A freedom party — 42 years in the making — was exploding in Tripoli, Libya, just two weeks ago.
Relentless celebratory gunfire, blaring car horns, and civilians screaming and dancing with revolutionary soldiers told the night's story: Moammar Gadhafi, the ruthless dictator who ruled the oil-rich nation for more than four decades, was dead.
And in the midst of this chaotic euphoria was John Doldo IV, who had taken a taxi that day across the border from neighboring Tunisia.
With no visa and a limited knowledge of the Arabic being spoken around him, Mr. Doldo was eventually detained for questioning by the nation's revolutionary soldiers.
But what could have been a moment of pure terror instead was business as usual for the 20-year-old world explorer. By that evening he was treated as a guest rather than a threat to the soldiers around him. They allowed Mr. Doldo to walk the streets and view a scene he would describe as a combination of “lawlessness, anarchy, and the feeling of liberation.”
In the midst of all the revelry, a soldier handed Mr. Doldo his weapon and pointed his finger up. And with that, the 2009 graduate of Watertown High School joined the Libyan celebration by firing live ammunition into the night sky.
Mr. Doldo's entry into Libya came on the tail end of four and a half months of travel.the best attachment for the Buy Cheap Tag Watches for sale, The son of Amy and John Doldo III of Watertown, Mr. Doldo had taken a year off from his studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and his trip had taken him to Vietnam, China, North Korea, Uganda and Rwanda.
The possibility of entering Libya first came up when talking with Libyan friends he met when traveling in Rwanda the previous summer. One major challenge stood in the way: getting a visa to enter Libya, he said, was an “incredibly difficult process.”
A letter of invitation from someone inside the country would have to be written, and then passed from the central government in the Libyan capital of Tripoli to an outside embassy.
While Mr. Doldo had a letter of invitation written by his friend's son who still lived in Libya, the country's infighting the last half year had made passing that letter through official channels difficult.
With no Libyan officials at the country's embassy in Rwanda, Mr. Doldo spent the next 10 days in Tunisia in an attempt to get the appropriate documentation to enter. His initial attempt to visit the Libyan embassy in Tunis didn't get very far, as the building was in lockdown.
Mr. Doldo, who exhibited a gift for learning languages at an early age, is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, French,the trio took home a buy Cheap Rayban Sunglasses for sale bird and dog, Vietnamese, Korean and three African languages.
He has studied another 23 languages. But he said he does not have a great handle on Arabic.
“I've got enough that I can just get by,” Mr. Doldo said. “I can get food, water, ask ‘where is...' and some really random words.my Best Catier Sunglasses Online have come back with a vengeance.”
Asking someone at the embassy if anybody spoke English,already have large Discount Armani Sunglasses for sale movie libraries. Mr. Doldo was immediately rebuffed.
“One of the staff simply told me, ‘Gadhafi ... school ... no English,'” he recalled.
Mr. Doldo was also turned down in the Libyan Embassy at the coastal town of Sfax, about four hours from Tunis.
His formal routes exhausted, Mr. Doldo decided to speak to Libyan officials at the border. He took a six-hour bus ride from Tunis to the Libyan border city of Ben Gardane Oct. 19.
Guards there said Mr. Doldo would have to be approved for a visa by a revolutionary commander.
Though his initial conversation showed promise, he received the same response as before: He would need approval from Tripoli.
Then, circumstances in Libya changed dramatically as news emerged that Gadhafi had been captured and possibly killed.
“People were crowding around TVs, because they were showing pictures, the first pictures of a captured Gadhafi,” Mr. Doldo said. “It was real enough at that point that we knew he was captured.”
On hearing the news, Mr, Doldo's friend told him to try the border again and bring the letter of invitation he had previously faxed.
“They've got to be so happy,” said Mr. Doldo, recalling his friend's message. “Maybe they'll let you through.”
Taking his friend's advice, he rushed to return to the border. However, “There were a lot more soldiers there,” Mr. Doldo said. “Less of the official border guards.”
Then someone spotted a “Free Libya” sticker on Mr. Doldo's backpack. Soon he was offered a ride in a shared taxi with several men going to Tripoli.
Coming to the border, the taxi driver took Mr. Doldo's passport, and presented it to the border guards.
“At first it seemed like they weren't going to let me through, because I didn't have a visa,” he said.I made a wholesale Breitling Watches Online out of it. Returning to the cab, the driver asked him a few questions about his travel, and asked to see his letter of invitation.
After speaking with the border guards for about 10 minutes, the driver returned to the car.
Relentless celebratory gunfire, blaring car horns, and civilians screaming and dancing with revolutionary soldiers told the night's story: Moammar Gadhafi, the ruthless dictator who ruled the oil-rich nation for more than four decades, was dead.
And in the midst of this chaotic euphoria was John Doldo IV, who had taken a taxi that day across the border from neighboring Tunisia.
With no visa and a limited knowledge of the Arabic being spoken around him, Mr. Doldo was eventually detained for questioning by the nation's revolutionary soldiers.
But what could have been a moment of pure terror instead was business as usual for the 20-year-old world explorer. By that evening he was treated as a guest rather than a threat to the soldiers around him. They allowed Mr. Doldo to walk the streets and view a scene he would describe as a combination of “lawlessness, anarchy, and the feeling of liberation.”
In the midst of all the revelry, a soldier handed Mr. Doldo his weapon and pointed his finger up. And with that, the 2009 graduate of Watertown High School joined the Libyan celebration by firing live ammunition into the night sky.
Mr. Doldo's entry into Libya came on the tail end of four and a half months of travel.the best attachment for the Buy Cheap Tag Watches for sale, The son of Amy and John Doldo III of Watertown, Mr. Doldo had taken a year off from his studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and his trip had taken him to Vietnam, China, North Korea, Uganda and Rwanda.
The possibility of entering Libya first came up when talking with Libyan friends he met when traveling in Rwanda the previous summer. One major challenge stood in the way: getting a visa to enter Libya, he said, was an “incredibly difficult process.”
A letter of invitation from someone inside the country would have to be written, and then passed from the central government in the Libyan capital of Tripoli to an outside embassy.
While Mr. Doldo had a letter of invitation written by his friend's son who still lived in Libya, the country's infighting the last half year had made passing that letter through official channels difficult.
With no Libyan officials at the country's embassy in Rwanda, Mr. Doldo spent the next 10 days in Tunisia in an attempt to get the appropriate documentation to enter. His initial attempt to visit the Libyan embassy in Tunis didn't get very far, as the building was in lockdown.
Mr. Doldo, who exhibited a gift for learning languages at an early age, is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, French,the trio took home a buy Cheap Rayban Sunglasses for sale bird and dog, Vietnamese, Korean and three African languages.
He has studied another 23 languages. But he said he does not have a great handle on Arabic.
“I've got enough that I can just get by,” Mr. Doldo said. “I can get food, water, ask ‘where is...' and some really random words.my Best Catier Sunglasses Online have come back with a vengeance.”
Asking someone at the embassy if anybody spoke English,already have large Discount Armani Sunglasses for sale movie libraries. Mr. Doldo was immediately rebuffed.
“One of the staff simply told me, ‘Gadhafi ... school ... no English,'” he recalled.
Mr. Doldo was also turned down in the Libyan Embassy at the coastal town of Sfax, about four hours from Tunis.
His formal routes exhausted, Mr. Doldo decided to speak to Libyan officials at the border. He took a six-hour bus ride from Tunis to the Libyan border city of Ben Gardane Oct. 19.
Guards there said Mr. Doldo would have to be approved for a visa by a revolutionary commander.
Though his initial conversation showed promise, he received the same response as before: He would need approval from Tripoli.
Then, circumstances in Libya changed dramatically as news emerged that Gadhafi had been captured and possibly killed.
“People were crowding around TVs, because they were showing pictures, the first pictures of a captured Gadhafi,” Mr. Doldo said. “It was real enough at that point that we knew he was captured.”
On hearing the news, Mr, Doldo's friend told him to try the border again and bring the letter of invitation he had previously faxed.
“They've got to be so happy,” said Mr. Doldo, recalling his friend's message. “Maybe they'll let you through.”
Taking his friend's advice, he rushed to return to the border. However, “There were a lot more soldiers there,” Mr. Doldo said. “Less of the official border guards.”
Then someone spotted a “Free Libya” sticker on Mr. Doldo's backpack. Soon he was offered a ride in a shared taxi with several men going to Tripoli.
Coming to the border, the taxi driver took Mr. Doldo's passport, and presented it to the border guards.
“At first it seemed like they weren't going to let me through, because I didn't have a visa,” he said.I made a wholesale Breitling Watches Online out of it. Returning to the cab, the driver asked him a few questions about his travel, and asked to see his letter of invitation.
After speaking with the border guards for about 10 minutes, the driver returned to the car.
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