Pre Travel stuff

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The last few weeks I've been trying to get everything ready for my SEA trip for 6 months. There's actually a lot to think about.. passport, visa, vaccinations, medication etc.
Getting a new passport was more difficult then I thought. Because I'm not registered in Holland anymore I had to go all the way to The Hague (1h20m away) to apply for a new passport. I wasn't too pleased about this, but there wasn't much I could do about it. So I went down there with a passport photo and my old passport (this should normally be sufficient) but no... Where is the proof that I'd been living abroad for the past 3,5 years? Well, seeing that I had nothing with me (payslips, work permits etc. were in a box in Switzerland) they had to do an investigation before I could get my passport. I did have my French and Swiss insurance card on me and my skipass from last season so she copied all of that. Then the lady kindly informed me it could take up to 8 weeks (worse case scenario) to get a new passport.. I panicked and told her that I'd be leaving for Thailand on the 25th of May (which was 2,5 weeks away) and that I could not change my flight! So she made a note of that.. luckily I received a phone call a few days ago saying that my passport was ready! Very happy of course and now a lot more relaxed.

The next day I went to the Thai consulate in Amsterdam to get a Thai visa. I didn't want the hassle of leaving Thailand every 15 days to get a new stamp in my passport. A 60 day visa was now free until June 4th. So I went down there and explained to the lady there that I would be travelling for 6 months around Asia. She must have been in a good mood, because she gave me a 3x 20 day visa for free (instead of 90 euros) so that was really cool.

I think I have everything now.. first aid kit, toiletries, clothes etc. They only thing to do know is pack. I need to make sure that I don't take too much stuff with me as I would like to buy lots of souvenirs and clothes once I get there!

I have no travelplan yet. I'll just see what happens when I get there. Meet and travel with peope along the way and just see where I end up! They only thing I know is, is that I land in BKK and will be travelling through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Who knows.. maybe I'll be going to other countries as well (money permitting of course)

So every now and then I'll be writing this blog to let everyone know what I'm up to and what kind of crazy things I've encountered along the way...

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