7 ms·

How many hours did he spend being interviewed for visas etc? Some countries I cross off my 'worth visiting' list simply because they have a Byzantine and expen

How many hours did he spend being interviewed for visas etc? Some countries I cross off my 'worth visiting' list simply because they have a Byzantine and expensive visa process which is going to use at least a week of time and effort to navigate whilst I was only planning to visit the place for a week in the first place! And some countries have a 'not allowed if you've ever been to this other country' rule, making it very hard to visit them all.

ycombinete 1y ago
He's Danish. Danes have visa-free entry to 189/195 countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index So I guess that he had to do about 6 visa interviews.
- bloak 1y ago
  Thanks for that link, but Denmark's "189" seems to be out of 227 ("all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database"), while 195 is the number of "states recognised by the UN".
- ta1243 1y ago
  According to that list Saudi Arabia is one of the 189 countries. Saudi is a nightmare to get into, even as a Dane.
  - BeetleB 1y ago
    It's been very easy for the last few years. They've opened up the borders significantly. Lots of tourists go there.
    - ta1243 1y ago
      Seems to have been just before covid - certainly wasn't when he did his trip though https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/259-saudi-s-in-audi-s-and-the-two-seas-of-bahrain https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/259-saudi-s-in-audi-s-and-...
darkstar_16 1y ago
As an Indian, this was also my immediate thought but then I read the About section, I figured it was easy/ier for him. The not allowed if visited another place rule must have been easier to circumvent with some planning.
wkat4242 1y ago
> And some countries have a 'not allowed if you've ever been to this other country' rule, making it very hard to visit them all. In Holland this was a valid reason to request two passports, like if you frequently travel to both Israel and Egypt. They are mutually exclusive.
- decimalenough 1y ago
  Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty. But eg Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran etc don't allow Israeli stamps in visitors' passports.
  - theMMaI 1y ago
    Israel doesn't stamp your passport, you get a small paper insert that they stamp instead. Problem is more the other way around, if you have stamps from Iran they won't let you into the country in Israel
    - agos 1y ago
      there are two ways around it: either you keep two passports if you have to travel to both, or you wait until your passport expires until you visit the other country
      - rendx 1y ago
        Or you 'lose it' and get a new one, no need to wait for expiration.
    - londons_explore 1y ago
      The problem is more they ask 'have you ever been to X', and if you say yes, they deny you entry, and if you say no they could imprison you for years. And it's easy to find out which countries a person has been to, because passenger lists on planes are pretty much public knowledge so it would be an easy lie to detect.
      - 1y ago

ycombinete 1y ago

He's Danish. Danes have visa-free entry to 189/195 countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index So I guess that he had to do about 6 visa interviews.

bloak 1y ago
Thanks for that link, but Denmark's "189" seems to be out of 227 ("all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database"), while 195 is the number of "states recognised by the UN".
ta1243 1y ago
According to that list Saudi Arabia is one of the 189 countries. Saudi is a nightmare to get into, even as a Dane.
- BeetleB 1y ago
  It's been very easy for the last few years. They've opened up the borders significantly. Lots of tourists go there.
  - ta1243 1y ago
    Seems to have been just before covid - certainly wasn't when he did his trip though https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/259-saudi-s-in-audi-s-and-the-two-seas-of-bahrain https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/259-saudi-s-in-audi-s-and-...

darkstar_16 1y ago

As an Indian, this was also my immediate thought but then I read the About section, I figured it was easy/ier for him. The not allowed if visited another place rule must have been easier to circumvent with some planning.

wkat4242 1y ago

> And some countries have a 'not allowed if you've ever been to this other country' rule, making it very hard to visit them all. In Holland this was a valid reason to request two passports, like if you frequently travel to both Israel and Egypt. They are mutually exclusive.

decimalenough 1y ago
Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty. But eg Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran etc don't allow Israeli stamps in visitors' passports.
- theMMaI 1y ago
  Israel doesn't stamp your passport, you get a small paper insert that they stamp instead. Problem is more the other way around, if you have stamps from Iran they won't let you into the country in Israel
  - agos 1y ago
    there are two ways around it: either you keep two passports if you have to travel to both, or you wait until your passport expires until you visit the other country
    - rendx 1y ago
      Or you 'lose it' and get a new one, no need to wait for expiration.
  - londons_explore 1y ago
    The problem is more they ask 'have you ever been to X', and if you say yes, they deny you entry, and if you say no they could imprison you for years. And it's easy to find out which countries a person has been to, because passenger lists on planes are pretty much public knowledge so it would be an easy lie to detect.
    - 1y ago