Visa saga

So lyk ek as ek 'n foto van myself neem met die iPad

I should have known that visa applications are NEVER straightforward. Getting a Schengen visa in one week is just too good to be true. I did get one but only a single entry which is not good enough for Bulgaria (Stefan was issued with a multiple entry). A personal plea by me at the Swiss embassy today did not help. I was told they should never have issued the visa in the first place as I only plan to stay 2 days in Switzerland. I was even accused of being devious!
Plan B is to apply in Pretoria for a Bulgarian visa. That is why am sleeping in Joburg with my son and of to Pretoria early in the morning on the Gautrain. No guarantee that I would get it in time though. And there is still the small matter of getting the Serbian visa that we are anxiously waiting for. The photo is just to show that I finnaly figured out how to get a photo on the blog - hopefully the first of many.

Preparation

We, that is me and my mate, Stefan Hugo, are planning a bicycle trip from the Black Sea to the Black forest all along the Danube river. It started for me with an e-mail from Stefan explaning at length how "we" are going to cycle 2500km in 20 days ending off by informing me that we means him and me! For me this was followed by a time of self-searching. Could I allow myself such a long time away from work? With a "you must do it" encouragement from my partner, Eve, and a "go for it" from my children, the decision was soon made.
The first challenge was the visa applications. Schengen would give us entry to all the countries except Romania, Serbia and Croatia. We started of with Serbia. Romania was more of a challenge, we learned that we have to go in person to Pretoria to apply - too time consuming and expensive! We had already bought tickets to fly from Istanbul to Bucharest in Romania and planned to start at the Danube Delta on the Black Sea. Plan B was to start in Bulgaria and meet the Danube where it becomes the border between Bulgaria and Romania. Fortunately the Schengen visa is valid in Bulgaria.
The second challenge for me was a bike. My mountain bike is a soft tail and a bike rack does not fit. Stezfankindly offered his old bike, a Schwinn hard tail, the only problem is that I am about half Stefan's height. Nonetheless I tried the bike and it was fine. Today when I took the bike to have the rack fitted at Kings Cycles, they very generously offered to lend me a small frame hard tail Silverback and  a 29er nogal!
21-06-2013 Hoffie Conradie