Colin and I have been transformed into human pincushions (live vaccines are the worst–ouch!), and my 15 year career of bureaucratic wrangling has not prepared me for the labyrinth of consular requirements created by each independent banana republic (OK, so some of them are big and powerful republics, but the varying visa requirements appear intended only to make those in charge of granting the sought-after stamps feel more important and powerful than we are).
Case in point: India grants visas for multiple entries, each not to exceed 90 days, with entry allowed anytime up to 1 year from visa issuance; while China grants visas for single, double or multiple-entries (depending on how much you pay), most allowing only a maximum 30-day stay per entry, the first of which must be started within three months of visa issuance. So, we have to apply for a visa for India, which we don't go to until February 2010, long before we apply for China, where we will be in November 2009. When you multiply these consular rules – all different – by the 8-10 nations that we actually need to get visas for, account for the fact that we need to mail our passports to the consulate in question to obtain each one and wait for it to be returned before we can apply for the next, AND need to make sure we time our applications with our intended arrival date and in accordance with the consulates' restrictions re: time of entry and length of stay, you wind up with one big bureaucratic flowchart that would challenge the most senior organizational manager. Ugh.
Add to this the vaccination schedules, where one vaccine is needed only once, while the next must be administered in a series of three to be taken on days 1, 7 and 28 from initiation, and the next twice on days 1 and 30. Well, you get the picture. Our summer is governed by consulate bureaucrats and travel clinic nurses.
Here's our itinerary and visas/vaccinations needed for each:
* Japan (September) - neither
* South Korea (October) - neither
* China (November) - shooting for double-entry visa for max. 30-day stay valid for 6 months;
Hepatitis A&B, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, plus malaria prophylactics
* Vietnam (December) - multiple entry visa valid for 3 months;
Same as China, plus typhoid
* Cambodia/Thailand (January) - 30-day visas available at the border;
Same as Vietnam, minus Japanese encephalitis
* India (February) - multiple entry visa valid for 1 year;
Same as Cambodia/Thailand, plus Polio booster
* Kenya (March) - single-entry for max. 30-day stay valid for 6 months, or available at the border;
Hep A&B, typhoid, malaria prophylactics, plus yellow fever and meningococcal meningitis (depending on location)
* Egypt (March) - visas available at the border;
Hep A&B, typhoid, malaria prophylactics, plus yellow fever required if traveling from Kenya
* Greece/Italy/Turkey (April) - border visa needed for Turkey only; no vaccines (yay!)
* Eastern Europe (May) - neither
* Switzerland (June) - neither
* Spain/France (July) - neither
A couple of top recommendations:
VACCINES: Hall Health Travel Clinic at University of Washington (http://depts.washington.edu/hhpccweb/index.php?ClinicID=11)
One stop shopping for all travel-related health information, including all vaccines and prescriptions needed for potential health issues for each country you are traveling to.
VISAS: Travisa (http://travisa.com/)
India outsources all its visa applications to these guys, and they can get you a visa for China, which does not accept applications by mail (you have to have an agent do it for you in person or travel to the nearest consulate yourself - the closest one to Seattle is in San Francisco). They also do other countries, but you can save money by doing those yourself.
Look for our next installation: how to get cheap! cheap! cheap! airfares, plus pre-departure expenses that noone seems to include in planning for their round-the-world trip. ;~)
