I can't believe it.... Once again my favorite time of the year... TRAVELING TIME!!!
This time I'm heading for a month to India!
I have for years been dreaming of going to India and it's finally coming true!!!
This adventure of course started with some visa drama and dealing with the Indian visa procedure was a nightmare.
First of all, they are well known to lose passports so I did not get my visa before my friend's wedding in Cancun (it would have been terrifying if they misplaced my passport and i didn't attend the wedding) so the week after thanksgiving I rushed to downtown SF to try to get a visa (since they didn't have appointments any earlier than december 29th online!) Once i got there the line was huge, people were outside the building waiting and hoping to get their visa processed. It was very chaotic, people didn't know what to do, security from the building was angry, workers at the visa place didn't know what to do with us so it wasn't looking very pretty. Apparently the manager had enough with the chaos that he started screaming at us to leave and come back at 11am for walk-in hours (but nobody did) so after 20 mins he was even madder and he started screaming that we needed to leave NOW! and that they would not take anybody's papers for visas today, not now, not at 11.. he finished by saying "EVERYBODY LEAVE, COME ANOTHER DAY". Ouch!
... I left... And went back the next day and the process was very smooth. I saw the manager, introduced myself, told him I was there the day before and said "Yesterday seemed like a very stressful day for you, it must have been hard having so many people show up unexpectedly. I'm glad today is going a lot better", I did some more stroking and he ended up apologizing for having me drive to the center twice and was very friendly... I'm telling you, treating people nicely pays off!
So anyway, I dropped off all my papers and he said to track my application online and it should be ready in 3-5 days! Easy peasy, right?!?! Well... NO! 8 days passed of course NO visa! I started to freak out, and my head kept going to the "worst case scenario" (seriously, why do we do that?) and I kept calling the call center... IN BOMBAY!
The guys at the call center were helpful but the only information they were giving me was the same as the one that appeared on the online tracking: "Your application has now been forwarded to the Indian Consulate for decision making."
Finally, Wednesday night before the big storm hit the bay area I got the email saying that my visa was ready for pick up! Yeay!... The only problem: a big huge storm, floods, and my dislike of driving in the rain! ... but that didn't stop me from getting my visa... So, I'm officially going to India, B*tcHe$! WOOHOO!!!
This time I'm heading for a month to India!
I have for years been dreaming of going to India and it's finally coming true!!!
This adventure of course started with some visa drama and dealing with the Indian visa procedure was a nightmare.
First of all, they are well known to lose passports so I did not get my visa before my friend's wedding in Cancun (it would have been terrifying if they misplaced my passport and i didn't attend the wedding) so the week after thanksgiving I rushed to downtown SF to try to get a visa (since they didn't have appointments any earlier than december 29th online!) Once i got there the line was huge, people were outside the building waiting and hoping to get their visa processed. It was very chaotic, people didn't know what to do, security from the building was angry, workers at the visa place didn't know what to do with us so it wasn't looking very pretty. Apparently the manager had enough with the chaos that he started screaming at us to leave and come back at 11am for walk-in hours (but nobody did) so after 20 mins he was even madder and he started screaming that we needed to leave NOW! and that they would not take anybody's papers for visas today, not now, not at 11.. he finished by saying "EVERYBODY LEAVE, COME ANOTHER DAY". Ouch!
... I left... And went back the next day and the process was very smooth. I saw the manager, introduced myself, told him I was there the day before and said "Yesterday seemed like a very stressful day for you, it must have been hard having so many people show up unexpectedly. I'm glad today is going a lot better", I did some more stroking and he ended up apologizing for having me drive to the center twice and was very friendly... I'm telling you, treating people nicely pays off!
So anyway, I dropped off all my papers and he said to track my application online and it should be ready in 3-5 days! Easy peasy, right?!?! Well... NO! 8 days passed of course NO visa! I started to freak out, and my head kept going to the "worst case scenario" (seriously, why do we do that?) and I kept calling the call center... IN BOMBAY!
The guys at the call center were helpful but the only information they were giving me was the same as the one that appeared on the online tracking: "Your application has now been forwarded to the Indian Consulate for decision making."
Finally, Wednesday night before the big storm hit the bay area I got the email saying that my visa was ready for pick up! Yeay!... The only problem: a big huge storm, floods, and my dislike of driving in the rain! ... but that didn't stop me from getting my visa... So, I'm officially going to India, B*tcHe$! WOOHOO!!!
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