Epic Travel Visa Fails. Because It's Not All Sunshine And Roses Out On The Road.

Sometimes things go wrong. For travelers deciding to go through visa applications, this experience can be lengthy. Sometimes one needs to prepare visa documents 6 months in advance. Henley & Partners calculates the accessibility of passports based on the passport’s ability to travel visa-free to other countries, or apply for a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA). The most powerful passports ranked by Henley & Partners are Japan, Singapore, Germany, Denmark, Finland, and France. For travelers who hold a passport that is among the weakest in the world, applying for a visa can be downright frustrating. Here are six amusing visa experience from travel bloggers and entrepreneurs.

1. Ankita Sinha from AnkiOntheMove

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Passport: India

I am a travel and fashion blogger and vlogger from India. I’ve been blogging for 6 years. I started blogging in India and moved to the US some three years back. In 2016, I was invited for a media trip to Switzerland. At that time I was living in Milwaukee, and Milwaukee didn’t have Switzerland Embassy where I could apply. I had to get the visa from the Lithuanian Consulate in Chicago instead, and the whole process took more than three months to get the visa. On top of that, the Consulate gave me a visa for my exact duration of stay in Switzerland, that is for four days in my case. It was a hassle following up with them over mail initially even to take an appointment because there were significant silent delays from their end. They wanted all the documents from flights to hotel booking to a complete day by day itinerary. It was crazy because till 2-3 days before my travel; I was visa-less. Finally, when the confirmation call came from the consulate, I rushed to collect it from Chicago instead of asking them to mail it to my address. I couldn’t have had made it to the trip otherwise.

2. Yuki Anggia from Helter Skelter

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Passport: Indonesia

I'm a travel journalist based in Jakarta. The hardest visa I ever applied was the US visa. My partner and I were planning to make a road trip to American National Parks. Hence we’re staying in the country for almost a month. The process was painful not because of the documents we had to gather but because of the interview. The interview was challenging. The officers asked what's my purpose for visiting each state. Also, I heard many stories that the chance of the embassy rejecting your visa is high. Once you’re denied a US visa, it’s like a black mark to our passport hence it will make another visa process more difficult. I prepared this visa for one year, so thank god I passed!

3. Adam Groffman from Travels of Adam

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Passport: United States

Back in 2010, I was briefly living in Israel. I'm American and was able to stay in the country for up to three months. From Israel, I was planning to travel to India, but of course, I prepared the trip last-minute and booked my flight for my last eligible day to be in Israel. I needed a visa to travel to India, and my application took two weeks to get approved—which was one week later than my flight out of Israel! I ended up overstaying my Israeli visa and having to pay a rebooking fee for my flight while I waited for my Indian tourist visa! Thankfully, leaving Israel, when they questioned me why I overstayed my visa, I was able to present all the proof about my flight changes and my delayed Indian visa. It didn't cause too much trouble but was stressful!

4. Justa Lujwangana from Curious on Tanzania

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Passport: Tanzania

I'm a holder of Tanzanian Citizenship and permanent resident of the USA. While in the US, I have visited most Caribbean islands with no difficulties. I would show my green Tanzanian Passport and get a visa upon arrival as I have the US status with me. This is true for Jamaica, Bahama, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts. Until I decided to go to Trinidad and Tobago. It was in December of 2016 and my Trinidadian best friend had planned to have a 60th surprise birthday for her beloved mother in Trinidad. She asked my other best friend, who is from Haiti and hold a Haitian passport with a permanent residence like me, to help her at the event. We said yes and bought the tickets. She was off to Trinidad 4 days before us then Myself and my Haitian took off next.

Upon land in Trinidad, we walked to the airport customs area, stood on the long line waiting for our turn to get our passport stamped and get in the country. My Haitian friend was the first one to get the customs officer. She went from smiling from left to right to having a sad face and walked back to me with "the don't wait to let me in".I was shocked. Before she would answer, they called me to go get my stamp. Checked my passport and asked "where is your visa? " I told her that I have my permanent ID card but the officer didn't want to hear me and kept saying "Where is your visa?" Then she gave me a DENIED entry stamp.

We were pulled to the side and taken to a private detention room to wait on the next returning flight back as we were not allowed in the country. We both lost it. They didn't want to hear or see that we had American residence, which for most Caribbean island is ok. Once you show your proof of US residence you usually get a pass but on this day it was not the case. We were sent to the detention room with security officers as if we were criminals.

It took us 5 hours upon arrival to the time we got out of the detention room. While we were locked up in detention with no windows but a tv and comfortable couch, a new officer asked us for our passports and if we had return tickets to the US. We said, yes. The officer said that they only needed to know that we had a return ticket and they could have given us a visa upon arrival. Here is your visa and enjoy our country.

5. Inma Gregorio from A World To Travel

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Passport: Spain

As a Spanish passport holder, I enjoy a free right of movement and residence in any of the European Union member states. On top of that, I can travel to over 123 countries visa-free. Talk about privilege. How could I complain then? The truth is that after traveling to over 60 countries, I only experienced issues a handful of times. And that was mainly due to having visited a few Muslim countries. How easy would it be to travel without borders? One day I was held at the Tel Aviv airport for more than two hours, registered and questioned so much that I almost lost my flight.

6. Jiri Duzar from CzechTourism Board

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Passport: Czech Republic

The funniest border-crossing and visa challenge happened to me in 2010 when I was traveling from Turkey to Iraq (autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan in the north of Iraq). My Czech passport belongs to one of the strongest ones (I can enter 157 countries visa-free or obtain the visa on arrival).

Before I arrived in Iraq, I knew I have to obtain my 10-day long tourist visa on arrival at the border crossing. The process itself was fine and required 30-minutes long wait in the waiting area barely. What I found weird and what later on turned into bizarre experience was that we were told we couldn’t cross the borders on foot but inside of a vehicle. However, there is no bus or train at the Silopi/Zakho border crossing, and the only way you can pass is with locals who adapted to this rule by charging tourists 20 USD per 1 crossing. At that time, I was a hardcore budget traveler, and the idea of spending 20 USD per 1 crossing was just unimaginable. So we started looking for someone who’d take us for free, and it didn’t take too long before we did. We were promised a free drive under one condition that my travel companions and I will each smuggle three blocks of cigarettes in our backpacks. We were assured it’s completely safe and that they border control rarely checks foreign luggage and that the x-ray probably doesn’t work. Of course, the police did search our bags, and the x-ray clearly showed what’s inside our backpacks. But the border control officer just nodded with a smile and off we went. That’s how I got to Iraq and back eight years ago. When I’m thinking about it now, I still get goosebumps. Would I do it again? Yeah!