Saturday, February 19, 2011
I have less than a week to go before I fly over the big blue ocean to begin my new adventure in Switzerland The adventure has already begun. My company headquarters in Switzerland took care of the paper work for my visa. I went and got some pictures taken, filled out a few papers, and they did the rest. I wouldn't have to do anything else but show up at the airport. Or so they told me and so I thought.
My visa had been approved in Bern, Switzerland. Sweet! I'm good to go. All I would have to do is go to Charlotte and pick it up. Wrong! Bern sent my visa to the Swiss Embassy in LA, because somehow they thought California was close to North Carolina. Oh, wait! They applied for my visa using my old Colorado address. This is the address that was on 1 document (my application for my current job that I filed 3 years ago), instead of using the Raleigh address that was on the other 10 documents they had.
After some phone calls to my headquarters in Switzerland, they decided they would try and get my visa transferred to Washington D.C. On Wednesday of this past week at 4 PM, I call DC to see if they have my visa ready for pick-up. I was thinking I could just swing by on my way up to PA to drop my car off. When I spoke with the consulate at the Embassy, she said "you haven't applied for your visa yet." To which I say "yes, I have. It was issued directly from Switzerland. My company took care of everything." And the following conversation takes place
Consulate: You still need to apply hear in the US.
Me: Really? What do I need to do.
Consulate: Bring 2 photos, the visa paper issued from Switzerland, your passport, fill out this other paperwork...oh and $77 dollars to process the application.
Me: Ok, can I make an appointment.
Consulate: No. We do not take appoints, you just need to show up between 9AM and Noon. Also I can not guarantee that I can get this processed in the same day. So bring a prepaid envelope in case I need to mail your paper work to you. And I suggest that you come as soon as possible so that you have your visa before you fly out. And may I remind you again that we are making an exception for you. Atlanta should be dealing with this because North Carolina is in Atlanta territory.
You would think that my company would know this information, but they didn't. The HR lady said they would fly me up on Sunday night to pick it up on Monday morning. In my mind this was cutting it too close. I'm checking out of my apartment on Tuesday and won't have a NC address, where would they mail it to if it didn't get processed on the same day?
At 5PM on Wednesday, I go to the car rental place to get a car to drive to DC that night. The rental pickings were slim. I wanted a small car to drive in DC and in the parking lot they had plenty of 15 passenger vans, a utility van, a Suburban, and a Challenger. There was no way my company was paying for the Challenger, but I tried to rent it anyways for the same price as a compact car. The guys tells me that I can't have it, but he does have a Mustang convertible. Sweet!
After renting the car, going and getting pictures taken, stopping at the MAC machine (yes I said MAC), stopping to make copies of my passport (in color), and getting clothes, it was 7:30PM. I arrived in DC at 12ish and checked into the hotel. They hotel tells me that their parking garage is under renovation, but they have parking 2 blocks away. It's DC, at 12:30 in the morning, I'm driving a Mustang convertible, and the hotel wants me to walk from 2 blocks away by myself? The hotel assures me that this is a safe area. Really? Really? Not happy about this, so I got some exercise by running 2 blocks back to the hotel.
In the morning, I take a taxi to the Swiss Embassy. The Embassy scolds me again because North Carolina is technically Atlanta territory and I really should have went there. But they are making an exception for me. It took a whopping 5 minutes to get the visa. They spent more time complaining about it than doing it. I really think they just wanted to make a few more dollars. The cabi that brought me back to the hotel said "Swiss people are the most boring people in the world. They are always looking at there watches." Gotta love advice from a Cabi.
On the way back down to NC, I put the top down and took full advantage of driving my first convertible. Pre-Switzerland whirlwind adventure. All you can do is just laugh! Switzerland here I come!
I fly out on Thursday! Stop back soon to see what kind of trouble I get myself into in Switzerland.
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