OnTheRoad

Istanbul is a cool place, and using the simple numbers-of-photos-taken metric, it comes in at #5 for the trip, in only three days. Not bad. That said, I could be a tourist in Wellington or Christchurch for cheaper. I like the place anyway, and the kebabs are still cheap :)

So, to the complaints. To Pakistan - get your **** together. Why on earth do you have stupid rules like needing to apply for a visa at your country of residence? Do you know how far New Zealand is from here? I haven't been home for 11 months, are your visas valid for that long? No? Well, ****, what do you expect me to do?

That said, I'm sure the rules can be bent at the appropriate embassy. Research suggest that the appropriate embassy for anything is not in Istanbul. I'll visit your embassy in Tehran, where, with luck, the staff come equipped with brains.

Next step; New Zealand. Why are you charging me $50 for a piece of A4 paper with a five minute "Letter of Recommendation" on it? I'm paying tax in NZ, despite not being able to take advantage of things like ACC, any medical facilities, the police force, all of these other things that you get while actually being resident there... and you need to ping me 50 bucks for a piece of paper? Are you nuts?

Sigh. Iran seems quite reasonable now. I went to apply, no problem, yes, two weeks to process, but I can collect in any other embassy in the country (there are three of them - one just a few hours from the border, allowing me to travel Turkey for two weeks then collect when I'm ready to leave.