Busy as the proverbial… !!

With just 10 days to go before I set off on my journey, my brain has clicked into full time “stress-mode” !! There still seems so much to do and very little time to do it all in…

I have moved the last of my worldly possessions down to my parents place on the south coast of Kwazulu-Natal, a 1500km round trip that I did in two days, including unpacking my stuff, and putting it into cupboards. With the help of my sister, I also unpacked 36 cartons of books and packed them onto the two bookcases I took with me… This was my penultimate visit to my folks, and I will see them for the last time again, when I pass through Uvongo on my way to Cape Aghulhas…

I spent most of last week visiting Embassies in the Eastern part of Pretoria, and that, my friends, was a stressful task !! I had been warned that certain Embassies were not the most friendly on the planet, and I approached their gates not without a dollop of trepidation… I had heard stories of people who had been sent away because they exhibited too much impatience at the length of time it took for their applications to be processed… Impatience was something to be packed away, and a winning smile had to be plastered on your dial, if you hoped to come away with your visa, or at least have your application accepted !

I needn’t have been concerned… All the embassies I visited were very interested in my plans, and did their very best to help me, even bending a few rules to get my visas authorized in half the time it would normally take…. I was on my best behavior (difficult at the best of times!) and managed in most cases to get the various diplomats who interviewed me to smile and even crack a few jokes of their own… At the Algerian and Moroccan embassies, I was invited to spend time with their families in their respective countries, and had to promise to send photographs of me and the bike at their or their families homes !! I was amazed at the friendly service I received…

Jane at the Tunisian Embassy, had been extremely skeptical of my plans, and was very concerned that I did not have a ferry ticket with my application. It took many phone calls and a personal visit to explain that I was neither arriving or leaving by boat, or by air for that matter, and that I would instead be traveling on the machine parked outside the Embassy gates…!! She gave me a horrified look and said,

“But why ? There are flights that go there ! Why must you ride all the way from Pretoria to get to our country ?! You are crazy !!” . Indeed, I thought to myself, but didn’t dare openly agree with her, in case she wrote that down on my application !! Some countries prefer not to have mentally unstable visitors on their soil…

Mr. Musab Diyat at the Libyan Embassy, put my mind to rest about travel to Libya, and the documentation I would need. Although he wore a rather serious demeanor, he gave me some advice that I believe I will consider very seriously…

“Do not get lost in the desert !!” he said with feeling…. ” When Yasser Arafat’s plane crash landed there, it took us three days to find him, and he was a president!”. This last bit he said with an anguished look on his face…. I wanted to ask if he thought it would take longer to find members of the general public, but thought better of it… This was the Libyan Embassy, Dudes… You don’t want to be cracking jokes here….

Just down the road, Mr. Brahim at the Moroccan Embassy gave me a ferocious frown when I had the temerity to enquire if he would stamp my visa on the same day that I brought it in with my application…

“Same day ?” he almost shouted, “Impossible !!”

“Please, Sir,” I responded, “The Algerian Embassy has my passport and I will only get it back two days before I leave on my long journey to your beautiful country…!”

He wore a worried look as he stroked his chin, and then asked, “How long will you want to stay in Morocco ?”

“As long as you will allow me !” I replied, which was my standard answer, in the hope that Embassy staff would think that I had huge amounts of money to spend in their respective countries…. In this case it worked !

“Bring your passport and I will see what I can do… But this is most irregular !!”

“Is there anything I can do to show my appreciation of your understanding, sir?” I enquired…

“Just bring me a big smile, and improve your Arabic! Your pronunciation is terrible !!” , he said with a grin… More bark than bite… That’s my man at the Moroccan Embassy !

With the biggest smile I could muster, I backed out of the reception, saying, “Shukran, shukran (thank you, thank you !)”, leaving Mr. Brahim shaking his head while reading the details on the card I have printed for my trip…

Mr Chabali at the Algerian Embassy was just brilliant ! Not only did he leave the other applicants waiting in line, fidgeting uncomfortably behind me, while he spent at least twenty minutes showing me the various archaeological sites I should visit on a large wall map next to his table, but he also invited me to visit with his brother in the town of Setif, and insisted I stay in contact with him via email, and went out of his way to get the visa authorized in as short a space of time, as possible !! On my second visit to the Algerian Embassy a few days later, he produced a detailed map with a flourish, as soon as I walked through the door, and said,

“Look what I have found for you ! It is a map that you must use to cross Algeria ! I have also thought about other places you must visit, and will give you a six months visa !”

I was amazed at this, because I had been told that I would not get into Algeria at all ! If you look at the original route map that I posted, you will see that I intended to take a ferry from Tunisia to Spain, and then cross the Straights of Gibraltar to ride in Morocco… I applied for an Algerian visa for the hell of it, believing I would be turned down, and here I was being assisted way beyond what I thought could be possible… From my experience with Mr. Chabali, I can’t wait to get to Algeria… His descriptions of the sights and experiences I would have, confirmed what this trip would be all about for me…. Discovery, adventure and interacting with people from all walks of life and a variety of cultures.

From my recent experiences with visas, I have learned that by all means use an agency to get those run of the mill visas where obtaining your visa holds few problems, but be prepared to make a personal visit to those who require additional information and are not the most common countries to visit. If you exhibit an earnestness to visit their country, and are prepared to go the extra lengths to meet with them and be as friendly as possible, you will get the results you are hoping for…