navelgazing.omphaloskeptic.net Journal

Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

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Prepping Stamford, CT, Wednesday, 07 February 2007 1:23pm

I'm at my parents' house, mostly running errands for my mom. I've had time to do a bunch more reading about things to do, and have started a list at IndochinaThingsToDo. Drop me a comment if there's something I should add there.

My Vietnamese Visa should be taken care of. I stopped by the consulate in San Francisco on Friday morning. Dave had told me that there would be computers there for me to enter my information on, so I shouldn't bother to take a paper copy of the application form. There were computers there, but the were all turned off, so I was given a stern look and a paper copy of the form. It turned out that they were more flexible about payment than their website had suggested. They took a personal check, so I didn't have to go somewhere else to get a money order after they told me the price ($90).

I walked over to the Post Office here in Stamford on Monday to mail Jessica's tickets to her, and it happened that there was an EMS store a few doors down. I've been meaning to pick up a light-colored version of my North Face Syncline long-sleeved button down shirt (the dark blue one I have attracts mostquitos, but they don't like light colors as much). On a whim, I stopped in to the EMS, where they actually had the shirt that I was thinking of getting. It turns out that "Fossil Ivory" is beige, rather than white. Ugh. Luckily, they didn't have it in my size, so I didn't have to think about whether to get the shirt I like in a color I don't. I'll have to find something when I get back to SF.

I've just substantially improved the way maps work on this site. I made it possible to get a map for a latitude and longitude instead of just a named location, and to choose the zoom level. I went back and chose better maps for the bike trip. Hopefully, I'll be able to use this with my GPS unit to let you know exactly where I am in Southeast Asia.