A Lesson In Traveling

So I got a call yesterday from that friend of mine who was going to Brazil for three weeks. "Hey, man," I said, "how're the beaches? You been pickpocketed yet?"

"Dude, I'm in New York." he responds. And then he unfolds the following tale of woe...

The poor guy, who's been planning this trip for months, spends Christmas with his family and then flies to Brazil, arriving early Thursday. He immediately proceeds to customs, where he's asked for his visa. "Oh," he says confidently, "I don't need a visa, I'm just here on vacation." (He'd been there once before in college on a student visa, but that's because he was living there for 3 months.) To which he's promptly informed that you need a visa to come to Brazil for any length of time, vacation or otherwise... and without one, he absolutely cannot enter the country. Period. In desperation, my friend asks if there's anything at all he can do. Well, the customs official says, he can try flying to Argentina- you don't need a visa to get into that country and they have good relations with the U.S., so he could go to the customs office or embassy or whatever there and try to get a visa.

So that's exactly what my friend does: plunks down an extra $600 for a round-trip ticket to Buenos Aires from Brazil. He gets there on Friday and immediately goes to the customs office or embassy to see if they can grant him a visa. To which they respond that it's possible they could provide him with one... except that Friday happens to be an Argentinian holiday so the office isn't technically open, and it won't reopen until Monday. And since my friend bought a round-trip ticket, Monday ain't exactly an option. At this point he has a decision to make: wait around three days, blowing even more cash on hotel rooms and another plane ticket in the slim hope that he can get a visa (doubtful, since his birth certificate is locked in a bank here in Pennsylvania); or cut his losses, fly home, return to work early, and try to save up enough money in 2007 to try for Brazil again next Christmas.

Obviously he chose the latter, which entailed flying to Laguardia (apparently flight destinations from Brazil are limited), then to North Carolina to retrieve his car from a friend's house, then driving to his family's home in Virginia, then finally back to PA. At the time we talked on Saturday, he said he'd spent almost 36 hours on planes and hadn't changed his clothes in days, so he was just happy to be nearing the end of the ordeal. But honestly- here's a guy who has talked about nothing but Brazil for months; who researched flights, costs, destinations, and every conceivable aspect of Brazilian culture; who has been an utter cheapskate for half a year... and thanks to one mistake, he's just pissed away an ungodly amount of money in nonrefundable plane tickets and travel costs. (Out of respect for him I won't give the exact figure, but suffice to say it's several months' rent.) As he put it, "The worst part is, I can't blame anyone else for this; I'm the dumbass who didn't read the travel requirements carefully."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your lesson for today: always research the travel regulations for any place you plan on visiting. Don't be like my friend, the dumbass.