2022 Passport Power

The new passport power index came out and, for the fifth year in a row, Japan has the most powerful passport.  Japanese citizens can visit 193 out of 227 destinations visa-free. 

1. Japan
2. Singapore and South Korea
3. Germany and Spain
4. Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg
5. Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden
6. France, Ireland, Portugal, United Kingdom
7. Belgium, Czechland, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA
8. Australia, Canada, Greece, Malta
9. Hungary and Poland
10. Lithuania and Slovakia

The Czech passport moved up one level from last year and tied with the USA.  Both countries' passports allow for visa-free travel to 186 countries, but not all of the exact same countries.

I need to get to the USA this year to sort our a new notarised copy of my birth certificate so that I can finally apply for my Czech citizenship this year.

Czechs Ban Russian Tourists

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Czech Republic was the first EU country to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens except for humanitarian cases.  Czechland is now stepping things up and as of 25 October, that even with a valid Schengen visa, Russian citizens will not be allowed in the country for tourism, sport or culture.  It's not clear if Russian citizens, with a valid visa, will be granted entry for business purposes.

Citizens of Russian that have a valid Czech residency visa will still be granted entry.

Vladimir Putin's announcement of partial mobilisation has caused many people to try to leave Russia before they are drafted to fight in Ukraine.  People fighting the Russian government or human rights activists are among the exceptional cases that qualify for a humanitarian visa.  The Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavský, has said that Russians who fear mobilisation don't fulfil the conditions for a humanitarian visa in Czechland.  

The European Commission says that it is up to each EU country to decide if they will accept Russian citizens in to their country.  Finland, Poland, and the Baltic countries
- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, like Czechland, don't grant asylum to people fleeing Russian military mobilisation.  However, Germany will allow Russians fleeing military conscription. 

Here's a short video that I found on YouTube about Estonia not issuing visas to Russians.

©France24

Here's a Voice of America interview with the Czech Foreign Minister on the subject.

©Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Я за Україну

Я за Україну is Ukrainian for "I stand with Ukraine."  Two days ago Russia invaded Ukraine almost eight years after it occupied Crimea.

Vladimir Putin is calling this a "special military operation" but he can call it whatever he likes but he's really declared war on Ukraine.  He invaded Ukraine in 2014 by annexing Crimea and his actions in the Donbas, and now with this full on invasion there is no doubt that he has invaded a sovereign country, the second-largest country in Europe.

In response, Czechland was the first EU country to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, with the exception of humanitarian cases.  The Czech government has ordered that Russia must close its consulates in Brno and Karlovy Vary.  The Czechs are also suspending their consulates in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.  Along with other countries, Czech airspace is closed to Russian aircraft.  In response, Russia had closed its airspace to Czech flights.

Czech Railways is permitting free travel throughout the country to anyone with a Ukrainian passport.  They are also running humanitarian trains to the Ukrainian-Polish and Ukrainian-Slovak borders where they drop off supplies and bring refugees back here.  Many Czech cities, including Brno, are providing free public transport to Ukrainians.  Vodafone and T-mobile are providing free calls to Ukraine.

Czech President Zeman, who has always been very pro-Russia, has changed his stance and condemned Putin for invading Ukraine.  

Russia's annexation of Crimea hits a never for most Czechs because it is similar to when Hitler annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.

After WW2, there was an agreement that both American and Soviet troops would leave the country.  So Czechoslovakia was the only eastern block country where Soviet troops didn't remain after the war.  Then in 1968, the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact allies, invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring.  When they invaded in 1968, the Soviets said they were only staying temporarily.  That turned out to be 23 years.  

After the Velvet Revolution, one of the goals of the new government was to get the Soviet army out of Czechoslovakia.  The Soviets had over 73.000 soldiers, 18.500 officers and their families, plus over 44.000 civilians, stationed here and they were in no hurry to leave.  Logistically the Soviets didn't have enough facilities to take back all of their troops from all of its satellite countries at the same time.  The last troops didn't leave Czechoslovakia until 1991.

It was pretty much the same in other countries.  Soviet troops left Hungary in 1991 and they left Poland in 1993, 54 years after they invaded in 1939.  Soviet troops had been stationed in East Germany.  Germany reunified in 1990 but they didn't leave Germany until 1994.

I've got Covid and I'm home on quarantine.  It seems that all I can do is watch the news with is 24/7 coverage of what's going on in Ukraine.  Here's a 32 minute video on YouTube that really shows why Putin invaded Ukraine.  #standwithukraine 

©RealLifeLore

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

2022 Passport Power

The Henley Passport Index is out and once again, Japan has the world's most powerful passport.  Since 2018, it has held the #1 spot.  Having a Japanese passport allows one to travel to 193 countries either visa-free or visa on arrival.  Only 34 destinations require a visa or an e-visa.  Last year, a Japanese passport "only" got you to 191 countries and 35 countries required a visa.  

There's no such thing as an EU passport.  There are just passports issued by EU member countries and they tend to dominate the rankings.  22 EU countries rank amongst the 11 most powerful passports.  

1. Japan (193)
2. Singapore, South Korea (192)
3. Germany, Spain (190)
4. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg (189)
5. Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden (188)
6. France, Ireland, Portugal, UK (187)
7. Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA (186)
8. Australia, Canada, Czechia, Greece, Malta (185)
9. Hungary (183)
10. Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia (182)
11. Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia (181)

The three weakest EU member passports belong to the three most recent joiners.  Romania ranks at #16 with 174 countries while Bulgaria and Croatia both come in at #17 with 173 countries.

My American passport is still ranked in 7th place with only 41 countries requiring a visa to visit.  In 2006 and 2014, the U.S. passport was ranked #1.

A U.S. passport gets you in to Australia, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, Mongolia, and Pakistan.  Czechs need a visa to visit these countries.  Americans are still eligible for a 3-year visa for Russia which isn't available to Czechs.

A Czech passport will still ranked in 8th place with only 42 countries requiring a visa to visit.  In 2006, a Czech passport was ranked #21.  In 2014, it cracked the top 10 and has stayed there since.  Czechs are able to visit Belarus, Iran, Turkey, Myanmar, and Venezuela while Americans need a visa to visit them.

I need to get on the ball and submit my paperwork for Czech citizenship so that I can get my Czech passport.

Update:  Here's a 10½ minute video from Faultline that I found out on YouTube that talks about passports, visas, and travel.

©Faultline

Update: 2023 passport power rankings.

2021 Passport Power

The new passport rankings are in and Japan now has the world's most powerful passport.  A Japanese passport allows a citizen to travel to 191 countries either visa-free or visa on arrival.  Only 35 destinations require a visa or an e-visa.

Here are the top ten most powerful passports for travel.

1. Japan
2. Singapore
3. Germany, South Korea
4. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain
5. Austria, Denmark
6. France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden
7. Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, UK, USA
8. Australia, Czech Republic, Greece, Malta
9. Canada
10. Hungary

Last year my American passport was ranked 8th and now it's moved up to 7th place. A U.S. passport will get you in to 185 countries with 41 countries requiring a visa.

A Czech passport allows entry to 184 countries with 42 countries requiring a visa.  The two passports are pretty close but the mix of countries is a bit different.

An American passport gets you in to Australia, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, and Mongolia whereas Czechs must get a visa.  Americans are also eligible for the 3-year visa for Russia which is not available to Czechs.

A Czech passport allows for entry to Iran, Myanmar, and Turkey which Americans must get a visa in order to visit.

One important thing to note is that temporary travel restrictions use to COVID-19 aren't considered which is a good thing because otherwise a U.S. passport would come in around 71st place.

The world's weakest passport is Afghanistan.  This passport allows for travel to only 26 countries without a visa.

Now we just need to get past COVID-19 so that I can take my passport out for a spin.  As well as, work on getting Czech citizenship so that I can have a Czech passport too.

Update: 2022 passport power rankings.
Update: 2023 passport power rankings.

My First Capsule Hotel

I'm finally doing it.  After 30+ years on the bucket list, I'm finally going to Uzbekistan.  It started with my first Aeroflot flight from Vienna to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport which took almost three hours.

I landed at 23:30 and my four-hour flight to Tashkent didn't take off until 8 am.  I'm not one for sleeping in airports.  Besides, there is a "sleeping ban" at Sheremetyevo where travellers can be fined for using the airport as accommodations.

A traditional airport hotel wasn't an option because I would need a Russian visa in order to exit the airport.  I wasn't about to go through all of the paperwork just to secure a visa so that I could stay at an airport hotel.

Instead I booked my first capsule hotel.  The Vozdushny Express is in terminal E, inside the International transit zone, so no visa required.

A small double room for six hours was ₽6200 (€70 or $83).
Not bad at all.  It was clean, with an ensuite shower, plus TV, Internet, and a wake up call.  It was an awesome way to catch some sleep, have a hot shower, and grab some breakfast at the airport before boarding my flight.



I was very lucky.  It was called a capsule hotel but in all honesty it was just like a normal hotel with tiny rooms.




Elsewhere in the terminal I saw the real "capsule" hotels.  I'm sure they were cheaper but you're basically staying in a big coffin.  No thanks.

Next stop:  It's back to the Stans. 

Shanghai-Taiwan 2019 Trip Summary

My trip to Shanghai and Taiwan was an experience.  It seemed to start off a wee bit rough during check-in at Vienna Airport because I didn't need a proper Chinese visa since Shanghai offers their 144-hour visa-free travel option.


I arrived at my hotel on Saturday night.  The rain started later that night.  It rained...and rained...and rained.  This put a damper on my Shanghai experience.  First of all I really shouldn't complain.  Over the past decade of intensive travelling I've never had a serious weather disruption before.  Sure I've been caught in rain before but never enough that my trip would be sidelined.  In the four days I was in China it rained HARD!  I did manage to get some night time photos on Monday evening when there was a break in the rain.  It lasted until late Tuesday afternoon and then it started up again.  So Monday night and Tuesday day; at least I got more or less one full day to explore the city.


From what I saw of Shanghai I liked.  However, I just scratched the surface.  I think a do-over visit is in order.  Especially since I didn't get to visit Nanjing.  Nanjing was the former capital of China until 1949 and it's about 270 km (170 miles) northwest of Shanghai.  It just didn't make sense to ride the train for 90 minutes to visit the city in pouring rain.  So Nanjing is still on the bucket list.

On Thursday morning it was off to Taiwan.  I started off in Taipei and it was great.  It did rain while I was there but it only rained overnight.  The days were gorgeous.




I did a few free walking tours with Like It Formosa.  Highly recommended, especially the food tour.  The food was just incredible especially at the night markets.  I even found a corn dog which I haven't had in about 7 years.  Not quite the same as back home but still good.  The only thing missing was the mustard.

On Monday I took the high speed rail to Kaohsiung to spend a few days in the second-largest city.

Kaohsiung is definitely worth the 90 minute train ride.

The area surrounding the Lotus Pond is awesome.

There's lots to see and you can spend a whole day just here.

I did a couple more walking tours with Like It Formosa in Kaohsiung as well.  There was one rainy day but I used my Shanghai souvenir umbrella and soldiered on.




Just like in Taipei, the food was oh so good.  And cheap as chips.  But for sure it's not low-carb with all of the rice, noodles, and dumplings.












In one of the night markets there was a place that I found fried soup dumplings.  Wow!

One of the best bits in Kaohsiung was Cijin Island and it's only a 10-minute ferry ride across the harbour.  A beach, palm trees and 32℃ (90℉).  It felt like paradise.

On Friday I took the high-speed rail back to Taipei.  It was the start of the Moon Festival so on the train they gave out small moon cakes.

On my last night in Taipei I had to go for a shaved ice.  Really decadent but worth it.  After this trip I'm going to have to put in some extra time on the elliptical machine.

I wasn't ready to give up the 32℃ in Taiwan for the 20℃ (68℉) at home in Brno.  I survived the 24 hours of travel to get home and had to immediately begin Operation Laundry.

I got officially spoiled on the trip home.  From Taipei to Doha I had my first experience in Qsuite which is the new Qatar Airways business class.  It's only available on certain planes and routes.  I had my own cubicle with a door, a fully lie-flat bed, and they gave me pyjamas.  After this, the hassles I had at the start of my trip are nothing.  Travel may never be the same again.

Made it to Shanghai, China

I finally made it to Shanghai.  Here's how it all started.  I took the Student Agency bus from Brno to Vienna Airport.  No problem.  I went to check in with Qatar Airways and then the fun began.  The check-in agent wanted to see my Chinese visa.

I explained that I don't need a visa because Shanghai permits 144-hour visa free travel for those en route to a third country.  For an American citizen a Chinese tourist visa is $140.  But if you're flying to/from another country then you can stay for 144 hours.  And the 144 hours starts at 00:00 following your date of entry so depending on when you arrive you can actually stay more than 144 hours.  For transit purposes, China considers Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as separate countries.

For some reason the agent didn't know this and wanted to see my visa.  I had to explain it a few times in both English and German.  Then the supervisor got involved.  I explained it again.  Eventually, they were able to verify it, apologised for the delay and 45 minutes later I was checked in.  On my way to the gate I took advantage of my Oneworld  Sapphire status and popped in the lounge for a quick bite before heading to the gate.  I queued up when they called for priority boarding and the fun started all over again.  The two gate agents wanted to see my visa.  Again I explained that I'm travelling visa free but they just couldn't grasp it.  I told them that I had just gone through this and to call their supervisor.  I was told to wait to the side while they proceeded to check in everyone else.  About 40ish minutes later the supervisor I dealt with earlier showed up, apologised for the second delay and allowed me to get on the plane.  Everything was fine once I got on the plane for my 5 hour flight to Doha, Qatar.  I only had an hour layover so I was really hoping that no one would ask me for a visa again.  Everything was good when I landed and I went straight to my gate on boarded my 9,5 hour flight to Shanghai.

My 144-hour visa

Once I landed in Shanghai I went to the 144-hour visa queue.  I showed my passport, hotel confirmation, and proof of my outgoing flight to Taipei, Taiwan.  The border agent wanted to see proof of payment for the ticket.  So for this visa it's best to have a printed receipt from the airline to show as evidence.

After passing immigration, I picked up my luggage, bought a SIM card and headed for the maglev (magnetic levitation train).  The maglev goes non-stop from the airport to downtown.  The 30,5 km (18.95 mile) distance only takes 8 minutes.  It has a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph).

301 km/h = 187 mph

The maglev opened in 2004 and it is the oldest magnetic levitation train still in operation.  It's still the world's fastest commercial electric train.  A single ride costs ¥50 (~€6).

I feels good to finally be here.  The plan is to explore Shanghai for a few days.  One day I want to catch the bullet train to go spend a day in Nanjing.  The forecast predicts a lot of rain over the next few days and my food tour for tonight was cancelled.  But hopefully the rain won't be too bad while I'm here.

Republic of Uzbekistan

I've wanted to visit Uzbekistan since I was 16 years old.  I read a magazine article about the Soviet Union and it talked about how Uzbekistan was home to camels and pineapples.  It sounded like such an exotic part of the USSR that it's been on my bucket list ever since.  The problem has been getting a visa.  All kinds of paperwork, two days off work to apply and pick up the visa from the Uzbek embassy in Prague or Vienna, plus a $160 fee for Americans.  Well there is now an e-visa and a 30 day visa is only $20 so I'm finally going to Uzbekistan.

The Republic of Uzbekistan is in Central Asia.  It is the only country that borders all of the other "Stans" - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.  It also shares a border with Afghanistan.  Along with Liechtenstein, it is one of only two double landlocked countries in the world.  It is a little bigger than California.

O'zbekiston is home to more than 32,7 million people.  A very young population.  In 2008, about 34% of the population was younger than 14.  The capital, and largest city is Tashkent.

The area was famous for the Silk Route that connected the Middle East with Europe, India, and China.  During the 19th century the area was conquered and incorporated in to the Russian Empire.  Following the Bolshevik Revolution it became the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924.  Following the break up of the USSR, it declared independence in 1991.

Uzbekistan is a presidential republic but a highly authoritarian one.  The first president held office from independence in 1991 until his death in 2016.  The former prime minister then took over.  Things are starting to open up a bit but it's hard to image that in 28 years there have only been two presidents.

Uzbek is the official language but Russian is commonly spoken as well.  In 1940, Soviet authorities mandated that Uzbek be written using the Cyrillic alphabet.  In 1993, the country switched back to using Latin script.  Apparently there is no language requirement to apply for Uzbek citizenship.  You hear that Czechland?!

Although a secular state, 88% of the population is Muslim, mostly Sunni.  About 9% are Eastern Orthodox.  As with most Muslim countries this is not a place to be gay.  Sex between two men is illegal and punishment ranges from a fine to up to three years in prison.



The currency is the Uzbek Som.  Currently 10.000 Som equals $1.05 or €0,95.  All of the guest houses that I've booked for my trip in September don't take cards and want to be paid in U.S. Dollars.  

The Czechs and Uzbeks are continuing to improve cooperation between the two countries.  There are currently about 13 Uzbek-Czech joint ventures in Uzbekistan.  More Czech companies are also opening offices in Uzbekistan particularly those in the food and and textile industries, the oil and gas sector and tourism.

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube talking about the country's geography challenges.

©Stratfor.com