Tag: bureaucracy

Opposing views on the world, one of the most psychologically demanding days in years (July 2023)

We went back near Batumi because the package from Germany was ready for pickup. We had sent it to a friend of Cindy and I was very thankful that he did invest his energy and time in this.

But the process of getting this package was crazy for me. I believe that basically humans are good and that experiences can make them behave not so well. So for me this is a state of confusion which is totally human and just part of us humans although we are basically good.

The friend of Cindy believes in mostly the opposite. That’s ok with me but still it was so demanding for me to get this package from the postal office and listen all the time to all the examples he had to somehow prove his view. And all the things that happened in the package retrieval process he saw as proofs of his beliefs. For him all the people we dealt with were bad and their only reason for existence seemed to be to make our lives harder. And about this he was sure even before we met the first of them.

So we started our odyssey and drove to the postal office. There we had to wait for half an hour. After that the people there started to ask questions about the contents of the package etc. Cindy’s friend was already pissed and had the people feel that. They were speaking Russian so I could not understand exactly what they said but that wasn’t necessary or even better that way. This procedure took about half an hour and I felt not good. Not good for Cindy’s friend, not good for the people in the postal office and not good for myself.

In the end we had to go to a Georgian Bank office to pay the import fees. I saw that coming because everything over 300 GEL (approximately 100 Euro) gets an import fee of about 18% in Georgia. For Cindy’s friend this fee was a proof of the evilness of the people in the postal office. At the bank we had to wait for a while and then paid. There was some discussion with the bank accountant about the fact that we only could pay in cash. Another sign of evilness.

We went back to the postal office. On the way I did tell Cindy’s friend about my perspective on the things happening and that it’s all ok. I did not want to convince him of my “Buddhist Zen-like” perspective but I could stay silent as well. I guess I just wanted to say something to calm myself or ensure myself that my beliefs were alright. And although I tried to accept that Cindy’s friend had just a different but not better or worse perspective than me, I could not remain neutral. And the fact that he believed that for example Trump would save humanity of evilness did not make it easier for me.

At the postal office the people told us that there has to be a mistake. The bank accountant did charge us three Lari too little. For me a mistake that can happen. For Cindy’s friend another proof of evilness.

So we went back to the bank. Cindy’s friend was pissed and had a big discussion with the accountant. I was smiling. In the end the accountant offered to pay the three Lari by her own. I liked the gesture. For Cindy’s friend she was making fun of us. We payed the three Lari.

After that we went back to the postal office and retrieved the package. I was happy that this was over. And I was still thankful that Cindy’s friend did go through this with me. Especially because this whole process was so full of evilness from his perspective.

I was super happy about the package full of mountaineering and climbing stuff and so we went to the nearest climbing area to try my first own climbing shoes. But I could not really climb. I was just not centered at all. Too busy in the head.

I guess this whole package mission just let me doubt about my whole perspective on the world. Maybe the perspective of Cindy’s friend was the right one and I was wrong? During the whole day, but especially at that point I felt that the “Zen perspective” really helped me to accept my perspective, his perspective and most importantly a part of the nature of human perspectives and beliefs: to have something that’s true, something we can rely on, something that gives us the feeling of having understood something about our own lives.

Calculating visa and customs days for Turkey: how to stay longer than 90 out of 180 days in Turkey (May 2023)

The calculation of visa and customs days in Turkey is one of the most confusing topics I’ve come across so far.

These Infos are based on my personal experiences with my German passport and my in Germany registered car and what I’ve heard directly from other travelers in December 2022 up to May 2023.

I guess what makes it so confusing is this sentence from the official Turkish website about visas on Turkey: “The length of stay provided by visa or visa exemption cannot exceed 90 days within each 180 days.” (source).

From my experience this is absolutely right BUT the complexity begins when you want to stay more days after the 180 days of your initial stay have passed.

Travelers think they can calculate like the following example: You enter Turkey and the 180 days period starts. Within these 180 days you can leave and re-enter Turkey without problems. Every day you spend inside counts towards the 90 days you are allowed to stay within the 180 days timespan. So far, so good.

But now the complexity starts: One may think that when the 180 days are over another 180 days period will start and you get another 90 days in this period but that’s not the case. The Turkish border controls calculate your visa and customs days like this:

When you re-enter Turkey after your first 180 days timespan, the officials take the amount of days that you had left from your initial 90 days and add up the amount of days that have passed since your initial 180 timespan had ended. The result is the amount of days you are allowed to stay in the next 180 days timespan that starts with you entering Turkey.

One example:

  • You enter Turkey and use 80 days of the 90 days you are allowed in the timespan of 180 days.
  • You leave Turkey after these 80 days and enter the northern part of Cyprus or another country because you think it’s a nice way to get more visa days in Turkey.
  • After your initial 180 days timespan for Turkey has passed for 20 days you re-enter Turkey. So it’s been 200 days since you first had entered Turkey.
  • The amount of days you are allowed to stay in Turkey within the upcoming 180 days is: 10 days (you had left from your initial 180 days timespan) + 20 days (which you started “gathering” after your first 180 days timespan had ended).

And this “gathering of days” nobody would expect. But from my own experience and what I’ve heard from others, it’s what the officials at the border are doing.

The penalties for staying longer than allowed seem to vary a lot: One friend paid around 400€ for overdoing ten days. Another paid 30€ for overdoing 30 days.