As you read this post, the words playing across your eyes should be "On Travel....lalala, so excited to be headed to country X." Instead you get to read a silly tale which goes like this....
....(three months ago) I was very excited by the prospect of going to country X (no, I'm not trying to be dodgy, just hoping to reveal later). Then the trip got postponed until just about "whenever." I know...life is so "exciting" when you know that "whenever" (often translated into "tomorrow") is your next travel date!
....to this time last week when I was sitting at my desk sweating about the million approvals needed for me to book a flight to leave within a week, finally heading back to Africa. The "i" is dotted and the "t" is crossed, trip is a approved and ticket is booked. Yay - go me! Even better: Yay go me going back to Africa! I move on to the million other stresses that instantly consume my life when I have less than one week to pull my act together to be out of the country for practically a month!
Umm - "1 laundry list of things to do at work" + "43503945 loads of laundry that I was postponing" + an "oh, no must pick up dry cleaning before they throw all my silk clothing away" + "darn, my friend is going to be camping out in apt....clean clean clean!" Plus you can't forget the ever important "lose 100 pounds" + "become an super cool artist" and if you can handle it add in "panic about what to wear in two countries with really different climates!"
....to about 24 hours pre-departure when a little birdie whispers in my ear: viiiiisssssaaaaaa! Anyone else hearing crickets!??!? If you aren't hearing crickets then you are certainly remembering this "almost deported" tale posted only as recently as this year!! Turns out that, YES, my destination does require a visa and HECK NO, they don't issue it upon arrival!
While I could very easily play the "urgh, what kind of country doesn't let you get a visa upon arrival" card, that would just be a disservice to the country which is just doing it's sovereign duties of making "foreigners" bleed when the reality is more like "Brandie, please use your 10 fingers and possibly 3 toes to list the countries that DO allow entry sans hoopla!" The fact remains that just getting the approval for the trip in the first place felt like such a triumph that I went forward with my sword hoping to slay a few more dragons pre-trip only to be taken to the cleaners by something as straightforward as a lack of a visa!
Will I have to cancel my flight (ummm, that kinda goes without saying)? Will I get a new flight ticket? Will I get a visa in less than 48 hours in order to board the next flight? Will I arrive in time to attend the conference which I've been anticipating for months?
.....is clearly the word of the day!
Umm - "1 laundry list of things to do at work" + "43503945 loads of laundry that I was postponing" + an "oh, no must pick up dry cleaning before they throw all my silk clothing away" + "darn, my friend is going to be camping out in apt....clean clean clean!" Plus you can't forget the ever important "lose 100 pounds" + "become an super cool artist" and if you can handle it add in "panic about what to wear in two countries with really different climates!"
....to about 24 hours pre-departure when a little birdie whispers in my ear: viiiiisssssaaaaaa! Anyone else hearing crickets!??!? If you aren't hearing crickets then you are certainly remembering this "almost deported" tale posted only as recently as this year!! Turns out that, YES, my destination does require a visa and HECK NO, they don't issue it upon arrival!
While I could very easily play the "urgh, what kind of country doesn't let you get a visa upon arrival" card, that would just be a disservice to the country which is just doing it's sovereign duties of making "foreigners" bleed when the reality is more like "Brandie, please use your 10 fingers and possibly 3 toes to list the countries that DO allow entry sans hoopla!" The fact remains that just getting the approval for the trip in the first place felt like such a triumph that I went forward with my sword hoping to slay a few more dragons pre-trip only to be taken to the cleaners by something as straightforward as a lack of a visa!
Will I have to cancel my flight (ummm, that kinda goes without saying)? Will I get a new flight ticket? Will I get a visa in less than 48 hours in order to board the next flight? Will I arrive in time to attend the conference which I've been anticipating for months?
.....is clearly the word of the day!
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!
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