Caravanistan

We wrote a blog post with all the things we wish we had known before our big overland trip last summer. http://designthinktravel.com/central-asia-overland-travel-planning/ One of our top tips is that the guidebooks to Central Asia are terrible. Caravanistan is the best source of information! Edited ...

Your impulse is to be nice and friendly -- smile, engage, make friends. Resist it. Deploy resting bitchface. In Pakistan, local women treat men they must deal with in shops, public transport etc with utter and complete disdain, verging on contempt. Cross those social boundaries at your peril. Be yo...

I can report that the process of getting our Uzbekistan visas from the New York consulate was quick and painless, although not as fast as your experience! We didn't have an LOI, and we received our visas in less than two weeks from mailing our documents. The embassy site lists a turnaround time of t...

Holy crap! My condolences on this ordeal. We did this border crossing just over 2 weeks ago. We arranged a private taxi from Tashkent that left at 7:30--more expensive but worth it as we got to the border before 3:00 and crossed over in plenty of time. I can report that going through this border pos...

I just received my 10-year, multiple-entry Chinese tourist visa, good for 60 days per entry, from the San Francisco consulate. This is the new default for US citizens based on a treaty that was signed in November. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/11/233904.htm This is convenient because we're p...