I'm going to Iran!

Hurray! I'm going to Iran. Or, rather, I have a visa for a single entry to Iran for thirty days starting anytime from the 3^rd of August to the 1^st of November.

Tip top, tippetty top!

Of course, this is just the first of three visas I need for the trip so I'm not necessarily going everywhere, yet. Historically, it has been the most troublesome to get so I'm really quite pleased.

Next up is a visa for Pakistan. Their visa requirements are quite interesting as I need:

1. a letter of invitation (LOI)

   In other words, you need to be invited by someone from Pakistan. How does that work if you're overlanding? Well, if you do a bit of research you can find organizations who are willing to invite you...

2. three months bank statements

   Not obviously easy when we're all encouraged to go paperless. Fortunately, NatWest have deemed it within their bequest to send you up to three months bank statements as proof of income up to twice a year for no charge. How generous.

3. a letter from your employer

   I asked the man how I was supposed to do this as I was self-employed, I would be writing a letter on behalf of myself. He suggested that I write a letter explaining my company's activities and history and "see how it goes." Good, that sounds promising.

4. Itinerary, hotel booking

   A bit tricky this one as I don't know exactly when I'm going to be there or indeed where I'm going to go. I suspect, along with the LOI, a certain amount of economy with the truth might be in order.

On top of all this, as I'm certainly going somewhere now (modulo the Pakistani and Indian visas) I need to get the ball rolling on such prosaic matters as:

1. the carnet
2. money -- there's not much in the way of cash points from Turkey through to India so I'd best pack some cash (Euros and USD, methinks).
3. travel insurance