Yes — you make lemonade. This is exactly how Snaptica Pro was born.

The story begins on May 17th. My wife and I were in Central Asia, freshly landed at the Tashkent airport on our Air Astana flight from Almaty, Kazakhstan. We were happily moving along the line to finish the border formalities to enter Uzbekistan. The mood was happy, and I snuck in a quick snap of an "Uzbek tableau" with my iPhone (much to my wife's dismay — she's always wary of my taking pictures on "foreign-government-controlled land").

[IMAGE: Tashkent — the Uzbek tableau]

As I handed our passports to the official, I expected a couple of courtesy questions — "how long are you planning to be in the country?" Instead I got a frown and some utterance that sounded "Greek" (or rather Uzbek, I should say), implying something was wrong. Another agent was summoned and told me our dates were wrong: we were supposed to enter on May 20th, and today was the 17th.

I was pretty confident this was minor and the agent would listen to my logic — plans had changed last minute, and what difference does a few days early make, especially since the Uzbek Embassy in New York had vetted us and issued the visa? I pose no danger by arriving a few days early. I could see my local guide waving just 30 feet away, next to the small baggage claim you could practically stroll into on that tiny airport — so this was hardly high-security border protocol. I frantically tried to rope him into the conversation. My AT&T roaming kept saying "No Service," and my other phone's free T-Mobile data with "low-cost international roaming" wouldn't connect to any Uzbek number. I could, however, call the USA or UK. I had half a mind to wake up Obama to see if he could help. While I wrestled with the communication malfunction, I was being ushered toward the baggage holding area to identify my luggage.

I held a ray of hope that this meant some grilling and sweating before they let us in. Alas — I was asked to collect our large suitcases from the belt, and to my horror we were swiftly escorted by the airport "security professional" (I'd hesitate to call him professional) back toward the gate we'd come in through. As a last-ditch effort, I planted myself at the window dishing out on-the-spot visas, requesting a fresh one-day visa — we only needed Tashkent for a day before heading to the Turkmenistan border by road. He barked a "No" loud enough to suggest I was way out of line.

Pretty soon, we were sitting back in the same Air Astana plane, heading back to Almaty.

Back in Kazakhstan

While we fumed in the plane, my wife and I were given separate seats (maybe by design of "the Destiny," since I clearly still have some useful purpose on this earth — had I sat next to my wife, I might not have survived, and I wouldn't have faulted her). We were trying to figure out how to salvage a fairly complicated trip — we'd hit the pothole on day 2 of a 5-country itinerary.

My plan was to head back to the Intercontinental in Almaty and use the internet to work out an alternate route. But as we tried to enter Kazakhstan, the border official delivered a second shock: "No, you can't enter Kazakhstan now — you've been deported, and we won't accept deported individuals." Really? The previous day we'd sauntered in on our US passports under the "simplified" post-alliance entry. And technically we weren't deported — just denied entry into Uzbekistan.

So we were stuck, royally, at the Almaty airport. Another small one, no lounge to speak of. The internet didn't work, and we couldn't buy a SIM. Fortunately, T-Mobile roaming let me call some countries (UK, Turkmenistan, USA — but not Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, go figure).

So what does any of this have to do with Snaptica Pro? Fair question. Indulge me a little more — continue to Bumpy Roads, Yet Smooth "Sailing."

A quick timeline (Almaty, May 17, 2015)

Sparse stub recovered from the old site — expand if you want it as a styled timeline.
  • 8:35 am — It began in Almaty. We left the Intercontinental and the Main Square with the Golden Boy statue. [IMAGE: Almaty / Golden Boy statue]
  • 11:15 am — Now what?? Stuck in no-man's-land at the Almaty airport. [IMAGE: Almaty airport]
  • 11:35 am — The Almaty hackathon. [IMAGE: coffee / laptop / airport]