Visa Visa Visa

My new passport arrived last week.  I got the larger one with 80 pages in preparation of having enough room / pages for the stamps and visa's that I expect to get on my journey.  It was sad to see the last one go - besides the fact that it still had 6 years validity - my passport photo didn't look like I had just served 10 years hard time in a prison somewhere!!!  Needless to say this photo isn't as good - but I would like to know why you aren't suppossed to smile in a passport photo?  I guess if you have just come off a 15 hour flight you are more likely going to look like your picture with no smile than some-one who has holiday glow getting their picture taken forgetting just how long that hell flight actually is before they reach their paradise!

My main concern is the visa's I need to get while I am on my trip.  Normally they are not such a big deal.  Most consulates are represented in Australia, you send your passport off with forms and photos in tow and in approx 2 weeks your passport is back.  The tricky thing with an extended trip is whether the visa once in your passport is valid from the time it is put in there or does it start from when you land in that particular country.  I have done the home work and I need to get 14 visa's in total.  4 of those I can get before I go, 4 of them I can get on arrival, I need to get 2 in London, 1 in Cape Town, 1 in Paris and one has to be pre-applied for off their web site and approved for before landing in the country.

I just need to have faith in my organisational skills and be a little patient.  When I want things done it generally means yesterday and not all things can be hurried - especially when involving foreign consulates. I have their local addresses and I have google mapped where they are in relation to where I am staying - the best I can do for my piece of mind................