35 replies to this topic

[Count Lugosi]

Not much of a party person myself so I tend to avoid big cities. I tend to have more fun in the mid to small towns anyway. More of a community and you honestly find more cool stuff there it seems like. People are nicer too and little to no chance of a terrorist attack. If you're not interested in that though then take my recommendations with a grain of salt.

 

Interlaken in Switzerland (in fact Switzerland in general) is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I cannot recommend it enough. Zermatt is also supposed to be pretty awesome, but having never been there I can't speak for it personally. Rudesheim is a small wine town in germany on the rhein, and is definitely worth a day trip at the very least if you wind up anywhere near it. There is a wine museum in a castle that will do a wine tasting for about 5 euros consisting of about 5 or 6 FULL glasses of wine. Also there is a benedictine abbey where the nuns make some of the best wine I've ever had [free tasting too ] I also thouroughly enjoyed the old town of heidelberg. Lots of neat shops and a castle you can tour at the end. (It is also within a reasonable distance of rudesheim.) Bavaria is also very beautiful and you can go visit Neuschwannstein castle (the fairy tale castle.) As far as the castle itself the exterior is beautiful but the interior is unfinished so it's a little underwhelming. I personally liked the other castle which is part of the same tour more although I can't remember its name. Der Residenz in Munich is also great. 

 

Honestly even 4 years ago I would have highly recommended Turkey as well, although unfortunately I can't say I can right now It's a shame really as it was a really cool country. 

 

My wife has been to Ireland and had a lot of fun too (although most of her time was at a conference so not much tourism.) There is a game of thrones tour where you get to see the castle they used for Winterfell. Also you get to pet the actual direwolves from the tv series.

 

Edit: Sister Midnight it sounds like you may have done the same tour of turkey that I did. Did they take you to where troy was, and the place where they weave silk rugs?

[Argus Panoptes]

the plan is still alive and is being crystalized, i'll def let you guys know. o/

I'd almost given up hope 

 

/edit adding to Count Lugosi, if you go Swiss, Luzern is the one place you must visit. I have some pics on my Instagram from a few months back that may entice you to go.

 

Ireland? Yes. I won't even give specific tips, the whole island is magical and steeped in history. Also on my Instagram, but you have to scroll back 3 years 

[Count Lugosi]

We loved Luzern! Unfortunately we only made a day trip to there so we didn't get to explore it as much as we would have liked . We had a lot of fun going to the shops on that canal with the tower bridge and around the lake itself though. We were based in Interlaken which was only a few hours away and the train ride there was beautiful. If you have the time and money (the only downside to Switzerland is it can be pretty expensive) you should spend a few days in both towns. Personally Interlaken is still my fave though .

 

It's between two of the most ridiculously blue and clean lakes I've ever seen with a crystal clear river running between it surrounded by Alps (in fact Mt. Jungfrau is directly behind the town.) I would post pictures, but they really do not do it justice.

[Shahenshah]

Fml, app rejected, mentioned I'm an overstay risk/would not return/become illegal migrant.

:-/

:Confused:

Not sure why they think I'd give up income higher than your avg western EU income and end up unemployed in a ghetto by being a runner.

:-/

Any advise?

[ccabal86]

Where exactly did you apply for a visa? Was it a Schengen visa?

[Yehom]

mentioned I'm an overstay risk/would not return/become illegal migrant.

How did you mention it? 

[Shahenshah]

Applied to Netherlands, Schengen, because I'd love to see Amsterdam.

 

Reasons are:

1. Your intention to leave the territory of the Member State before the expiry of this visa could not be established.

2. The purpose and circumstances of the intended stay are insufficiently demonstrated

 

Best/worst part is my freinds applied exactly the same way, and they got the visas.

[onbekende]

Scare them by mentioning rascist motivated reasons for denying entry

[Argus Panoptes]

Bloody hell. You're here as a tourist. Schengen allows you free passage throughout most western European countries without extra red tape. So I guess you got someone scared. Did you include the return ticket? That's what they seem to be looking for. Or you're on someone's shit list for reason of earlier criminal activities or something. Wierd your friends passed ok and not you.

[ccabal86]

Have you tried crossing through the Med? I hear the Italian navy provides free cruise and accomodations.

Joke aside, does this actually mean you were rejected from the entire Schengen zone, and barred from applying in other countrie. I suspect that to be the case, but if not, then apply for visa in another country. Alternatively, there's still the non-Schengen countries, though it eon't be much of a Eurotrip

[Shahenshah]

Bloody hell. You're here as a tourist. Schengen allows you free passage throughout most western European countries without extra red tape. So I guess you got someone scared. Did you include the return ticket? That's what they seem to be looking for. Or you're on someone's shit list for reason of earlier criminal activities or something. Wierd your friends passed ok and not you.

No, if I was a security risk, they would mention that on the rejection letter, it has several reasons mentioned and yours is tick marked as to why. Perhaps a more detailed travel itenary could have been provided on my part.

Offcourse I provided everything that was required, but perhaps what more I could have done was say provide exactly what I plan to do on each of the days.

I can reapply, but I'm very short on time. I should have just applied through Belgium with the TL tickets tbh.

I included all the tickets and stuff. I'm an expat in Dubai and my family is in Pakistan and I don't own any assets or property in Dubai. So perhaps that was the weak part. I could have emphasized that my family, esp my parents are my dependants as I do send home certain amount every month for covering the expenses. I showed the bank statement but didn't mention this part. So perhaps they may have felt I don't have dependants back home who rely on my stable income for expenses. So I feel this is the part that may have been missing. A couple of my friends in Pakistan got the visa, we all had more or less exactly the same travel itenary (obv, because we are a group of friends). I don't see any difference in our situations apart from our current locations. We are all well educated in multinationals with great career paths and a decent travel history.


So I guess I needed to emphasize more on my family tired which I didn't because they didnt ask for it but I suppose it would have made for a stronger case and less of a flight risk. Also, some of my friends are married but I'm not so I guess that would also affect my case negatively.

Another reason is I could have added a cover letter with details and more defined purpose. I assumed having tickets and hotel etc to places was good enough that I'm a tourist. But I will mention next time that I'd like to visit the coffee houses .

So yea, not end of the world, I know what I can do better for next application, thinking of going to Prague now instead, they have better chicks in Eastern Europe I heard..is it true Ccabal?

[Blade 619]

Just reapply, probably got a rogue bellend staff member.

[Shahenshah]

Yup and with migrant and refugee crises, I guess everyone's a bit edgy, which is understandable.

[ccabal86]

I can absolutely guarantee that there are hot chicks in EEU. If you go to Prague, you MUST come to Budapest too

[onbekende]

Just reapply, probably got a rogue bellend staff member.

This probably yeah, you'd be surprised to what lenght people go to reach certain "quota"

 

That said, why apply thruw Belgium? We have probably the slowest beaurocratic system in the world >_>

[Argus Panoptes]

So you're a Pakistan national, based in Dubai, with depentants in your home country, but not married. Hmmm. Okay I guess some red flags could go up. That's crap.

Regardless of your port of entry (I so hope Belgium is not, it's a wierd part of Europe  ), I hope you make it to Amsterdam. I promise there will be one or more Dutchies waiting to welcome you. Hot chicks here? Yes, but stay away from my GF