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Trần Đặng Đăng Khoa has completed the first leg of his 35-country motorcycle journey. He shares his experiences in obtaining visas and taking his motorcycle across borders.
How many visas does the Vietnamese guy need for his motorcycle journey through 23 countries?
Departing from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in June 2017, Trần Đặng Đăng Khoa, born in 1987 in Gò Công Tây, Tiền Giang, is undertaking a two-year motorcycle journey around the world, spanning 35 countries.
Currently, he has traveled for 150 days, covering 20,000 km through 23 countries and is currently in Hamburg, Germany. Đăng Khoa has held a talk sharing his journey, preparations, and experiences in the initial stage of this impressive trip.
What to prepare before the trip?
According to Trần Đặng Đăng Khoa, to undertake a journey like this, you first need a lot of experience in traveling by motorcycle. Before hitting the road, he spent a lot of time reading books, studying maps, and understanding the destinations to plan the most specific itinerary. Đăng Khoa dedicated 2 years to preparation.
For a journey through many countries, various terrains, and climates, from deserts to European countries, Đăng Khoa had to carry quite a lot of gear. His advice is to make a list of items to bring, divided into 12 categories such as clothing, motorcycle gear, documents, camping gear, personal hygiene, first aid, and bike repair tools…
According to him, when traveling long distances by motorcycle, you need to choose a good quality helmet that covers your entire head and chin. Luggage also needs to be calculated and arranged to have enough essential items but not overly bulky or heavy.
What documents do you need to apply for and bring along?
Đăng Khoa says one of the most frequently asked questions by his followers about his journey is how he applied for Visa and what documents are needed to take a motorcycle through 23 countries. According to him, with thorough research, you'll find that taking a motorcycle through countries is not too difficult, except for some special countries like Thailand or Myanmar, just having the required documents according to each country is enough.
To embark on the journey, Đăng Khoa carries three main groups of documents: for individuals (Visa), for the motorcycle, and other documents. First, regarding visas, he says that although he travels through 23 countries, he doesn't need a visa for every country.
In the region of Southeast Asia, some countries waive Visa for Vietnamese citizens, while others offer Visa on arrival or eVisa. He obtained Schengen Visa in advance for 26 countries in the Schengen area in Europe, making entry to these countries easier and more convenient. Therefore, in reality, before the trip, he only applied for Visas for India, Pakistan, and Schengen (Iran Visa was obtained while in Pakistan).
His strategy is to apply for Schengen Visa first, followed by India and Pakistan, because the validity of Schengen and Indian Visas is longer (1-2 years), while the Pakistani Visa is only valid for 90 days so it needs to be applied for closer to the departure date.
Is it easy or difficult to take a motorbike across countries?
To take the motorbike across borders, he brought along 2 international driving licenses (one issued by Vietnam and one by the US), vehicle registration, and Carnet de Passages en Douane (CPD). He shares that the vehicle registration of Vietnam is in English, making it more convenient. However, only listing the type of vehicle (Wave) instead of the brand (Honda) caused him to spend a lot of time explaining at the border.
Carnet de Passages en Douane (CPD) is the document that cost him the most time, effort, and money. It took him 2 years to research and gather information to obtain this document. CPD is like a passport for vehicles, also stamped at border crossings, containing the owner's name and vehicle information.
To obtain CPD, you must deposit an amount equivalent to the value of the vehicle in advance. This document allows the owner to take the vehicle across borders without depositing money. Then, when returning to Vietnam if the document is fully stamped, you will be refunded. To travel through Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Iran, he had to apply for CPD. He had to spend quite a bit of time applying from Malaysia since Vietnam is not among the countries using this document.
Thailand stands out as a unique case since June 2017, where the country doesn't permit tourists to bring their vehicles across the border but must go through a travel company. Đăng Khoa made thorough preparations with all necessary documents to bring his vehicle into Thailand. He opted to fly over Myanmar to save time, considering the difficulty and inconvenience of bringing the motorbike into that country.
Đăng Khoa shares that bringing the motorbike and obtaining visas, in reality, isn't as challenging as many people imagine. The key is to have passion, perseverance, spend time researching information, and have reasonable planning.
According to Hoàng Linh/Zing news
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Reference: Travel guide Mytour
MytourApril 13, 2018
