As a Indian, I have visa stamped from 14 Countries, though EU US Visa s are valuable to flex across

As an American, it s easy for me to travel the world . My dollar goes far ( though not as far as it used to ) and I only have to worry about visas to a few countries around the world. Yet not everyone is blessed cheap car rental in miami with a golden passport (EU, British, Canadian, Australian, cheap car rental in miami and New Zealand passports cheap car rental in miami fall under this scope, too) and it can be very hard to not only save money for travel but also obtain cheap car rental in miami a visa to most countries around the world. And so today, we talk to Vikram and Ishwinder, an Indian couple who not only managed to save money for their round the world trip, but also navigated the tough process of getting tourist visas with an Indian passport.
Vikram: We are an Indian couple in our late 20’s that loves to travel. I am from a city called Aurangabad, close to Mumbai, while Ishwinder is from New Delhi. We were both working cheap car rental in miami in London when we decided to get married in January 2012. Within a year we decided to quit our jobs, sell what little we owned and travel the world. We have been on the road for fifteen months now. We have traveled to 25 countries and want to travel until the last bit of our savings runs out. We started Empty Rucksack to share our experiences and send our love and inspiration to people who also dream of travel.
Ishwinder worked for a consulting firm while I worked as a Software Engineer. Stable jobs provided us the funds to travel but we always had to rush and return to our desks on Monday. We always found ourselves wanting to stay a little longer and not be dictated by the calendar. The more we travelled on weekends and short holidays, the more we wanted to travel longer. The tipping point was when we were hiking in Wales, climbing to the top of Snowdon. It was a Sunday so it was pretty crowded. We never saw a more crowded mountaintop than Snowdon. People were scrambling to step on the peak. We kept wondering what it would be like to come here on an off-peak day and have all this beauty to just ourselves. That was when we decided to quit our jobs and travel long term.
My visa has been rejected three times by Belgium, Spain and United States, though Ishwinder has never had her visa rejected. Visa requirements are a necessary dimension we have to consider when we are planning to travel to a new country and we can’t afford to be ignorant about it. Most times they require proof of funds, bank statements, cheap car rental in miami income tax returns, return tickets, hotel bookings, cheap car rental in miami letter from employers and some even ask for cover letters.
Visa requirements do not prevent us from visiting any country. The restrictions only make the process tiring which ends up discouraging most people to apply. If we have to apply for a tourist visa for any Schengen country (most European countries), we would need to provide income tax returns, bank statements and return cheap car rental in miami tickets. The immigration officers are very strict, so any shortcomings in paperwork are not tolerated. One of my visa applications was rejected because I did not have enough blank pages in my passport. Such restrictions discourage spontaneous travel.
There is no shortcut or simple way to making a successful application. All you do is read the immigration website thoroughly for the all the required paperwork. Then you follow all the guidelines and paperwork to the letter. Make sure you don t overlook anything. Any mistake is just an excuse for them to deny your application. They aren t very lenient.
Most common requirements cheap car rental in miami include return flights, a certain set of money in your bank accounts for a period of time and hotel bookings. Websites like booking.com allow hotel bookings with no fees and allow cancellations till the last minute. cheap car rental in miami If you are in England and planning cheap car rental in miami to travel to the EU, then bus tickets are the cheapest option for showing return tickets, you can book some as low as 10 GBP. We keep a separate account in which we keep a certain amount of money to show immigration officials that we have sufficient funds.
We can visit Bhutan and Nepal without a visa, as well as Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, and countries in Southeast Asia are fairly easy to travel to since most of them offer visa on arrival. Based on Internet research, cheap car rental in miami countries in South and Central America also seem visa friendly for Indians. Having a UK, USA or Schengen is also helpful, as it makes us eligible for visa on arrival for certain cheap car rental in miami other countries. (Having a UK visa allowed us to get visa on arrival in Turkey.)
The visa process cheap car rental in miami for US is fairly complicated. You make a payment, receive a code, and use it to book an appointment. When you go to the embassy, they check your paperwork and you are interviewed. They keep your passports only if they are going to issue you a visa; else they return the papers making it clear that the visa is being denied. It’s a country that seems that it doesn’t welcome tourism from India and is the toughest visa to get.
UK and EU applications are made through a third party agency. Most people in India still live under the impression that applying through an agent increases cheap car rental in miami your chances of getting a visa. If you have the funds to travel and the proper paperwork (leave approved by employer, bank statements, bookings and tax returns), you will most likely get the visa.
Both of us finished college and started working immediately. I worked seven years and Ishwinder worked about six years before we decided to quit. The major chunk of our saving was from the 2 years we worked in London.
Since we have been traveling around in Southeast Asia, India, Nepal and Bhutan, we have not had to watch our budget that much. The only rule with us is don’t splurge. In the past 15 months there have been no expensive dinners, spas, shopping binges or overly priced adventure sports. But when we arrive in a place we look for a clean and airy room and don’t mind paying a little extra for that. Sticking to the basics keeps us on budget.
A lot of people think it’s a waste of time and money and that travel should be done once or twice a year. Long-term travel is still unheard of. A reason cheap car rental in miami for this is that so many of us have limited opportunities that job security is a concern so you can’t quit your job and go travel. The most important thing is to secure your future. Indian society does not accept risk taking and that is what traveling long term is a big risk.
Besides, if you are single, your family is preoccupied with getting you married. If you are married, there is a lot of societal expectation for you to have a baby. Spending time with family and being present at social functions is supremely important.
We were able to save money because we had good jobs in London and we didn’t want to buy a house or a car and our families were much more understanding than most people. But I think even if we had been in India we would still have been able to quit and travel but we would have needed two more years of saving. The only thing is with those savings we would not have been able to travel to Europe.
Besides all the fun things about traveling, cheap car rental in miami I wish we had known that traveling cheap car rental in miami long term and not eating a proper diet could really affect your health in mysterious ways. Ishwinder suffered from a severe throat infection for 4 months, cheap car rental in miami and is still recovering from it. The thing that did the most damage was the improper medication she took. You must never treat yourself with medications cheap car rental in miami you carry in your rucksack. It is worth spending money for medical checkups when you are abroad. But we have been hanging out at nature cure centers cheap car rental in miami and yoga ashrams and are feeling a little better now. It s important to slow down and take care of yourself.
It may be harder for Indian citizens to travel and obtain visas but it s not impossible. I ve met many Indian travelers on the road, and as Vikram and Ishwinder s story shows, it s possible to successfully get visas. Maybe not to everywhere, but for enough places to keep you traveling for a while. For more, visit Vikram and Ishwinder at their blog, Empty Rucksack .
Job security!!!That s threes only thing which holds me back from quitting and travel around. I wonder what thought process people go through when they decide to quit job and travel. What after return? cheap car rental in miami What if any monetary emergency at home? Are most of the westerners whotake this step by some way protectedby their government policies and less family bonding?
cheap car rental in miami I have been a long follower of your website but a lurker and I would like to thank you at the onset for all the valuable advice. For example I was in Budapest last week and enjoyed Hungarian folk dance thoroughly!!
On this topic, yes it is hard for Indians to roam as freely as others that you but its possible. We just need more preparation when it comes to visa. And although travel is a dream for everybody, the common misconception is it is risky, expensive, uncertain. I started out on my journey this month with a 15 day solo tour of Europe Lisbon to Budapest and loved every minute of it. I would add being a solo traveler is even more unusual for indians!!!
As a Indian, I have visa stamped from 14 Countries, cheap car rental in miami though EU US Visa s are valuable to flex across given union, there are still territories like Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo in EU which in-spite being in European continent need s individual cheap car rental in miami visas. Moreover this countries allow free access to countries which are lower in comparison to India in terms economically. Standards or what so they measure.
Which brings me into that Indian government cheap car rental in miami hasn t engage our reluctant into forming bilateral treaties with this countries. It s true as mentioned cheap car rental in miami world is free, Only political boundaries carved by human s restrain and many times discourage to Travel.
Countries such as Bulgaria,Turkey, Croatia and recently from Feb 1, 2014 Romania allows Indian PP holders to Travel and Stay for 90 days if in possession on Schengen long term Visa s. As a tourist it not only helps me in terms of saving visa fees and repeated trips to Embassy but on the other end it encourages me as a outbound tourist in spending in their econom