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Gerbie on tour 38
Jun. 14th, 2001 11:31 amRed tape
Last friday was my flight from Perth to Denpasar, the capital of Bali, Indonesia. Unfortunately I didn't manage to sell my car to another backpacker, even though I threw in loads of extras like a cooker, a wok, books, tapes and this laptop I am using now. In the end I received 250 dollar for it, from a local dealer, which was the best offer I got. Apparently the numberplate and registration from a different state in the same country make selling fairly complicated. More than anticipated at least.
So friday night me and my backpack appeared at the airport ready to leave for the last country of this journey. Until at the check-in desk I found out that I wasn't allowed on the flight. The reason being that I need a passport that is valid for at least half a year to enter the country, mine was valid until the 3rd of december only. Qantas would get into problems if they took me there, so I ended up with no choice but to stay in Perth a bit longer. Only because of those 5 days of validity.
Obviously the rule that a passport should be valid for at least half a year is ridiculous, as Indonesia gives out a visa for 2 months only to tourists, which can't be extended. So even though they want me out of the country by august, I still need a passport that would take me until christmas.
The annoying thing is that these kind of rules are still common place all over the world, this wasn't the first time that this happened to me. In Central America at least you know what you're up to, every border crossing you have to get passed some underpaid customs officers eager to make a few bucks out of every traveller silly enough to want to cross their border. Honduras was the funniest in this respect, at every crossing (and I passed their border 4 times in total), I was told some new rules that had been going for yeeeaaaars, according to them. So I paid 1 dollar the first time, 2 the second time, none the third time and less than one the last time.
Airports are the wordst, as on any given moment you can be stopped from continuing your journey. The first I was refused was in Panama, trying to fly to Venezuela. I only had a one way ticket, as I hadn't decided yet how and when to continue from there. According to the clerk at the desk they wouldn't let me in to the country, in the end it was his supervisor who told me that I could go regardless. Obviously I didn't have any problems entering Venezuela afterwards.
From Venezuela I flew to Trinidad, just for a week. I had a return ticket this time, but still wasn't allowed to enter the plain at the airport. According to the employees at this desk I couldn't enter Trinidad if I couldn't show my flight out of Venezuela. However laughable that sounded, and I did laugh when I first heard it (what does Trinidad have to do with what I will do after I left their country and come back to Venezuela?), I couldn't do anything but come back the next day with the ticket from Porlamar to Amsterdam, arrived without any problems in Port of Spain, where obviously nobody bothered checking the said ticket.
And now I'm back here in Perth. My hope was that everything could be sorted out in the Dutch consulate on monday morning, but soon that hope went straight out of the window as well. They do not extend a passport and a new one can only be applied for in Sydney. So I had to send off the application with all the necessary papers monday morning and now can't do anything but wait.
If everything works really well I am in Perth for one extra week, if it doesn't even longer. To be honest Perth isn't a very interesting city in the first place, one weekend and everything you wanted to see has been seen, with the autumn setting in here, there is not much else for me to do but hang around in the hostel and read. My average is a book a day since last friday, so I am really happy that I can use my little old laptop for a couple of days again, at least I can do some writing in the meantime.
My original plan to visit Lombok next to Bali and Java has been cancelled by now, but hey, you can't win em all. Hopefully the next time more positive news.
saluti a tutti,
Gerben
Last friday was my flight from Perth to Denpasar, the capital of Bali, Indonesia. Unfortunately I didn't manage to sell my car to another backpacker, even though I threw in loads of extras like a cooker, a wok, books, tapes and this laptop I am using now. In the end I received 250 dollar for it, from a local dealer, which was the best offer I got. Apparently the numberplate and registration from a different state in the same country make selling fairly complicated. More than anticipated at least.
So friday night me and my backpack appeared at the airport ready to leave for the last country of this journey. Until at the check-in desk I found out that I wasn't allowed on the flight. The reason being that I need a passport that is valid for at least half a year to enter the country, mine was valid until the 3rd of december only. Qantas would get into problems if they took me there, so I ended up with no choice but to stay in Perth a bit longer. Only because of those 5 days of validity.
Obviously the rule that a passport should be valid for at least half a year is ridiculous, as Indonesia gives out a visa for 2 months only to tourists, which can't be extended. So even though they want me out of the country by august, I still need a passport that would take me until christmas.
The annoying thing is that these kind of rules are still common place all over the world, this wasn't the first time that this happened to me. In Central America at least you know what you're up to, every border crossing you have to get passed some underpaid customs officers eager to make a few bucks out of every traveller silly enough to want to cross their border. Honduras was the funniest in this respect, at every crossing (and I passed their border 4 times in total), I was told some new rules that had been going for yeeeaaaars, according to them. So I paid 1 dollar the first time, 2 the second time, none the third time and less than one the last time.
Airports are the wordst, as on any given moment you can be stopped from continuing your journey. The first I was refused was in Panama, trying to fly to Venezuela. I only had a one way ticket, as I hadn't decided yet how and when to continue from there. According to the clerk at the desk they wouldn't let me in to the country, in the end it was his supervisor who told me that I could go regardless. Obviously I didn't have any problems entering Venezuela afterwards.
From Venezuela I flew to Trinidad, just for a week. I had a return ticket this time, but still wasn't allowed to enter the plain at the airport. According to the employees at this desk I couldn't enter Trinidad if I couldn't show my flight out of Venezuela. However laughable that sounded, and I did laugh when I first heard it (what does Trinidad have to do with what I will do after I left their country and come back to Venezuela?), I couldn't do anything but come back the next day with the ticket from Porlamar to Amsterdam, arrived without any problems in Port of Spain, where obviously nobody bothered checking the said ticket.
And now I'm back here in Perth. My hope was that everything could be sorted out in the Dutch consulate on monday morning, but soon that hope went straight out of the window as well. They do not extend a passport and a new one can only be applied for in Sydney. So I had to send off the application with all the necessary papers monday morning and now can't do anything but wait.
If everything works really well I am in Perth for one extra week, if it doesn't even longer. To be honest Perth isn't a very interesting city in the first place, one weekend and everything you wanted to see has been seen, with the autumn setting in here, there is not much else for me to do but hang around in the hostel and read. My average is a book a day since last friday, so I am really happy that I can use my little old laptop for a couple of days again, at least I can do some writing in the meantime.
My original plan to visit Lombok next to Bali and Java has been cancelled by now, but hey, you can't win em all. Hopefully the next time more positive news.
saluti a tutti,
Gerben
