Look back and remember:
We were 1 week in Berlin when I wrote this update. We stayed in the same hostel that we stayed with when we visited Berlin with my mom and Oom Gerrit summer of 2010 - 2 days. We then moved to the Berlin Youth Hostel in the center of the city for 2 days. It became moret expensive and boys and girls were separated, so we moved to Amstel house where we stayed the rest of the time.
Conundrum update 26 January 2011:
Update 26 January 2011
Berlin: snowing...!
Status: Inertia
Reason:
We've applied for Syrian visas and have not heard from them yet. Yes, or no will
affect our travel plans majorly. Yes: we can continue as planned. No: we will
have to reroute.
Leaving Kandern was more difficult than anticipated. Our
original plan was to leave during the first week of January. We received our new
passports the end of December, 3+ weeks later than anticipated and we could not
apply for any visas until we've received the new passports. It was therefore
best to stay in Kandern where we had a warm room; we could also finish final
sorting, packing and administrative stuff.
In 3 countries - Sudan,
Ethiopia and Syria one has to secure visas before arrival at the border. Willie
and I received our Sudanese visas a week ago, and we've applied for Syrian visas
through an agency in Berlin. We are currently waiting to find out whether our
application for Syrian visas was successful. We will have to make a different
plan for Hugo and Andrej since they do not have residency in Germany
anymore.
We left Kandern Wednesday 19 January. On our way out we had to
stop at post-offices in France to mail letters and boxes(parcels). By the time
we had that done, it was almost time to find a place to "camp" for the night.
Campsites in Europe typically do not open before April, so our first night on
the road was spent in a parking lot in Wintersdorf (less than 200 km away from
Kandern!) Willie and I were in the rooftop tent and Hugo and Sammie in the car.
It rained and snowed during the night and it was freezing cold. 5am Willie woke
up with a wet shirt! We had no idea where the water came from, but the mattress
was wet! Finally Willie realized that we did not put the poles for the rain
cover in...so the water happily dripped onto the floorboard during the night and
the mattress eagerly absorbed it. Well, that is school money - hopefully we will
not have to pay that again.
Thursday, 20 January, we arrived in Berlin
after a difficult drive through snow, rain and lots of construction! The
campsite in Berlin was open, but we decided to go to a youth hostel because it
was so bitter cold.
Willie and Hugo went to the USA embassy on Friday
where new pages were put into Hugo's passport.
The visa agency told
Willie that we will not know about our Syrian visas before Tuesday/Wednesday
which is today. This far we have no news yet. There is a feeling of helplessness
and frustration with this kind of waiting, because there is not too much we can
do other than WAIT!
We were 1 week in Berlin when I wrote this update. We stayed in the same hostel that we stayed with when we visited Berlin with my mom and Oom Gerrit summer of 2010 - 2 days. We then moved to the Berlin Youth Hostel in the center of the city for 2 days. It became moret expensive and boys and girls were separated, so we moved to Amstel house where we stayed the rest of the time.
Conundrum update 26 January 2011:
Update 26 January 2011
Berlin: snowing...!
Status: Inertia
Reason:
We've applied for Syrian visas and have not heard from them yet. Yes, or no will
affect our travel plans majorly. Yes: we can continue as planned. No: we will
have to reroute.
Leaving Kandern was more difficult than anticipated. Our
original plan was to leave during the first week of January. We received our new
passports the end of December, 3+ weeks later than anticipated and we could not
apply for any visas until we've received the new passports. It was therefore
best to stay in Kandern where we had a warm room; we could also finish final
sorting, packing and administrative stuff.
In 3 countries - Sudan,
Ethiopia and Syria one has to secure visas before arrival at the border. Willie
and I received our Sudanese visas a week ago, and we've applied for Syrian visas
through an agency in Berlin. We are currently waiting to find out whether our
application for Syrian visas was successful. We will have to make a different
plan for Hugo and Andrej since they do not have residency in Germany
anymore.
We left Kandern Wednesday 19 January. On our way out we had to
stop at post-offices in France to mail letters and boxes(parcels). By the time
we had that done, it was almost time to find a place to "camp" for the night.
Campsites in Europe typically do not open before April, so our first night on
the road was spent in a parking lot in Wintersdorf (less than 200 km away from
Kandern!) Willie and I were in the rooftop tent and Hugo and Sammie in the car.
It rained and snowed during the night and it was freezing cold. 5am Willie woke
up with a wet shirt! We had no idea where the water came from, but the mattress
was wet! Finally Willie realized that we did not put the poles for the rain
cover in...so the water happily dripped onto the floorboard during the night and
the mattress eagerly absorbed it. Well, that is school money - hopefully we will
not have to pay that again.
Thursday, 20 January, we arrived in Berlin
after a difficult drive through snow, rain and lots of construction! The
campsite in Berlin was open, but we decided to go to a youth hostel because it
was so bitter cold.
Willie and Hugo went to the USA embassy on Friday
where new pages were put into Hugo's passport.
The visa agency told
Willie that we will not know about our Syrian visas before Tuesday/Wednesday
which is today. This far we have no news yet. There is a feeling of helplessness
and frustration with this kind of waiting, because there is not too much we can
do other than WAIT!
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