensible language.

I hope you take the time check in now and then and hopefully you'll be part of some of the stories that I put up here in the near future.

Mitch