Visa fun

I think that the US make Visa's deliberately hard just to spite those who want to come, the amount of paperwork is ridiculous. I had to provide them with all my families details (name, address, phone number) as well as the details of two people who I'm not related to who can verify it all for me (I don't think anyone I'm not related to knows all that information), my previous employers and bank statements confirming that I can afford to go. It got me very stressed and fed up, however it gave me a great excuse to go to London and stay with a friend of mine and it should all be over now.

When you arrive at the embassy you report to someone who directs you into one of four very slow moving queues and told to remove your belt (what do they think we're going to do, hang ourselves out of frustration at the long wait or depression if our visa doesn't get approved?). I think I queued for well over half an hour before I got to the front where a fat security guard checked my papers again and looked at my passport (security guards mandatory passport photo joke: "Ohh... close enough", he chuckled to himself after this and he said it to every passport he saw) then directed me into another queue (smaller this time) to await being security checked. You're bag gets x-rayed and you have to go through a metal detector, no electronic devices are allowed beyond that point. I thought you couldn't bring phones at all but people did (which is very frustrating when I left mine at home and ended up getting stressed over where my friend was when she was half an hour late to meet and couldn't contact me) I thought I hadn't got a single electronic device on me, but forgot about my electric tooth brush, which I was forced to leave in the guard hut. Is it really possible to set off a bomb with a tooth brush? Even if it is wouldn't people look at you a bit weirdly if you were turning on an electric toothbrush in the middle of the embassy?!

Once I had made it through security there was a bit of a walk around the building until you can finally enter it, a bored guy sitting behind a desk checks your papers again and you then get given a ticket and ushered into the waiting area. It felt like being in Argos, waiting for your number to be called, there were 4 big screens that flashed the number of the person being served on it and your position in the queue. It didn't take more than half an hour to be called up to a little booth where an administrator sat behind a glass window and took your forms and fingerprints. I was then handed a blue form and told to fill it in whilst I waited for my interview. This time it took considerably longer to be called and when I did I was called to a different booth with a different administrator (presumably higher up) who relieved me of my passport (I now can't leave the country for a few days) and told me I'd been approved.

There was only one more hurdle between me and freedom - the courier company. After paying $200 in visa related fees (as well as the cost of coming to London) I was understandably annoyed to discover that I had to pay a further £13.50 for the delivery of my visa. Is it not possible to receive it then and there? And why does it cost quite so much? Ah well, there was nowt I could do about it and the sun was out for once (makes a change from the torrential rain that is fast becoming the norm) so I made and made a bid for freedom.

When I was allowed to put my belt and watch back on I was astonished to discover that it was only 11.30 and my train didn't leave till 4 so I sat in Grovesnor park for a bit and assessed my map. I was pleased to discover that I wasn't that far from Oxford Street so I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and some how managed to resist buying a lot of things on the basis that I wouldn't need them in California or they were too heavy.

It still seems that I have loads of preparations to do before I leave (less than a month to go!) although I am making progress, I have sorted out a cheque in dollars for my first rent cheque (or check to the Americans) and got myself new contact lenses that can be sent over cheaper, I have also looked into cell phones. Actually, writing it down makes it look like nothing. I really will have to knuckle down, and stop being so lazy.