General Discussions ANYTHING GOES HERE, BABY! Woot! Woot! Need I say more?!
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05-27-2007, 08:33 AM
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#1
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TPunk Recognized
Join Date: May 2005
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I'm going to Iran!!!
Just wanted to let you know I FINALLY received my authorisation code today so I can go and collect my visa for Iran next week  . It's taken 4 months from when I first applied to get the authorisation and I'd almost given up hope, so now I'm absolutely stoked.
I'll be going there in early July and staying for about 3 weeks before going through the "stans".
__________________
Where I've been: Albania, Australia, Belguim, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Somaliland, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Transnistria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine, Uruguay Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Vietnam, Yemen
Where I'm going: Cyprus (June 2013)
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05-27-2007, 09:50 AM
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#2
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always trippin'
Join Date: Apr 2006
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That sounds amazing! I'm glad things came through for you, and I'm jealous you get to go to Iran!
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Check out my band!
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05-27-2007, 09:56 AM
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#3
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lover of Germany
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Ontario,Canada
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Thats great man! Be safe, be cool and have fun. 
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I have been to: Canada, USA, Iceland, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Germany, Sardinia, Switzerland, China, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Morocco.
Do to list: [color=blue][color=black] Australia, New Zealand, Austria India and Bolivia.
[color=blue][i][font=Verdana][color=black]"I'm just another stranger lookin' for the promised land"
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05-27-2007, 12:40 PM
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#4
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call me Condi!
Join Date: Oct 2006
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The whole trip sounds amazing, but Iran, wow. Now THAT is a photo album I would love to see!!
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"I set out alone, finding no companion to cheer the way with friendly intercourse, and no party of travellers with whom to associate myself. Swayed by an overmastering impulse within me, and a long-cherished desire to visit those glorious sanctuaries, I resolved to quit all my friends and tear myself away from my home."
---Ibn Battuta, CE 1325
Latest travel crushes - Arizona, Morocco, The Baltic States, Tunisia, Portugal, Mexico
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05-27-2007, 01:40 PM
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#5
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Artist of Life
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Ottawa, Canada aka O-town
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Alhamdulillah! Congrats on your visa... I will give you the best wish that any traveller in Iran can recieve: I hope there is stability and no military action in while you are there!
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Vincent: "So what you gonna do?"
Jules: "Well, basically, I'm just gonna walk the earth."
Vincent: "What you mean 'walk the earth'?"
Jules: "You know, like Kane in 'Kung Fu'...go places...meet people...get in adventures."
Trips (only counting recreational travel):
FIRST TRIP (2005): FIRST EUROTRIP EVER! UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland
SECOND TRIP (2007): First Solo Trip! Greece, Turkey, Syria, Spain
2008: China (Beijing, Shanghai, Yangshuo) ...right before the Olympics!
2009: Japan & HK, Southern Spain
[size=1]2010: All over Lebanon, Ibiza (Spain), Oktoberfest (Germany), Thailand.
2011: India (Goa), Jordan, Jerusalem, San Sebastian (Spain), Amsterdam (again), London, Driving from Vancouver to L.A. (stopping in Portland, Seattle, San Fran and all the little stops), Montpellier (France), Geneva and Lausanne (Switzerland)
"Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it."
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05-27-2007, 03:05 PM
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#6
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No one regrets traveling
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Bingo...and you may want to say you are Irish if anyone asks 
--Joey
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Countries visited: USA, Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain (and Gibraltar), Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, UK, Japan, Canada  , Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Andorra, Croatia, Montenegro
Next up: Mongolia, China
"I sought trains; I found passengers" - Paul Theroux
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05-28-2007, 02:19 AM
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#7
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TPunk Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2003
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That's great. Man! What a trip you have planned...can't wait to read about it!!!
worldwidemike
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Check out my travel web page at:
Worldwidemike.com
"Life is not measured in the number of breaths we take, but by the places that take our breath away..."
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05-28-2007, 05:54 AM
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#8
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Mod
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Australia
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thats really cool, i want to see lots of photos and stories cause i know NOTHING about travelling in that part of the world
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05-28-2007, 01:26 PM
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#9
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Members
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That is great. Can't wait to read about your trip. Iran sounds like such a cool place.
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05-28-2007, 02:57 PM
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#10
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Artist of Life
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Ottawa, Canada aka O-town
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Hey, you couldn't have picked a better time... first direct (official) US-Iranian diplomatic contact in 30 years!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6696671.stm
I mean they could still bomb em... but still!
__________________
Vincent: "So what you gonna do?"
Jules: "Well, basically, I'm just gonna walk the earth."
Vincent: "What you mean 'walk the earth'?"
Jules: "You know, like Kane in 'Kung Fu'...go places...meet people...get in adventures."
Trips (only counting recreational travel):
FIRST TRIP (2005): FIRST EUROTRIP EVER! UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland
SECOND TRIP (2007): First Solo Trip! Greece, Turkey, Syria, Spain
2008: China (Beijing, Shanghai, Yangshuo) ...right before the Olympics!
2009: Japan & HK, Southern Spain
[size=1]2010: All over Lebanon, Ibiza (Spain), Oktoberfest (Germany), Thailand.
2011: India (Goa), Jordan, Jerusalem, San Sebastian (Spain), Amsterdam (again), London, Driving from Vancouver to L.A. (stopping in Portland, Seattle, San Fran and all the little stops), Montpellier (France), Geneva and Lausanne (Switzerland)
"Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it."
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05-28-2007, 05:32 PM
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#11
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Backcountry Betty
Join Date: Jun 2004
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congrats. i'll just jump on the band wagon here and way that i'm excited as well to hear about your trip.
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people travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long course of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering. -St. Augustine
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05-28-2007, 06:29 PM
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#12
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french touch
Join Date: Aug 2003
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Fantastic news ! I too can't wait to read your travel reports ! 
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people are people
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05-29-2007, 01:33 PM
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#13
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Minister of Offense
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Awesome, man. My mom just got back on Thursday from a 2-month trip there. She goes a couple of times a year and loves it - mind you, she's Japanese (my dad's the Iranian) - as foreigners are quite welcomed there, and there's all sorts of cool, historic stuff to see.
I hope to go in the winter some time and get some snowboarding in at Dizin, 45 min. north of Tehran. Supposedly it's dumped like crazy there this year.
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05-30-2007, 04:00 AM
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#14
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TPunk Recognized
Join Date: May 2005
Location: London, England
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Well I went and collected the visa from the consulate yesterday and that was an adventure in itself.
I turned up 20 minutes before they opened and there was already a queue of about 12 people in front of me (almost all foreigners; Afghanistanis, Pakistanis and a few Iranians trying to get visas for friends). When they opened we had to take a ticket and wait for our number to come up and then go to a window. Well, it seemed that certain people, usually those with a huge wad of passports, were allowed to just go straight up without a ticket which meant the number progressed REALLY slowly, we're talking 2-3 per hour!
So while waiting I started talking to an Iranian girl who was there with her mother. She studies tourism at University in London, and was trying to get a visa for a friend to visit over the summer as she's going back to Iran. I was telling her all about the trip I have planned and she seemed really shocked I was doing it alone. Then her mother invited me to stay at theirs when I get to Tehran! She gave me her daughters phone number and told me to ring her when I get there.
Anyway, my number eventually comes up so I go to the window and give him all the documents, he enters my info into a computer and then tells me they haven't received the authorisation! Getting rather worried (yesterday was the last day I could get to London for about 2 weeks), I asked if he could ring someone to get confirmation, and fortunatly he agreed to and then agreed that it had just come through! So I pay the £85 and am told to come back in an hour.
An hour later I return and am told there is a problem. My heart sinks and I'm told to sit and wait a few minutes. About 10 minutes later the guy returns with my passport with visa attached! He informs me the problem was that the passport got stuck in their machine! The visa is also one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, it even has my photo printed on it.
By now it's 4:30 and I still need to apply for the Turkmen visa and their consulate shuts at 5:00 and is about 7 underground stops away. So I run as fast as I can and get to the consulate at 4:59, just in time to hand in my documents which I had already filled out. The guy there said it'll take 2-3 weeks and then I'll have to go back to collect the passport.
__________________
Where I've been: Albania, Australia, Belguim, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Somaliland, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Transnistria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine, Uruguay Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Vietnam, Yemen
Where I'm going: Cyprus (June 2013)
Last edited by ajb3000; 05-30-2007 at 04:02 AM.
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05-30-2007, 04:15 AM
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#15
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TPunk Recognized
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Canadian Bacon
I hope there is stability and no military action in while you are there!
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From what I gather Iran is a very stable country. Channel 4 news (UK) did a week long report from Iran going over everything from them having the best heroin treatment program in the world to massive indoor skiing slopes to how they managed to develop the country despite all the sanctions against them, After watching the report I gained allot of respect for them for the work they put in against the odds. I'd say it's probably one of the safer country in the region for westerners but still you'd really have to keep your wits about you. Stay safe ajb3000 but I'm sure it'll be an experience most won't get to have in this lifetime.
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05-30-2007, 10:53 AM
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#16
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Minister of Offense
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Glad to hear you got the visa!
Here's a great BBC doc about Iran on Google Video - about an hour and a half, but worth watching if you've got the time.
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05-30-2007, 01:30 PM
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#17
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TPunk Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Congrats on the visa!  I'd like to see that seal.
I'm intrigued by what ancient and holy sites are there, the cuisine and currency.
That's wicked awesome AJB3000.
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"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world."
~Freya Stark
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05-30-2007, 01:47 PM
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#18
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call me Condi!
Join Date: Oct 2006
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I would be bad in Iran - I would gorge on Persian food and see none of the sights because my belly would be too full and too satisfied to even attempt to be visually stimulated. Plus, I have a feeling looking at all the "Death to the Great Satan" graffiti would kill my appetite... 
I'm so impressed and this is definitely a travelogue that I'm going to enjoy (and am CURRENTLY enjoying already!!!).
__________________
"I set out alone, finding no companion to cheer the way with friendly intercourse, and no party of travellers with whom to associate myself. Swayed by an overmastering impulse within me, and a long-cherished desire to visit those glorious sanctuaries, I resolved to quit all my friends and tear myself away from my home."
---Ibn Battuta, CE 1325
Latest travel crushes - Arizona, Morocco, The Baltic States, Tunisia, Portugal, Mexico
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