Letting Out My Breath

Who knew there would be so much drama in Mike's Big Central Asian Adventure before he'd even left home?

This last week has been one big bureaucratic flustercluck as the State Department has struggled to get Mike the visas he needs. I'll spare you the play-by-play, but suffice to say there has been much standing in line at consulates (both ones that do and do not exist), many three a.m. phone calls with folks in Dushanbe, much hand-wringing and soul-searching, and between the two of us, Mike and I have hatched about a million back-up plans in case this whole Central Asia thing fell through.

But today we woke up to good news! The State Department came through for Mike and now his passport--with Tajik visa--is on its way to us, and should arrive tomorrow by noon so that Mike can leave for the airport with it in hand about one hour later. Phew!

If I play my cards right, I may even be able to get him to write some guest posts here on TRAVELMONKEYS, which would help balance out the inordinate number of karaoke/drinky pictures I posted last night.