Q: I have never been out of India, so my passport is fresh with no visa. I was wondering if it is hard to get European visa. Has anyone ever been rejected for Schengen visa ? Also which embassy i should i try to get the visa easiest. Italy or France or Spain ? Should i use visa agent ? Also if I have a friend who will host me what should i tell them about my host or still show hotel booking. I asked one of my friends from italy to send me invitation and she says that to send visa invitation they have to open an account on my name with 15000 euros in it.
A: Since you have a fresh passport...you will have an interview with the embassy..now which embassy which depends its not necessary to have a Schengen Visa of the country which is your Entry point .I had an Austrian Schengen Visa but i entered from Amsterdam. I would recommend you to apply in Spain Consulate or Italy. Relatively easy. You should choose which the easiest place to get a visa from is. - German embassy is quite easy and you can apply directly by VFS (i am not sure you really need an agent - they kind of really pile it up).
Show money, show job, show property - reasons for you to come back.
I don’t think that there is a need to show bank account - have never heard of that one and have been invited many times (because no matter how many times you have been to Europe, you still need that).
You need atleast 2 days confirm hotel booking when u arrive or some one sending a letter of intent to sponsor your stay . Most of the time an invitation letter from your host is enough. Basically you have to convince them that you are coming back. Show family back home - tell them you live with them. Girlfriend/ wife… all help.
If you planning for Central Europe then Czech republic and Austrian consulate.
For most Schengen countries, you need to proof that you have 60 euros/ Rs 4,000 per day during your stay.Link
www.new-delhi.diplo.de/Vertretung/newdelhi/en/01/Visa__Requirements/UB__Schengen__Visa.html
Source: (http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=915&post=9044219#gpid9044219)
Q: How to book hotels cheaply ? (source interesting blog :
http://thedromomaniac.com/alternative-travel/hostels/)
- A: Max Schneider says:
Actually, in developed countries I always book ahead online because it is usually cheaper than if you do it in person for the same night at the reception.
A short story: I went to the US and wanted to visit Washington DC but I didn’t know the exact date I was going to be there. I found an IYHA Youth Hostel downtown, saw on their website that it was 16 $ a night in the dorm and wrote down the address.
When I arrived the dorm bed was suddenly going to be 28 $ instead of 16$. WTF?! 16 $ was their online price the receptionist explained, 28 $ the walk in rate. He would not budge.
There were some Internet computers for a dollar a pop just across from the reception in the lobby. So if I went online for a buck couldn’t I just reserve online, copy down the reference number and then get the bed for 16 $ + 1$ for the Internet? Not for tonight, but for tomorrow night, yes. The receptionist even pointed me to some hostelbooking site where exactly the same bed was only 12 $. So that’s what I did. I paid 28 $ for the first night and 12 $ each for the second, third and fourth night at the Internet terminal that was only a few meters from the reception….
The other day I was in a hostel in London (10 pound a night) and because London was so great I decided to stay an extra three days. So I went to the reception and asked if I could stay another three days. Sure, lots of beds available. Great. So I hand over 30 quid and the receptionist informs me that won’t be enough because the rate is 15 pounds a night. I say: “But online it’s a third less” – “Well online, but we are here offline”. Fine.
So I trek over to the computers in the lobby, pay a pound for 15 minutes of the Internet and reserve my bed in exactly the same hostel for – you guessed it – a tenner. Walk over to the reception, pay 30 quid for three nights and thought how ridiculous this was.
- Lucilla says:
- My general rule is to book only the first night, especially when I’m flying in late in the night (which is usually the case given I take the cheapest flight available). I don’t bother too much on how close to the pictures the venue might actually be (it never is very similar, anyhow) and usually spend a part of the next day checking out the other cheap hostels I looked up. But then, I often don’t change as I am pretty adaptable (or lucky to stumble upon a good one?).
