What Are Your Summer Travel Plans?
May 14, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Polls, Travel Journal
I’ve got a rough idea of where I’ll be traveling this summer. Having just arrived in Washington DC from Quito, Ecuador I’ll be at the Travel Blog Exchange Conference in New York City at the end of June. In between I may go to Chicago then to Panama (or Mexico). Toward the end of the summer I’ll make my way to North Cyprus seeing Poland, Turkey, and a few other places along the way.
What are some of your summer travel plans this year?
My plans are never set until the absolute last minute. They’re always privy to change until that last moment and it’s OK if you’re that way too. I’m hoping to collect some of your plans to share in an upcoming post and would like to hear what you’re up to over the next few months of (Northern Hemisphere) summer?
[photo by: Moomettesgram]
San Agustin Church, Manila
May 13, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Pictures and Video
I visited the oldest church in the Philippines, the Roman Catholic San Agustin, in Manila in 2006. The church’s exterior is rather in impressive and the interior is quite a contrast in terms of detail and design. San Agustin Church has seen it’s fair share of war, violence, and natural disasters which is evident by some of the ruins that still remain in the main courtyard. If you make your way to the San Agustin Church, be sure to check out the slightly creepy yet interesting crypt.
You can look through a few more of my pictures from the Philippines which I haven’t had the chance to share here before.
Simple Hacker Tricks You Can Use To Become A Traveling Digital Ninja
Don’t be intimidated by your computer or technology or become frustrated when things don’t seem digitally possible. Instead add these hacker tricks to your digital tool belt to do all sorts of things from extending your wireless range to keeping your online accounts safe at Internet cafes.
Get More Wireless
First off, start by finding out where there might be free wi-fi along your travel route by checking out WiFinder or using WeFi. When that doesn’t work, extend your wireless range by using a long range USB antenna. Aside from extending your wireless range 3-5 times to connect to networks you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, you can use them to crack encrypted wireless networks.
- Share With Friends - Sometimes you have to give in and pay for wi-fi. You can however split the costs with your travel buddies by getting 2 connections for the price of 1.
You can also take things a step further and follow a traveler’s guide to hacking wireless networks or try accessing hotel wireless without paying for it.
Watch Your Shows
Traveling is exciting and inspiring but sometimes you just can’t wait to catch that next episode of Lost. Unfortunately most websites that broadcast TV series like Hulu and others implement regional blocks. Luckily, you can easily get around them using any of these methods.
- Hotspot Shield – The ads are annoying but it’s an easy way to get access to US-based websites. If the ads really bother you here are some Hotspot Shield alternatives.
- FoxyProxy – This free Firefox plugin lets you set up a proxy to get around regional blocks on a website-by-website basis (here’s how).
If possible though, you’ll want to spare your bandwidth for more important things like Twitter, so consider downloading *completely free and legal* versions of your favorite movies using BitTorrent. Here’s a beginner’s guide to using BitTorrent.
Stay Connected, Save Money, And Be Safe
Keep in touch anywhere around the world, and for less, by removing the restrictions placed on your iPhone and connecting to your online accounts without fear of viruses.
- Jailbreak Your iPhone – In most cases it’s pretty easy to jailbreak (aka. unlock) your iPhone so you can use it with any carrier.
- Portable Linux – You can install an entire operating system on a USB drive and protect yourself at Internet cafes, airport kiosks, and unfamiliar laptops.
More Options Than Restrictions
You can do most anything you can think of with technology despite regional restrictions, flaky Internet connections, and expensive hotel wi-fi costs. Most of these useful hacks are easy enough to implement within a few minutes and once you master them will make your digital life that much easier.
[photos by: johnathanb1989 (lego ninja), virtualmusictv (Hulu)]
What Happens If You Overstay A Tourist Visa?
You may know the concept of a border run, that quick hop across an international border to reset a visa, but what happens when you overstay your tourist visa? The answer is that it depends on several key factors, the passport you’re carrying, the country in question, and how long you’ve overstayed your visa. For most travelers with a US, Canadian, or European Union (EU) passport, it can be easy to overstay a tourist visa without realizing it, since most countries don’t require a visa application from you prior to entry. In fact, if you’re on an RTW, it’s easy to lose track, and here’s some information on what happens and what you can do.
Poof! Nothing Happens Right Away
It’s not that storm troopers are going to bust down your hotel door the second you’re visa expires or stop you in parking lot. In fact, in most cases nothing will happen for a long time. Technically speaking, overstaying a tourist visa for more that 180 days in the US is grounds for deportation and inside the Schengen area is not permitted. While it is never good to overstay a visa, generally you won’t run into problems until you leave and try to reenter that particular country.
- It’s at passport control where your overstay is most likely to be a problem
- If you’re headed to Europe you’ll want to read up on the Schengen Agreement.
- Each country has different penalties for those that overstay their tourist visas.
Once you’ve overstayed a tourist visa you lose your credibility at the border and can be denied entry based on the fact you’ve overstayed a previous tourist visa.
Your Nationality Is Important
Many US citizens frequently overstay their European visas (since they don’t realize you can only be in the Schengen area for 90 days out of each 180) and are allowed reentry. US passports aren’t carefully scrutinized in Europe and in the US your results may vary. With a return ticket and valid reason for entry (for those who’ve overstayed a previous visa) generally most EU citizens won’t have trouble reentering the US. Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and a few other nationals also likely won’t face difficulties reentering assuming the initial overstay wasn’t too long.
- If you had to apply for a visa prior to your visit, you’re more likely to encounter problems when reapplying.
Generally speaking, countries aren’t worried about an influx of tourists, they’re more worried about people coming on a tourist visa and never leaving. Typically this type of overstay isn’t associated with EU, US, Canadian, Australian, or New Zealand nationals.
How Long Did You Overstay?
That’s an important factor the person checking your passport upon reentry will be looking for. Did you overstay your tourist visa for a few days or months? They may ask you the reason for your overstay or why you want to reenter the country. The shorter the overstay the better but not overstaying at all is best.
Reentry Is The Issue
Even if you overstay a visa and are admitted on your next trip to the same country, on your third time there you may still be denied entry based on the fact you did overstay one of your visas. That’s up to the passport control officer (or embassy issuing visas) to determine. It all depends on how closely your passport stamps are inspected. That can vary based on the time of day you enter (late at night officers tend to be less diligent), the person in front of you (what passport did they have and if it took a long time), along with your passport and what you look like.
You’re best bet is to never overstay a tourist visa and find out the requirements that apply to you by checking out the specific country’s embassy website. That’s the only way to guarantee you won’t be denied entry with another valid tourist visa or encounter problems based on your previous negligence at the border.
[photos by: jaaron (passport stamps), t0msk (baby holding passport)]
