A Texan in Tibet - Travel Documents & Government Red Tape

“The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home.”
- Rolf Potts

I'm no stranger to trips abroad and with over two million commercial air miles, I consider myself a well-seasoned traveler. While travel generally sucks, all those miles facilitated my booking these international flights with award miles at almost no cost. Successful travel starts with thorough planning and though I'm known as a shoot-from-the-hip guy in most situations, I leave nothing to chance when it comes to travel; especially international travel. These days, all international travel requires passports and visas. I remember being able to pass to and from Canada and Mexico with just my Texas driver's license, but those days are long gone...at least legally. Fortunately, visas are easier to acquire these days, with most countries offering on-line pre-approval or instant approval at customs in the destination country.

Some countries offer instant visas upon arrival at their airports, and Nepal is one of them. I can secure my visa on the spot upon arrival in the Nepalese Customs area at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. $50USD will get me a 30-day tourist visa with expedited outbound processing when I re-enter Nepal from Tibet, and again when I depart Nepal for my connection in Qatar on my return trip home. I could also acquire a six-month visa before I depart for the same price, but for some reason having the 30-day visa issued at the airport expedites my entry back into Nepal from Tibet. I can't imagine why that is, but that's the recommended option and the one that I'm taking.

Once in Nepal and checked-in to my hotel, I'll have a few days to acclimatize and adjust to the 10-hour and 45-minutes forward time change. I'll also have to hand my passport over to my local fixer so he can secure my visa through the Chinese Embassy for passage into Tibet. I'm told this can take a day or two and honestly, I'm not entirely comfortable handing over my passport to a stranger in a foreign country. I've had discussions with a few people who have visited Tibet from Nepal as recently as December 2024, and every indication is that if you want a Chinese visa into the Autonomous Region of Tibet without delay and with no surprises at the border, this is how it's done. These "fixers" are lifetime locals who know the ropes, the pitfalls, and who's palms to grease (with my money, of course). More importantly, they have a reputation among experienced travelers to the area, so knowing who to trust was somewhat easier for me. The alternative is to ride to the border with all the assumed proper and completed paperwork, and then petition the Embassy outpost there for a visa. I've read accounts of tourists being stranded there awaiting red tape resolutions that could take days due to the remote location and local staff working under a repressive regime and who have little to no authority to make decisions. My entry permit aside, I'm told also to expect the Chinese to visually check every piece of luggage; unpacking each item for inspection. For this reason, no maps or other printed information about Tibet can be brought into the country as it is considered foreign propaganda. Photos and videos in the border area are prohibited. Motorcycles must be pushed across the borderline, ironically known as the Friendship Bridge. Maybe that's because unlike Nepal, traffic flows on the right side of the road in Tibet. I wonder if they have to push cars across too? I suppose I'll find out in soon.

Tibet voluntarily isolated itself during the wars and was not part of the League of Nations. This might explain why the rest of the world was quiet when the Chinese discreetly occupied the Tibetan territory and labeled it as the Xizang Province of China. Occupying Tibet gave China access to rich natural resources and allowed it to militarize the strategically important border with India. As such and despite being labeled "The Tibet Autonomous Region",  Tibet is essentially a Chinese militarized zone wherein strict rules  of governance appear to be arbitrarily enforced. One such strange rule is that no foreign national can travel alone on Tibetan roads. A government approved escort is required to be within eyesight of a tourist or group of tourists, and there are checkpoints scattered throughout the country to enforce this rule. The escort must carry a list of his clients and those clients must carry the name and contact information of their escort. For this reason, I will likely find myself riding among a group of strangers that could increase and decrease in size each day. I'm good with that, but if I plan to stick with my escort (and stay out of jail), my itinerary may necessarily be fluid. This is where I'll have to leave some aspects of my itinerary to chance, which is about as comforting to me as popping a zit. Honestly, traveling with other riders isn't an issue for me, and strangers don't remain strangers in my orbit for very long. They may walk away thinking me a strange Texan, but we will be familiar. I view it as doing my part to promote international relations from the soon-to-be Nation of Texas.

I'm told that despite having my Tibetan visa in hand, I should still expect a lengthy delay while crossing the border, and that this delay includes getting my rental motorcycle inspected by the local police force for safety and compliance. These same bikes pass through this border many times each year and are probably instantly recognized by the inspectors. Smells like a shakedown to me, but I'll play the game. It's not like I have a choice. I'll also have to apply for a temporary Tibetan motorcycle driver's license at the border and to do that, I have to attend a short training course and pass an exam. I must also present an International Driver's Permit that is recognized by the 1949 Convention on International Road Traffic, and issued from the country of residence listed in my passport. An IDP is only valid for one year, so of course the one I secured back in 2020 has expired. An application through my local AAA office by snail mail was only $20, and I received the new IDP a week later. Another box checked.

 

This all seems like a lot of red tape (no pun intended), but If my career travel experience has taught me nothing else, it's to be patient and to find a way to embrace the suck. I've waited almost seven years to take this trip, so a few hours delay into an exotic country that was totally off limits to foreigners as recently as forty years ago should be a walk in the park.

So I say bring it on; travel delays, inconsiderate rookie passengers, inconsiderate seasoned travelers, hours of flying, hours waiting on connections, and customs red tape. An amazing trek on a motorcycle and a photo of Mount Everest in the background will be worth it all.

Mama - Fifteen Years Gone

A Texan in Tibet - Yet ANOTHER Itinerary Change

"Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan."
John C. Maxwell

I know what you're thinking. He's really never going anywhere. Believe me, I've laid awake many a night thinking the same thing. But this time the change was at my direction and has multiple benefits. I'll explain.

 

The last itinerary iteration seemingly was a result of the airlines conspiring to keep me from taking this trip. I'm convinced there was some curmudgeon with a chip on his shoulder, a red stapler, and a transistor radio holed-up in a dimly-lit basement poking around at travel itineraries for poor slobs like myself and just deciding to fuck with the traveler. OK, maybe not convinced, but it did cross my mind. I'm not privy the systems that connect multiple airlines' schedules and infrastructure, but I'll go out on a ledge and guess that they're infinitely complex and intertwined. I'm actually surprised it works at all.

Since American Airlines and Qatar Airways couldn't seem to put together a reasonable itinerary for me, I decided use AA miles to fly to round trip Doha and to bite the bullet and book my Doha to Kathmandu round trip legs separately...and pay out of pocket for the privilege. This was the only way I could get into Kathmandu and have sufficient time to process my visa to Tibet. Last night, while fighting the useless trivial thoughts that keep me awake in bed, it occurred to me that projects at my job are dreadfully slow and that I might actually have more travel flexibility than I did when I revisited this trip last year. So at 3:00am, I decided to go online and expand my departure date options, whereupon found an itinerary I could live with if I was able to depart Texas on April 8th instead of the 11th. Even better was that the entire trip was available on AA miles with no out of pocket airfares. Even better than that was the fact that this improved itinerary cost me 40,000 fewer award miles than the previous one. It really makes no sense, but I'll take it. In fact, I took it.

So now my itinerary looks like this:

32 Grueling Hours in the Seat

Seems like a long way to go until you consider the route traverses to top of the earth.

 

 

On the bright side, I've never been to Paris or Sri Lanka. On the less than bright side, I don't have time to get out and explore either stop, even if I had visas. As grueling as this itinerary seems, it will land me in Kathmandu with almost four full days to acclimatize and get over jet lag from jumping forward 11:45 hours.

 
At 26 hours, the return trip is no cake walk, but it lands me back in Texas in time to be home for lunch.

This route flies over the future 51st & 52nd states of Canada & Greenland!

 

A Texan in Tibet - AI and Travel

“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.”
- Eliezer Yudkowsky

This is interesting. I asked Google's Gemini, X's Grock and ChatGPT AI platforms to generate an image of my flight plan from Texas to Kathmandu. The airport code route is DFW - CDG - CMB - KTM (Dallas Fort Worth to Paris France, to Colombia Sri Lanka, to Kathmandu Nepal. None of the AI platforms got it right, but the results are entertaining.

ChatGPT's First Attempt

ChatGPT's Second Attempt

Google Gemini's First Attempt

Google Gemini's Second Attempt

Grock's First Attempt

Grock's Second Attempt

 

The Actual Route - Generated With Old Fashioned Genuine Intelligence

Coercion Day

A Texan in Tibet - More American Airlines Saga - The Fustercluck Continues

"Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo."
- Al Gore

Just when I thought it was all sorted out. American Airlines screwed me again. I wasn't even surprised this time. When I was finally able to reach a real person on the phone, their excuse was that the seats I booked were no longer available, which was why they seemingly arbitrarily booked me on flights completely incompatible with my itinerary...both outbound and return. The agent offered no reason and showed even less interest. It seemed to take all I had just to keep her on the line. This might be difficult for some to believe, but I am extremely polite and pleasant without being condescending when I am dealing with customer service people. It's is not lost on me that they they probably hate their job as much as I hate having to deal with them. Also not in the lost-and-found bin is the knowledge that they could probably delete my entire trip with a single keystroke.

When I asked where the seats I had booked went...crickets. When I asked why at that instant I could see the exact same seats on the exact same flights available to book on miles or for cash...crickets. I politely ended the call and re-booked my exact same itinerary. I have a pile of points, that allowed me to book the additional flight and then delete the other, although I had to jump through some hoops. The next day, I received an email that my original miles had been refunded into my account and that the taxes I paid were credited to my card. I logged in to verify and the miles were indeed replenished, and then saw the dreaded urgent message notice. Funny how it's urgent enough to flash a tint, easily-missed icon on the screen, but not urgent enough to proactively reach out to me. But I digress. The message stated that the flight I booked the day before had been changed yet again, and with arrival times into Doha that not only prevented me from meeting my in-country fixer with sufficient time to process my Tibet entry permit, but also arrived too late for me to make the connection to Kathmandu that THEY booked for me. At this point, I should have reached out to Elon Musk because American Airlines just discovered a way to launch a human into low earth orbit with no carbon footprint.

[editor's note]
I'm getting myself so flustered that I'm talking to my screen and typing with such velocity that I'm about to punch holes through my keyboard.

With seemingly no recourse and definitely no concern from American Airlines, I decided to start over and yet again, deleted my itinerary and refunded my miles. It was clear to me that the only way I was going to make this happen was to get creative. I used miles to book a round trip ticket from DFW to Doha with an arrival a full day earlier. Then I booked and paid out of pocket for a round trip ticket from Doha to Kathmandu on Qatar Airlines. Knowing that the dildo of passenger mistreatment from American Airlines rarely arrives lubed, I baked in plenty of time on both ends to accommodate any further screwing they might subject me to.

The good news is I will have a minimum of two days in Kathmandu to decompress, acclimatize, adjust to the 10+ hour ahead time zone, and see some sights. It also gives my fixer extra time to secure my Tibet entry permit. The bad news is that I will have to retrieve my bags at each stop and carry them from each airlines' bag claim area to the others' bag check-in. Again, I baked in plenty of time for this and my frequent flyer status at American Airlines is recognized by Qatar Air.

I know that in the long run, all of this will have been worth the hassle, drama, and frustration. I have dreamed of embarking on this adventure for six years. No sense on giving up on it now.

[second editor's note]
While we can all relate to the AI-generated image at the top this article that resembles Donald J Trump Jr. and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (thanks ChatGPT), I never take out my travel frustration on gate or ticket agents. If they had the power to control the universe and prevent the passenger angst that weather, maintenance, and their employer's ineptitude cause, they certainly wouldn't be there talking to me. More importantly, I am fully aware that the success or failure of my travel is at their fingertips. They probably deserve far more pay than they make and I couldn't do their job for anything!

A Texan in Tibet - I Am Not Afraid

I AM NOT AFRAID

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

1983 - You'll shoot your eye out.
1999 - Y2k is going to kill us all.
2001 - Anthrax is going to kill us all.
2002 - West Nile Virus is going to kill us all.
2003 - SARS is going to kill us all
2005 - Bird Flu is going to kill us all.
2006 - E-Coli is going to kill us all.
2008 - The bad economy is going to kill us all.
2009 - Swine Flu is going to kill us all.
2010 - BP Oil is going to kill us all.
2011 - Riding to the Arctic Circle will kill Shrug.
2012 - The Mayan calendar is going to kill us all.
2013 -  North Korea is going to kill us all.
2014 - Ebola Virus is going to kill us all.
2015 - Disney Measles and ISIS are going to kill us all.
2016 - Riding across the Outback will kill Shrug. (this one was almost accurate)
2017 - Zika Virus is going to kill us all.
2018 - Climate change is going to kill us all.
2019 - Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is going to kill us all.
2020 - COVID 19 Virus is going to kill us all.
2021 - MAGA extremists will destroy America.
2022 - Monkey pox is going to kill us all.
2023 - Antimicrobial Resistance will kill us all.
2024 - Trump will hasten the end of democracy.
2025 - Shrug will never make it to Mount Everest Base Camp.