Friday 9 November 2012

Famous last words

The things I do for my blog.

Edited highlights to-date include jumping into a frozen lake, skiing on a frozen lake, admitting that my husband has pointed out the fact that I require depilatory products for my face (whilst surrounded by snow at the time), allowing myself to be pummelled by a bare lady wearing only a pair of flip-flops and some exfoliating gloves (her, not me) and, oh yes, moving to Russia.

Well, that last one wasn't really for my blog but I did do it in the full expectation that mucho blog-fodder would result - which I think you will agree, given the posts I've just listed, is a gamble that has more than paid off.

Something I did not do for my blog however, and a post I hoped never to write, is the one where I detail running the gauntlet of a certain nation's border guards with a visa for my son which we had been wrongly advised would be adequate when, according to them, it was anything but.

And yet here it is, anyway.

Some sweary phone calls to my husband (sorry about that, darling), one missed flight, a night in the world's most expensive cheap airport hotel, a very early start, a flight in which my exhausted son refused to sleep but instead preferred to watch nonsense (which, to cap it all, consisted of a rubbish movie that he had in fact already seen) on the inflight entertainment system, an overly chatty London taxi driver who proved impervious to hints about the fact that both my son and I had been up since 1.00 am local time and preferred instead to regale us with details of parking restrictions at Heathrow airport, an exhausted trek into town, some incorrect paperwork, some more incorrect paperwork, various technical glitches, and a couple more sweary phone calls later I can, however, tell you that I sent the following text to Husband this afternoon:

'Hallelujah!  I have Boy's visa.  Am heading back to your mum's to lie in a darkened room to de-stress in peace & quiet.  With wine.'

I am NEVER doing this again.

Until the next time, I suppose.



4 comments:

  1. People who don't live overseas really miss out on the thrill of Visa issues, don't they? Glad you're finally at the lie-down/wine part of the story.

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  2. When all else fails, go shopping! that makes me feel better, for a short time at least :-) Now....to get home and make sure the visa works. I pray for safe, uneventful travels back into Mother Russia....
    See you soon!!

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  3. Is it still a piece of paper that they just shove in your passport?

    And do you still have to keep the counterfoil (aka EXIT visa)??

    Because if so, can I just say, from bitter experience.... don't lose it.

    Doing so (or, to be accurate, my mother doing so) was very good for my Russian but very bad for my life expectancy...

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  4. Visas... deep breath, deep breath, deep breath...

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