Big Frère is watching...

I spent a LOT of money, and I am going to Paris for the winter break.

Nothing about this trip has been so far. The planning process included having to tell my parents in Turkey that no matter how much closer I would be to them in the world while I travel in France, and no matter how much they wanted to see me, this was my trip, for me alone. They finally understood because they are cool like that, but it was a hard conversation. It does not end (or even begin) there, though.

When you're from Turkey, you look up visa requirements for countries even before you dream of going anywhere. The French Consulate has a page that mentions a huge list of countries; if your country is on there, you do not need a visa. There are so many countries on the list that I am planning to go back and see what countries other than Iraq and Turkey are not there. Iran, yes. Was Israel on there? Was South Africa? Anyhow, that I need a visa is no surprise, of course. I need a visa to go to Mexico and Canada. Why not to France?

The requirement that got me was having to show confirmed reservations for every single day I will be there...which goes entirely against the "style" and purpose of my trip: I am, and I want to be a spontaneous traveler. After many emails and faxes and phone calls to France (they don't reserve rooms for more than seven days, and I am going for two weeks), I got three youth hostels to send me emails confirming reservations. I figured, once I get there, I can cancel reservations and go day by day. Less than a week before my trip, I canceled one of the reservations; in my panic, I had made two reservations that overlapped with each other. This morning, I got the following email:

bonjour.

reservation had been canceled as requested.
NOTE : due to new policy this cancellation had been sent to the French authority.
merci


Big Frère is watching...