Please Let Me In, I Promise to Leave

After completing visa applications for 10 countries, I'm beginning to pick up a theme running through most of them; you are welcome into the country as long as you can prove that you will be leaving. For example: Tanzania requires a copy of your bank statement to be sure that you have enough money to buy a ticket to leave the country (Just in case you lose your ticket??). Almost all of the applications require copies of your tickets for LEAVING the country. My favorite question on any of the forms is from the Kenya application: "Are you returnable to your country of residence/domicile?" My evil twin wanted to reply "No, but I can be exchanged for an item of equal or lesser value." Of course, I would never say that! Believe it or not, the easiest application was for China - only one page with simple logical questions. The toughest was Russia - 6 pages plus itinerary and copies of tickets. Their application was more detailed than any job application I've completed (my ex-husband's birthdate and birth place?) "Sonny, don't worry if Russian officials show up at your door. It's just my visa application." In addition to the application, I had to obtain all sorts of official documents from Russia to confirm that I have a place to stay every night. Only three weeks to complete all applications- but it's done. And now I'm just waiting for the FED EX guy to show up and take it all (with my passport) to Washington D.C. Wish me luck!! I am returnable, aren't I? Happy Trails, Marion

Ringtailed lemurs from Berenty Reserve in Madagascar - soon to be best friends 

We're Cookin Now!

Even though I didn't go to Hawaii, a lot of good things happened. First, Sue and Walter, great friends from my Arco days in Los Angeles (in the 80s) came for a visit. So good to see them. Sue has traveled to 60+ countries and was a great help in firming up reservations for Madagascar. Lemurs, here I come! After 2 weeks of work I finally have reservations for one of THE cottages at the Berenty Reserve in southern Madagascar. It actually took longer for this reservation than for any of the other countries. All of this work for a tiny cottage with no air conditioning, electricity turned off at 11 each night, and lemurs raiding your place for food.....Can't wait! Now it's time to start putting things together to obtain visas. For 8 of the 10 countries I'm visiting, I'm using a special service that obtains visas for a fee at the various Embassies. The process is so bureaucratic and time consuming that it is sensless to try to do it myself. For example, it would cost 3 times as much for me to obtain the visa for China rather than going through the service. Also, it's time for one of my favorite trip preparation chores - shopping for clothes!! For now, I'm spending a lot of time searching the net for Buzz Off - clothes with built in mosquito repellent - highly recommended by a number of the tour books. There is actually quite a selection in feminine styles without the camouflage leafy covering. Signing off for now after a thank you to Sandy and Adrian for torturing me with a call from Hawaii, letting me know what a paradise it is there. Happy Trails, Marion

My Biker Chick Phase (last month) 

Hawaii and Madagascar

Good friends Adrian and Sandy are leaving for Hawaii on Sunday and have invited me to go with. I've never been to Hawaii and it would be a hoot traveling with them but there is a certain amount of guilt in going there in addition to the world trip. What is that about? I still have 24+ hours to decide.
This week has been focused on the planning for the Madagascar portion of the trip. I'd like to think I've started a trend. Carmen Diaz recently went there for MTV and a new cartoon movie called Madagascar was recently released. For such a small island it's getting a lot of well-deserved plublicity.
My main goal in going there is to see the lemurs. This is the only place where they exist in the wild. It's amazing that 80% of the animal and plant species in Madagascar, exist only in Madagascar. It's as if the entire island was dropped here from Mars. After going through several tour books, I decided that Berenty Reserve on the south end of the island is the place to stay. The ringtailed lemurs are so tame that they climb on the tourists and try to sneak into their cottages. Also, the Reserve has the greatest variety of lemurs in one place and, most important, there was no mention of leeches in the text of the Berenty description.
I'm waiting to receive a response to my FAX requesting a cottage and now I'm beginning to worry that they are booked for the year (only 15 cottages). I'll start telephoning them Sunday night. The 12 hour time difference and my terrible French will make it a challenge . Happy Trails, Marion

Even the Computer Challenged Can Blog

How exciting! My first Blog. And thank you for joining me. Hopefully I can hold your interest enough for you to join me on my trip "Around the World." Just to bring everyone up to date, I recently cashed in 140,000 frequent flyer miles for Delta's "Trip Around the World" package. (And yes I do have tickets in hand). The package includes 6 stops in one direction anywhere in the world. I picked countries I've never visited before; Peru, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar (and the lemurs), Russia, India, Bhutan (my personal favorite), China, and Tibet. Please please send me any advice on traveling in these countries and I will try to share the adventure as it unfolds as well as photos. Because I am using frequent flyer miles, no travel agency will help, so I am doing everything via the internet. It has been a wild ride, but great fun. My dream is that this adventure will somehow turn into a career for me (travel writing? travel agent? porter? chamber maid?). The trip itself begins Aug 22 but in the meantime, it's all one great learning experience. Big Hugs from RamblinMe aka Marion, Goddess of Travel