House of Cards

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Chelly and I are still adventuring, and doing alright. I know it's been a long time since you've had an update from us, but don't worry. I can assure you that even though we are in a big mess, we will survive it and be happy to tell the tale.

I called this post "House of Cards" because our plans have totally collapsed around us. Oh well, you know what they say about Mice and Men. Sad thing is, our plans weren't even well-laid. Actually, a house of cards is a totally innacurate analogy, it would be better to say,
"House of Dreams." And, if there were cards, they were all hearts.

We came to India to really soak up the vibes of the subcontinent before floating into Greece in March to meet my folks. We assumed, fatefully, that we would be able to secure visas in India before moving on, and that--with visas in hand--we would secure some kind of cheap transport on a boat or direct bidget flight to the Med. Asses both, we are now a bit less naive.

No, while Americans do not even require a visa for travel to the Greek isles (or any of the other Schengen Accord countries that make up most of Europe), we've learned that it is actually impossible for Kenyans to apply for their neccesary visa from outside of their home country.

On making the decision to leave Thailand together, we knew that times would be tight and we would be feeling the pinch in our pocketbooks. But we had no idea how quickly the poorhouse would come. We found ourselves this weekend stranded on the West Coast of India, knowing that we needed to get across the Indian Ocean to Kenya before moving on, but with no idea of how to proceed and with not enough money to do it.

Plan 1 was to find some kind of boat to take us there. We spent days approaching yacht crew and asking around the shipyards, even scouring through the shipping news and begging to work for passage on cargo ships. This was all utterly fruitless. Cruising yachts are the only kind who could take us, and there are very few cruising yachts in Mumbai harbor. There was only one boat travelling West from here, in fact, and that's the one belonging to Vijay Melia--owner of Kingfisher Beer and Airlines and associated holdings. His boat is suitably monstrous and billionaire-worthy, but they're fully crewed and kinda rude.

Plan 2 had to be the only plan, and that was to find a dirt-cheap flight.

We did so, today. It was the absolute cheapest way to get to Kenya by budget airline, and we tried many options (including stops in Doha, Dubai, or Adis Ababa--we even checked out the prices to just fly into Ethiopia and do busses to Kenya). I can dutifully report that we will be in Kenya on the 25th of January, after taking a direct Air India flight to Nairobi. My visa will be secured on arrival (another easy place for Americans to visit).

The last card crumbles, though, when I tell you that this ticket purchase has left Chelly and I completely broke (with less than $150 US between us). But, we'll be in Kenya and we'll be together and we'll be smiling.

The next challenge is to get to Greece, and we only have 5 weeks...

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Comments

[seth]

hey dude, are you still planning on being in europe in later september? that is when i would be most able to come over and meet up. let me know