India Visa Pleaser

India in efficient bureaucracy shock! Next week, south will be north and time will go backwards. Form filled in online, a couple of supporting documents posted off and a visa returned from London in under 10 days, excellent work! So thats a 12 month multi-entry visa sorted which is especially great news as they're not meant to issue visas for longer than 6 months without exceptional circumstances.

So one down, two to go and it's feeling a lot like progressing through levels a computer game. The first one was a bit of a test but really just getting you used to the idea. The next level is Pakistan that has no online service and need:
- visa form, about 10 pages
- passport & photocopy, fine
- invitation letter from sponsor, huh?
- ID of sponsor with address in Pakistan, no idea...
- bank statements, driving license etc, fine
- reference letter from workplace, saying what exactly, I have no idea
- itinerary & hotel bookings, well never been and nothing booked so far, help!

At least one guy in a travel agents called his mate who 'does visas' reckons I should just turn up at the embassy in Bradford and explain the journey and they'll be happy to sort a visa, even do it the same day. Well that's great, but I'll have to believe it when I see it.

Iran is the final boss battle on the last level by all accounts, but lets deal with that in time.

Darlo to Delhi

All being well, this Sunday I’ll be heading over to Darlington to take care of the most important ‘to do’, buying the bike I’ll be riding around the world. It’s this one:

The yellowness of the paint job might be open to question, but the price, ride, suitability for the job and custom made panniers certainly aren’t.

Also this week, I posted an application for a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa for India with photos that fall well foul of the extensive guidance, so I’ll wait for the good news on that one.

And check this bad boy out…

No idea whether hooking a 12v charger to the bikes notoriously dodgy electrical system is a great idea (along with luxurious heated grips and a satnav), but if it works it might just be today’s best thing ever. Anyway, how hard can bump starting a fully loaded bike in blistering heat actually be?