My Travelling Experiences

There might be slight difference for Schengen visa requirement between whenever you read this post and my experience, but I am sharing the form and contact agency number to get Schengen visa in Oman. Below is the link to download the form, review of the same and collect the documents.  schengen_visa_application_form_english Usual documents are employer permission letter and bank statements, hotel booking, flight tickets and health insurance.  Here is the complete checklist below to see TOURIST-VISA-CHECKLIST Please Note that these were 2017 requirements. Please check with them again from the email id and phone number given in the above picture. Post COVID world may not have remained the same everywhere. You have to first make an appointment with the agency and they will give you the appointment letter. Go there and they will collect your documents along with the passport and fingerprints will also be taken.  All were Indian guys there, no Spanish per...

Peru: Most incredible country in South America. I am thankful to my company senior who very strongly suggested to visit Peru.  Originally I had procured VISAs only for Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I was planning go to other countries and had it not been for my manager's suggestion I might have missed visiting Peru. I was lucky to get the Peru VISA quite easily Santiago, Chile. I also tried Columbia visa but that didn't go well. My fellow Chinese traveler was not so lucky for Peru visa while he didn't need a Columbian visa being a Chinese.  Anyway I entered Peru through the town of Dessaguadero. I stayed in that small village for one day and witnessed a local festival. Women with hard hat and men in black suit drinking beer on the road and dancing together. This tradition, I guess, was given to their ancestors by Europians or might have forced them. I reached another small but very touristic city and took a guided tour and it was beyond my imagination, again the advantage of...

Bolivia was the only country which gave Visa on arrival for Indians, even to those entering through the land border. Price was about 100 USD (I thought I over-paid, but that was just a thought. One of my local friends confirmed that visa fees and I had paid in line with that). The road ahead was nothing more than a dirt trail. I drove all day along without finding any suitable place to stop and eat. I ended up remaining hungry the whole day: there were few houses enroute but nothing that prompted me to stop. Thus were the first 100 kms in Bolivia. Later I reached the city of "Yuni" which I had heard in Santiago from one of the travelers in hostel. Small city, quite famous for tourism and "no smoking" hotels just like in Argentina. Maybe it was because of being hungry the previous day or the only meal I had last night, an omelet, I fell ill, very very ill. But time heals everything :). Next day I went to the famous Salt Lake, what a view. Retrospectively, it would ha...

Driving in Chile  30 days , 3500 km  Driving in Chile Driving through RUTA 40 was exceptional experience and "San Carlos de Bariloche" or in short "Bariloche" is the border from where I crossed into Chile . The town and the vicinity was very beautiful and it should be one of the most beautiful 'Honeymoon' destination. Riding on RUTO 40 one must carry cash, since none of the ATMs enroute accepts any card other than that from Argentina bank. I was lucky having some loose dollars, which was not planned, as cash with me for these 3 days on RUTA 40. This way I could manage my food and accomodation bills. An interesting fact: there are no formal stops at border crossing from Argentina to Chile. One need to stop by himself and get the passport stamped, no one will prompt you. I was driving through the border post which had no barrier. Better sense prevailed and based on map reading I realised the broder crossing must be here and I should get the exit from Argentin...

Driving in Argentina  30 days Approx, 6000  km. Driving Map in Argentina After getting searched by those two policemen after Entering in Argentina, I continued my journey and was looking for a place to spend the night as it was already getting dark and scary (Forest). I reached a small town named "El Dorado" searching for a hotel. Since I had not purchased a mobile SIM card in Argentina, I was without a data pack there and was in need of a Wi-Fi. I enquired at a shop, and he gave me access to his Wi-Fi and also suggested a hotel nearby. I went there. The hotel was run by an old lady. It was a HERATAGE sort of hotel. The room tariff was a bit on expensive side for my expectation, but I had no option but to check in. I got a room on 4th (top) floor. When I got up in the morning, the view from the window was very calm and peaceful. It had rained the previous night, and everything was clean and tidy. At the moment I realized the advantage of the taking a journey across the countr...

For starting my tour across Latin America, first thing I needed was a bike. But did I just went and got one? You wouldn't be reading this blog if it was so. It seems that purchasing a motorbike in Brazil is next to impossible after reading other travel blogs on motorcycle driving. I didn't read that before coming here otherwise I might not have planned this tour at all. Retrospectively, I'm glad I was sloppy. But I landed there and I had to buy a bike. I started digging. Google really doesn’t help as you will search with English words and it will not produce useful results as there is not much in English available with Google.   My friend who is Brazilian here also didn’t exactly know because he never dealt with it. Nobody seemed to have ever dealt with it. Even the bike dealers also didn't know the things exactly.  Moreover I  visited 4 bike stores, no body speaks English and I managed my communications with Google translator. Anyway after my 5-6 days of roaming ...

After Getting CPF number in Brazil ( how to get CPF in Brazil) , you need an address in Brazil, I used my friend’s home address for this. He had sent me the "Invitation letter" that mentioned his address. Additionally he gave me his Gas bill duly notarized (attested by government certified notary) as a proof of address. I don’t know which of them really worked but I showed both the papers everywhere. I guess any other mean of Resident address can also work because people really don’t asked me the notarized address proof (the Gas bill).   I searched for small motorcycle in market. There were three shops in Botafogo area. Suzuki was cheaper than Honda in the same segment of 100 o 150cc. I bought Suzuki 125 CC for 5900 Brazilian currency. Credit card swipe costs 3% extra. After making payment, the dealer will give two tax forms to pay taxes; It was around 150 Brazilian currency.  You need to go to nearby Lottery shop and pay the taxes. Yes there are many Lottery shops whe...