round the world visas?
 

for those who travel RTW question, do you get all your visas etc before the trip or on as needed basis along the way? I imagine would be hard to know up front exactly what route and countries you're going to cross. Not to mention some time restrictions.

Complex. beer
As the visa conditions vary from country to country you might have a visa that starts from the time of issue and is valid for 6 months .. so that may have to be applied for close to when you get there .. and that could be a year away.
Some visas need to be applied for in your home country. Some visas can be had as you cross the border.
And visa requirements change by the nationality of the person applying for the visa too.

So this needs to be evaluated on a country by country basis. As the countries you have on your route are different from other peoples routes your visa requirements are going to be different too. Of course once you evaluate the visa requirements you may well change your route.

And as well as the visa requirements some countries require you to have a guide at all times ... these are costly .. so some people avoid those countries or try to organize a group to reduce the cost per person. Presently some examples are China, Thailand and Myanmar.

And then there is the dynamic nature of politics ... sudden changes in political policy can have visas cancelled ... the USA being the most recent example.

AND if you are taking a vehicle, Carnets must be considered as well as they aren't straightforward either especially if you have to renew it on the road. Get it wrong and you can lose your deposit or be fined or (supposedly) lose your vehicle

I got them all on the road. It is almost always possible, if sometimes a huge headache (looking at you Nigeria, DR Congo, Ghana and Russia). The trip duration (more or less than 6 months?) and route are the big factors. Certain countries also have much different regulations if you have your own vehicle, requiring an expensive Carnet Du Passage or worse, a guide (examples: China, India, Myanmar, now Thailand, Iran, maybe Egypt). Travel to these countries might require research and preperation in your home country. And of course, be aware that large parts of North Africa and the Middle East are restricted for independent travel, even if you can get the visa.

damn, that's a pain indeed. Kinda puts me off from RTW.

Have a look at Julian & Ali Travels.

Julian and Ali had already driven from Oz to Europe so had a lot of experience with visas, but of course the return trip was on a different route so they had to start again.
Not suggesting most people would go to this detail with their planning but Julian thrives on it - but just setting off and hoping for the best is likely to be very problematic too.

That was the planning part and despite the detail, the execution was far from smooth at times. For instance in Turkey they had to make several major detours to arrange visas for the next couple of countries and there were times when passports had to be couriered back home and return which is not what most of us would want to do with our passports full of hard-won visas.

thanks, wow! that's the real project plan :)

got to have a lot of spare time for something like this though...

Russia is a big headache, depending on your nationality. For many, you can only apply from your country of residency, not on the road.


But that can be sorted with getting a 1 year business visa.