Permission to enter

In his book of travel essays, Abroad, Paul Fussell observes dryly that passports were a nuisance first imposed on the British traveler in 1915.

The passport was the novel instrument by which England restricted travel during the war and by which, like all other countries, it has interfered in it ever since. Novel because before 1915 His Majesty's Government did not require a passport for departure, nor did any European state require one for admittance except the two notoriously backward and neurotic countries of Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

In America, the requirement was lifted in 1921 and not reimposed until 1941 -- and we've never looked back.

Since "9-11," Americans have needed some sort of passport to visit even Canada and Mexico. Visas, on the other hand -- issued by the country to be visited, not the traveler's own government -- aren't generally required for visits to the most commonly touristed nations.

And so -- when I do need to obtain visas for a trip, I'm at the same time irritated by the inconvenience (and expense), and thrilled that I'm somehow wandering off the most beaten paths and into regions that are (by Yankee standards, at least) obscure and mysterious.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm going mountain trekking in Tajikistan in September, followed by a few days of tourist travel in Uzbekistan. Both countries require visas (and charge plenty for the privilege of entering). Both countries require recent photos, typed application forms, bogus "letters of invitation" from a local tourist agency, and full itineraries (no wandering around the Steppes of Central Asia on your own, getting yourselves into trouble, if you please!). Both countries -- as I now know -- take their own sweet time as they mull over the advisability of granting you their precious permission to enter. To be sure, I wasn't holding my breath to the extent I did a couple of years ago, awaiting my Iranian visa. But, even so, the delay before this year's visas were granted -- about three weeks for each -- did make me somewhat nervous.

Obtaining visas for countries like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran -- and even India, to a lesser extent -- requires a certain amount of preparation and patience. Quite different is securing a Turkish visa -- a visa requirement imposed only relatively recently. (I'll be spending a couple of nights in Istanbul, before flying on to Central Asia.) The Turkish visa is obtained on-line, the main objective apparently being to charge twenty dollars to your credit card as quickly and painlessly as possible.

But I now have them all. My "papers are all in order," as officials in the old black and white movies used to say. I leave Seattle in 53 days (but, hey, who's counting), needing only to get my trekking equipment (and my lungs and leg muscles) in order before that date!