Waiting on a visa

It’s been a minute since I last posted.  I guess I was waiting for something important to happen.  What is the old saying?  Life is what happens when you’re waiting for something else.  Well, in the internet age, SPAM is what happens.  2,202 of them.  If I could read Russian, it might have taken forever to delete them, but as it was, it only took half that long.

So, what has happened?  Let me explain!  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.  After Switzerland, I returned to Colorado.  Fortunately, a friend rented me an empty room.  There was no furniture, but it was an affordable rate.  It was like camping without marshmallows.  I waited there for my Portuguese Visa to be approved.  And… nothing.  But I already had an airline ticket and confirmed lodging—all requirements of the visa application—so I flew to Portugal to continue waiting.

It was, shall we say, educational.  First, my flight was delayed, not canceled, DELAYED 8 hours.  The airline agreed to rebook me on another airline and ensure my luggage was transferred.  The downside is that my flight was to Heathrow, where I had to make my own way to Gatwick for the second leg of my journey.  The additional adventure wasn’t a problem for me, and I was upgraded to one of those private pod seats on British Airways.  Yippie!  At Heathrow, though, I had to collect my luggage and catch a Gatwick bus.  Top tip: don’t walk to baggage claim at Heathrow.  It was good that I had a long time before my flight from Gatwick to Porto.

The folks at Heathrow Lost Luggage were lovely.  They didn’t help me, but they were nice enough to tell me I should file a claim when I got to Porto.

The Lady at Porto Lost Luggage was also kind.  She listened as I explained what had happened and my theory that my bags were still in Denver.  Then she wrote down “2 lost bags” and sent me on my way with the knowledge that the number on my bag tag was all they needed to find a bag anywhere in the world.

Four days later, I got a message from a woman in Denver wondering why my bags were still there. Twenty-four hours later, my bags were expedited to Porto… via Madrid.  Several hours after they were to arrive in Porto, I called.  “Don’t worry, it takes 4 to 6 hours to process.”  That’s a lot of time for such a small airport, but I am not a licensed and bonded lost luggage technician. 

I waited 7 hours before calling again.  This time, I was informed that per the contract, they only tracked bags for 5 days.

Naturally, I did not complain.  I am not licensed and bonded.  Instead, I went to the Porto Airport and undertook the ancient ritual of bag location.  It’s a mysterious process, which even licensed and bonded lost luggage technicians don’t fully understand.

I hurriedly returned to my accommodations—an apartment with lovely views over the old city—and put on clean underwear.

With nothing left to do but wait for my visa, I enrolled in a language school in hopes of learning how to say… anything.  Portugues is a difficult language to speak.  It’s even harder to listen to.

Soon, I had to leave Portugal as I had no visa, and my tourist time was running out.  I canceled my lease on a Saturday and searched for a convenient place outside the Schengen Region to wait.  The following Monday, I received an email that my visa was approved.  It was just in time to kiss my lease-breaking fee goodbye and purchase a short-notice airline ticket to the USA.

Back in Denver, I grabbed a room near the airport, slept a few hours, and then went to the UPS store as soon as it opened.  That was Wednesday morning.  My passport would be at the Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco by Thursday morning.  They wanted three days to process my visa, so I expected my passport to be returned by the following Wednesday or Thursday.  I had it on Monday.  It’s a good thing my flight back to Porto wasn’t for another week.