Seth Madej » practicalities

India Visas: A Long, Cautionary, Long Tale with Two Extended Intermissions, pt. 3

Seth — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:33:41 +0000

Note: You might like to read part 1 and part 2 of this saga. Or, you can get all three parts on one long page here.

Just over four hours remained for Sophie and I to procure Pennsylvania’s drivers licenses with which to complete our applications for visas to India, and I’d again been foiled by my own personal Officer Dibble, the Bottom of the Page. It chortled in my face as I sat in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation waiting room and through a mouthful of Brazil nuts explained that to get licenses Sophie and would I need a second, and completely unobtainable, proof of address.

India Visas: A Long, Cautionary, Long Tale with an Extended Intermission, pt. 2

Seth — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:02:33 +0000

Come back with me, dear readers, to a simpler time. A time eight months ago, when Steve Martin had not yet heard of Twitter, when movies about talking owls were just a magical fantasy, and when I had yet to finish living the story about which I would begin writing a month later and then forgot about until today. I resume our tale where I left off, with less than 24 hours remaining for my wife Sophie and I to acquire two forms of proof of address to use to acquire drivers licenses to use to acquire visas to use to gain entrance to India.

India Visas: A Long, Cautionary, Long Tale, pt. 1

Seth — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:37:06 +0000

You might remember that Sophie and I returned to the US not only because we were exhausted and had gone just far enough past the edge of sanity that we had named our luggage, cameras, and hairbrush, but also because we needed to facilitate getting visas to India. Just before arriving in Turkey, we discovered that our original plan to apply for visas at the Indian consulate in Istanbul would’ve led to us being denied and redirected to the embassy in Ankara. Which in turn would’ve led us to spend a week in a town the tourist highlight of which is something called the Monument to a Secure and Confident Future.

We’re Still in Pittsburgh

Seth — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:00:50 +0000

My observant readers will have by now noted that we were supposed to have taken off back for Istanbul a week ago today but have been curiously quiet about whether or not we actually left. Those observant readers would then be able to confirm that we have not actually left by checking their spare bedroom and noting that all of our crap is still spread all over it and that my old model of an X1-class TIE fighter has not been returned to its box. But for the rest of you: the “Where are Seth and Sophie?” map is correct. We’re still in Pittsburgh.

A Slight Detour

Seth — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:03:29 +0000

I’m exhausted. In the two days Sophie and I have been in Istanbul, we’ve been able to bring ourselves to see a grand total of two sights. Today we sat on a bench in front of the Topkapi Palace ticket office for 20 minutes trying to will the energy to go in, but in the end we went back to the hotel to take a nap. This trip has been wearing us out like an old rechargeable battery that runs for a shorter and shorter time after each charge. So for that and other reasons, after days of talking about it, yesterday we made plans to come home for a two-week break.

Happy Phileas Fogg Day!

Seth — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:08:58 +0000

It’s day 80, and while Phil has us beat in the amount of ground covered, we’ve had to kill fewer pagans to do it. Otherwise the last 80 days have gone largely like I expected. The biggest surprises have been how exhausting this whole thing really is, and how much it’s costing. The budget’s saying we might have to come home a month sooner than planned, unless we’re willing to live in our storage locker.

The blown budget’s due mainly to two things: first, we’re not getting off easy on any of the costs that I thought we might get off easy on.

Bilbao. Bilbao Baggins. Bilbaoring.

Seth — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:56 +0000

The Guggenheim Bilbao is closed on Mondays. And yet here we are on Monday in Bilbao, a place that would be much better to take a day trip to then to spend three nights in. Unfortunately Bilbao is six hours from anywhere one would want to spend three nights in. Regardless, this isn’t an oh-fuck-it’s-closed story, because Sophie and I knew the museum would be closed. Which is why we planned to spend our extra day here in Basque country doing two other things: sleeping late, and laundry.

And so we arrived off the train from Barcelona last night at 11pm, walked the kilometer to our hotel, and told the guy at the reception desk that we had a reservation.

Out to Sea?

Seth — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:08:03 +0000

We just spent three days in Rome, where we saw tan people in aviator sunglasses and leather jackets in the Colosseum, tan people in aviator sunglasses and leather jackets on Palatine Hill, and the part of the Trevi fountain visible between all the tan people in aviator sunglasses and leather jackets.

Also we went to the Vatican and had lunch with the Pope. He let me wear the hat. Turns out it shows you who’s going to Hell. (Sorry, Oprah.)

Now we’re on a commuter train out to the port of Citavicchia. Our original plan had been to head north to Milan and then make our way by train across the south of France to Spain.

AT&T Made Me a Cosmonaut

Seth — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:12:46 +0000

So before leaving on this trip I bought the AT&T Wireless 20 GB Data Global Add-On plan for my iPhone. For $24.99 it lets me download up to 20MB of data a month while outside of the US, rather than paying the normal $19.97/MB fee.

Turns out that AT&T has developed a new meaning for the word “global,” because there are big chunks of the globe in which the global plan isn’t valid — including Finland, where I just came from, Estonia, where I am now, and Latvia, where I’m about to go.

As you can see from the pic, I learned that the hard way.

If you’re planning a trip around the word, don’t take any SD cards with you

Seth — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:53:51 +0000

Dear blog readers: If you’re planning a trip around the word, don’t take any SD cards with you. The 16GB card containing half of my music files is completely fried, possibly due to spite, or to gnomes. The 16GB card containing the other half of my music files is currently enjoying a relaxing rail journey somewhere in Sweden, possibly lounging in a sauna with my missing travel towel wrapped around its waist.