Passport and Visa Questions (For a US traveller)

Thank you Ruth (if I may call you that), you have been very helpful. As long as I can send away for certain visas then my visa budget shouldn't need much revising, I am a little nervous about sending my passport, but I guess it must be done.

By all means if you (or anyone) has suggestions on what countries to skip and which to add, I am all ears. If you would like to PM instead of on the forum that's ok too.

In the meantime I will be researching the more complicated Visa's like China and Russia. Also, is there any way I can stay in the Schengen area longer then 90 days?

Also, is there any way I can stay in the Schengen area longer then 90 days?

Not really.

How long will this trip last? What are your interests?

Ruth

I estimate a minimum of four years.

Hmmmm, rock climbing, mountain biking, MMA, music (listening and playing), backpacking, scuba diving, graffiti, video games, surfing, tattooing, photography, and always open to new things

As you have never done this before, I think a trial run of say, three months, in an easy travel environment like southeast Asia might be a reasonable consideration before committing yourself to something that you might not really like doing.

I have to agree that doing a trial run would make some sense but I might differ regarding where to begin. I would suggest Europe, particularly within the Schengen regiong because
a. you alreadly want to spend more than 90 days in this region and that isn't easily possible.
b. English is widely spoken
c. you don't need any visas
d. it is relatively less expensive to travel there and back
e. it should be relatively easy to start researching some of your interests such as the outdoor activities that you mention, MMA, etc.

Regarding Schengen, I would suggest the following possibilities
1. Spend 90 days in the UK and Ireland, they are outside Schengen
2. Spend 90 days in the Balkans most of which are outside Schengen
3. Start and finish with 90 days in Schengen

Other thoughts.
Skip Canada, head to Europe for 90 days and then fly to New Zealand.
I always think it is better to see places closer to home separately from a big trip.
The more you move, the more expensive your travels will be.
Plan to take a vacation from your travels. Traveling continuously for months to years can be exhausting. Sometimes it makes sense to spend a month or more in a place to regroup.
This trip will not the same as taking 40 trips that are each 5 weeks long.

Assuming that the Indian visa is good for 5 years, get that now.

Ruth

good'n Ruth!

OP, you'll need a break to let what you learned by travel the first time...simmer.

It even takes time to digest what other English speaking country's natives..(make sense?) have tried to tell you.

Some words we use in the U.S. have foul meanings in England. And soforth.

Canada → New Zealand → Australia → Fiji → Vanuatu → Papua New Guinea → Micronesia → Indonesia → Malaysia → Philippines → Vietnam → Cambodia → Thailand → Laos → Sri Lanka → Maldives → India → Nepal → South Korea → Japan → China → Mongolia → (Trans Siberian Train) → Russia → Ukraine → Romania → Bulgaria → Greece → Macedonia → Serbia → Croatia → Hungary → Austria → Czech Republic → Poland → Lithuania → Latvia → Finland → Sweden → Norway → Denmark → The Netherlands → Belgium → UK → Ireland → Iceland → France → Germany → Italy → Spain → Portugal → Morocco → Algeria → Egypt → Jordan → Sudan → Niger → Mali → Senegal → Sierra Leone → Burkina Faso → Ghana → Togo → Benin → Cameroon → Gabon → Congo → Uganda → Kenya → Rwanda → Tanzania → Zambia → Malawi → Zimbabwe → Botswana → Nambia → South Africa → Argentina → Chile → Bolivia → Brazil → Peru → Ecuador → Colombia → Venezuela → Suriname → French Guiana → Trinidad and Tobogo → Grenada → St. Lucia → Martinique → Dominica → Antigua and Barbuda → Puerto Rico → Bahamas → Cuba → Jamaica → Cayman Islands → Panama → Costa Rica → Nicaragua → El Salvador → Honduras → Belize → Guatemala → Mexico

I think that you have to think once again about your route. Many parts of that route don't make any sense at all from a transport point of view. For example, it would make sense to visit Burkina Faso on your way from Niger to Mali. However, you plan to go there from Sierra Leone (BTW, How? Those countries don't share a border and there aren't direct flights between them) which will be (far) more expensive. Only an example, I could quote many more.

As I said in the above post, I have been researching this for a long time. I'll state it again. I have been researching the countries I want to visit for a long time. I know the requirements to enter each country.

...but it doesn't seem you researched how to go from one country to the next one or Am I wrong? For example, How do you plan to go from Sudan to Niger? And from Papua New Guinea to Micronesia? Only two examples, I could quote more.

In short, I think your first work should be to make a logic route (i.e.: without backtracking when there isn't any need to backtrack, avoiding difficult and expensive flight routes when there are easier alternatives changing the order of the countries you plan to visit...).

anillos_de_saturno - There are lots of problems with the order of travel. Clearly OP hasn't looked carefully at a map. Besides the ones that you mention, I see the followiing problem areas:

Thailand → Laos → Sri Lanka →
should be Laos to Thailand to Sri Lanka

Crisscrossing Europe makes little sense. Instead OP should look at some budget flights as Schengen rules are likely to cause him to reconsider his itinerary for this part of the world.

Germany → Italy
not possible unless you fly as Switzerland is in the middle.

I'm sure that there are others but his original question was about visas and the two most problematic are Chinese and Russia. Assuming that he won't enter those countries within a year of leaving home, he needs to apply while traveling which will mean sitting tight in some country for 3-4 weeks and sending his passport home.

This happened to a traveler recently who was counting on getting a visa in Malaysia in a week and the time frame turned out to be 3-4 weeks meaning that he was stuck on the peninsula without a passport.

Ruth

I'm sure that there are others but his original question was about visas and the two most problematic are Chinese and Russia.

There are many more but I don't bother to list them. As I said in #26, the first work the OP should do is to make a logic and practical route. Once the OP have a logic and practical route we could provide advice about visas (the order of countries tells us where would make sense to apply for a visa but there should be a logic order). Chinese and Russian can be problematic but there are also some (potentially) problematic visas in Africa. In addition, visa regulations can change at any moment so the OP will have to get updated info about visa requirements during her trip and be flexible enough as to change plans as needed.

My first advice is similar to that of many others; The OP should do a trial run to see how he likes it. I wouldn't recommend a titanic trip like this and I can see that this thread has already become too long and unwieldy. Perhaps this kind of question is better suited for the gap year branch.

Aside from the illogical routing many have pointed out, does anyone have any clue about how expensive it will be to buy this many one way flights? Maybe that alone will eat up all of his budget and more. It will make more sense to try to group this into a RTW and some RT flights.