Video — Kevin retired early to travel the world (and we help him)
Traveler Story — Kevin Castner
If you were going to ask me how likely I would be to recommend VisaHQ on a combination of competence, ease of use, all of those metrics, I would say a 10 so far.”
Kevin Castner
Traveling the world full-time is a dream for many people around the globe. Kevin Castner and his wife have turned this dream into their everyday reality. Castner’s wife is German and the couple are “using a place that we bought for her mom outside of Frankfurt as base camp.”
Castner expounded on their living situation saying, “I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay area, so my kids are there and my granddaughter is there. We spend usually two or three months a year there, and maybe a month in Seattle, and then a couple of months in London…the rest of the time we’re just moving around.”
Castner’s story is a familiar one. He “worked a desk job for 33 years and did not get to travel.” Fortunately for Castner, though, by the time he reached the age of 30, he knew traveling and learning new languages was a priority in his life, so he developed a plan that would allow him to retire earlier than originally anticipated in order to see the world.
When Castner was able to leave his job about 10 years ago, he and his wife planned to travel for three to four years at a maximum. They have well and truly been bitten by the travel bug, as Castner explained, “now it’s been ten years and we both really kind of enjoy it!” Castner has “rekindled the passion for playing tournament bridge in different locations around the world,” and his wife is “an on-again, off-again yoga teacher,” giving the couple income and hobbies as they explore.
How, you might be wondering by this point, does VisaHQ play into the Castner family’s story? He stated, “Every once in awhile in the course of traveling…I need a visa.” Castner even shared a specific tale about the frustrating process of acquiring a visa to visit an African nation while he was in Germany and not planning to return to the United States during the visa processing period. He said, “I had to FedEx my passport and worry about being in a foreign country without a passport and I’m not even sure that’s legal!”
Castner discovered VisaHQ when he was planning a trip to China to play in a card tournament. As he was researching options, Castner explained, “all of a sudden I found VisaHQ and the great thing for me was, I was landing in San Francisco and I almost went directly from the San Francisco airport to VisaHQ.” Once Castner met with the VisaHQ team, he discovered he “could do everything online…it literally took ten minutes! It was so easy to fill out.”
After returning from another trip, Castner again, “literally walked out of the airport, walked into VisaHQ, picked it [the visa] up, confirmed the details” and worked with the VisaHQ staff to register for the U.S. Department of State’s STEP program, which allows international travelers to be notified of natural disasters, political unrest, and other emergency situations.
Of the service he received from VisaHQ, Castner said, “it was incredibly easy, it was incredibly fast, it’s a very decent value for money, it was incredibly convenient… If you were going to ask me how likely I would be to recommend VisaHQ on a combination of competence, ease of use, all of those metrics, I would say a 10 so far.”
The Castner family’s’ tale proves the versatility of VisaHQ’s services. From helping business travelers get where they’re going in time for important meetings to assisting those who are visiting relatives in foreign lands to making sure full-time travelers like the Castners have access to the travel documents they need without a hassle, our team works tirelessly to provide the very best customer care in the industry. You can’t go wrong with choosing VisaHQ.
Originally published at www.visahq.com on April 4, 2019.
