The Grand Eurotrip: Four Friends, One Tourist Visa, and a Dream (Mis)Adventure

  Passport, misadventures, and too much cheese — four friends, one tourist visa, and zero clue! A Tourist Visa, A Bucket List, and A Slightly Crazy Plan It all started on a rainy Tuesday in Mumbai, when Aman, the self-proclaimed CEO of our friend circle, dropped a bombshell during a chai tapri meet: “Guys, let’s go to Europe.” The chai almost flew out of Raj’s nose. “Bro, I need a visa to get into my own office, forget Europe!” he choked. But Aman was serious. And by the end of the second cutting chai, a plan was born — four 20-somethings on a mission to explore Europe for the first time, powered by nothing but a dream, a low-budget spreadsheet, and something called a tourist visa. Ah yes, the magical, stress-inducing, much-Googled tourist visa. The Great Tourist Visa Struggle (Or, How We Learned Patience) Before you can say “Eiffel Tower,” we were knee-deep in online forms, passport photos (with zero smiles allowed), and bank statements that were more modest than a monk’s wardrobe...