My adventures in Europe. Sick and waiting for the Dutch Embassy in Budapest

Friday, December 11, 2015 at 4:55pm UTC+02
After trying and failing to get some sleep during the middle of the day at the embassy, again - the damned non-prescription theophylline and caffeine for opening up my bronchioles ruins my sleep - but I think that I can probably stop that, I decided to call up the consul on the phone and have a proper discussion and simply point out my primary problem is having no place to sleep in this cold weather, while I am sick.

Incidentally, this 'flu, or whatever it is, it's some kind of virus, has really knocked me down hard, and I am now at day 3 of having smoked no tobacco, nor drank any kind of alcohol - mainly because the only way I fully recover from this problem is about 2-3 weeks avoiding gluten, milk, allium, solanacea, melon fruits. So something good has come out of this.

Now, I just want to make a statement about the folk at the Budapest mission of the Netherlands Embassy. They, the Dutch consul, and the Hungarian lasses who have been helping me and answering my questions, are all wonderful, and in no way wish that I continue to be stuck like this, without document I can't even rent a hotel room, that is, if I could afford it. I have tried not to vent at them too much over my frustration, but it has not at any point been their fault, and I want to make this declaration because it seems the Consul is now one of my secret readers.

They say the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about, and all publicity is good. Well, the Consul informed me that she thought my Blog, the Stalker Chronicles, did not help my case. I pointed out that any opinion about my 'crazy' ideas was entirely subjective, and she got the point instantly, and I just wanted to reinforce that I have no issues with the folk here in Budapest who are doing their best, pestering the Ministry, trying to get them to work faster on my case.

The issue is simply the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken). Despite having been issued three passports, the first two via the Sydney Consulate Generaal (the first one was swiped when I was in New Zealand in 2003-4) and the third, due to my lack of registration with a Municipality (Gemeente, city/regional council) inside the Netherlands I had to go to the main 'foreign-dwelling citizens' branch at Schiphol Airport. I was unable to use an Australian Emergency Passport as proof of identity, and after an absolute fiasco with the Births Deaths and Marriages Registry NSW, 4 months passed by as I waited to have the required, Apostiled Birth Certificate, in which the critical item being the naming of my Father, a Dutch Citizen (when I applied for Dutch Nationality back in 2002 or whenever it was exactly, my Father had to submit a notarised copy of his Birth Certificate, which also was issued by a Gemeente that no longer exists, namely, West Irian, the western side of the same island as Papua New Guinea...

So, yes, my connection to Netherlands Nationality is already complicated. They cannot accept simply an ID that bears my original birth name and birth place, they have to have the document that links to my Father. The issue I have is they have put a roadblock up against my continuing to travel, with absolutely nothing to compensate me for the serious distress that it's causing me, because all of a sudden they are confused because I have two names, and two nationalities.

As far as I am concerned, they should have simply started the investigation but let me continue on my way. I have openly declared that I am very likely to disavow Dutch Nationality in the near future, indeed I also wish to do the same with Australian. They already knew way back that there was some confusion possibilities after I applied for the passport at Schiphol, that would have been an appropriate time to do an investigation, in the warmer weather, while I lived in Amsterdam on the street. It's simply the bureaucratic, dehumanising business of putting so many obstacles in my path to simply have a valid document to continue my travels, and it all actually started because of the Hungarian border patrols.

If I'd had the sense to get off the main track, after seeing Military trucks driving around, not realising they were border controllers, and gotten a good 5km further into Hungary before sticking out my thumb, I probably would have got all the way to the Ukrainian border. In fact, showing up in Ukraine, sans documents, would have been perfectly fine, as I would have simply declared myself stateless, and from this position it is actually easier to get residence in Ukraine. I have been in contact with a law firm specialising in Ukrainian residence and work permits and such, and it is an incredible rigmarole, and a lot of time, although not as expensive as you might think, perhaps about 300-400 euro total cost and maybe 6 months procedures. The real issue was that I really had pushed myself right to my limits physically at the point I appeared at the Hungarian border.

My feet are permanently numb and tingling, as are the tips of my fingers, though spending more time in warmer environments since I got some money, and waiting at the Embassy. Just prior to getting to Slovenska Bistritsa, I was crossing a railway level crossing, that had a very sharp angle, about 45 degrees, to the track of the road, and a police car was passing to my left at the same moment, and my wheel got locked into the rail track, and I went over sideways pretty much landing with all my weight onto my left knee, then my right knee, and I didn't feel it immediately, or until later - as I hobbled along not quite aware of how badly I injured myself, I found half a bottle of locally made red wine, and whipped cream, that clearly had most of its' nitrous already sucked out (shame, cos i love cream, the pressure crapped out before the cream was expended).

I just got some new, proper snow socks today. I love how cheap things are here... about 10 euro for two pairs of super duper merino snow socks... 12 euro to get the port on my smart-phone fixed. 4 euro for a giant plate of shawarma and lettuce/carrot/cabbage salad. This morning also, a retiree, a veteran European adventurer, from the southern USA (Georgia) started up a conversation with me today at McDonald's, as I was eating a bunch of hash browns, and it was fascinating to talk to someone who really knows how to deal with all the traps of european adventure tourism, well, tourism in general, I told him about my project and two of my inventions in the near future and I think once I started talking about the Roadside Picnic, he decided he was done having a conversation...

Well, I am nothing if not confronting... I stare into the abyss and tell the story, and it's not pretty, or friendly. Well, anyway... If you want to read a fantastic literary example of what I am talking about, you must read Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers. Here is the most recent version, with a foreword by Ursula Le Guin and also by one of the authors discussing the process of getting it through communist censorship boards and other things. This is the un-saccharine version, as brutal and classically Russian as it comes. https://www.scribd.com/doc/181267852/Arkady-and-Boris-Strugatsky-Roadside-Picnic-pdf

I got a reply from the legal firm that offers a service to acquire long term residence and work permission in Ukraine. I totalled up the fees and it is about 1280 euro total cost. So obviously I am going to have to find some way to get more money, the 400 euro I will get on Wednesday (at the latest, the date of issue has finally been announced for my passport, via the emergency cash facility from the ING bank). I have 90 days grace initially, I will have a visa that starts upon entry into the country, automatic tourist visa, as most countries in Europe, even not EU states, grant to citizens from other European states. I will clearly have to find some way to raise this money, and perhaps I can get some kind of job, minimum wage in UA, it appears, is something like 62 euros. Obviously that's not gonna go very far for this, and besides, I can't even work there until AFTER I have done this procedure, so I will probably have to seek funding form you, dear readers, to achieve this.

And I still have no concrete information about legal costs I will have to deal with in order to get permission to work within Pripyat. That probably will not be such a big cost. Any suggestions for how I might get this project off the ground most welcome, of course. I think that there is enough to get it started. The thing is, all these costs are just barriers, not really anything achieved by them except cutting through red tape. Once I am on the location, my costs will be quite low, as I should be able to acquire most of the resources required by scavenging. I will be feeding myself by trapping, hunting and probably gardening and animal keeping, so really it's a zero cost after the initial obstacles are cleared. I like to think that someone who is sitting on some early bitcoins would dare me to go through with my plan by funding that start-up cost.

Aside from the legal costs, I think that I just need gas mask, several cans and a Geiger counter. The rest is pretty much already in my possession, and I will soon have most of my health back in order by Wednesday, the latest I will be ready to travel - yes, finally a firm date has been given as to when I will be issued my emergency passport/lassais passer. Obviously, I am going to really need to get support from my readers to make this project go forwards, unless by some miracle a big pile of money lands in my lap. I figure it looks like about perhaps 1500 euro to get to start with the Pripyat Lab/Hotel/Bar project, and ideally another 500 euro or so to equip myself with hunting nicknacks to get started with the feeding myself my proposed solitary hunter carnivore diet.

The crazy plan to go to Pripyat never eventuated. The winter cold fell upon me as I was going through Romania, and I went to Bucharest, where I developed serious nerves from all the security guards everywhere, and the military officers with their AK carbines wandering around the big transit facilities.

It was a beautiful dream that kept me going for a long time despite incredible difficulties. I think in my 7 months wandering I did enough walking for a whole lifetime. It took more than a month for my feet to return to normal once I got off the street.