purgatory and redemption (day 8)
Mar. 18th, 2007 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chouchootday 8 began a bit in my last entry, but to give it proper distinction i really had to write about it in it's own little space.
so, day-from-hell, check. london arrival, hotel check-in, amazing breakfast, check. afterwards, james and i immediately began our pursuit of my passport. we took the tube to trafalgar square, where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beezlebryan had off-handedly mentioned to us was "where all the nation's embassies are located." upon arrival, and some walking around, we noticed the united states embassy was nowhere to be found--upon further perusal in my little book, i found the address scribbled in, citing a completely different street name and location. we decided to walk it, even though it was a bit far (off oxford and up up up). we weren't sure it was the right place or building until we saw the gawdy gold eagle perched atop a big building typical to the london skyline. as we walked closer, other details started to unveil themselves: the barricades, the machine-gun-toting-cops, the long long queues, the overall sense of heightened security. i have to admit, it freaked me out.
i waited in line and was separated from the long group (70% of all people there) who were waiting in the VISAS/immigration line; i was one of the rest there for passport/other purposes. standing at the american embassy in london, i felt pretty ignorant and simultaneously priveledged--i wasn't even sure why all these people were in line or what they wanted, and yet cognitively recognized that it most likely was to work on (temporary or permanent) residency/visa/greencard issues for the united states...people who wanted to live/work/visit a country i, some days, am not all that enthusiastic about. talk about an eye opening and humbling experience: it's no babel but it'll do for me in terms of a little world wake-up call.
i made my way through security, and waited in another line for passport-issues. i wasn't sure if i was even doing the right thing, as the embassy website implied that appointments must be made (i made one for 3/20 just to be safe) and that passports take at least 15 days to process. still, the vague website wording gave me hope i could, at least possibly, get a temporary emergency passport to make good on the rest of my travel bookings, so i waited. and waited. at the first window i spoke to an incredibly helpful british woman, who gave me paperwork and implied, so long as i confirmed i was traveling "today or tomorrow" (i wanted/intended to) that it'd be no problem. i sat down, filled out paperwork, got back in line with the passport photos i took at victoria station and my application. the passport photos were for british passports (who knew?), so she sent me back outside to take u.s. pictures; i did so, then waited in another 2 lines, only to find out that the crown of my head was cropped off, so the photos wouldn't do, so i was sent outside through the war zone and 2 blocks away to a pharmacy to take (count 'em) a third set of passport photos (running total 16 GBP). i returned again, dealt with armed policeman and security and lines again, only to be bounced around from window-to-window, where i broke down again (was snapped at by a unnecessarily rude embassy employee, who had that sort of perfected demeaning curtness in her reply that, at this point, i really couldn't handle). finally--4 hours or so after my arrival--it was all sorted out, i raised my hand under oath, paid my fees, and was issued a temporary (1 year) passport on the spot. i was warned about my lost/stolen passport status, and how one is only allowed maybe 2 in a lifetime, so i was "awfully young" to have already had one lost. i also was told by this same u.s. embassy employee to never, ever travel with your passport on your person, except from destination to destination: he said it is never necessary (at least in the u.k/europe) to have a passport on you when you're sightseeing or shopping, and to always leave a passport in your hotel/apartment/fire safe. i told him this was contrary to everything i'd read or been told, but he said it was the number one reason "people like me" come to "people like him" and how there is no logistical reason to have your passport on you for risk of being stolen or lost. fair enough.
we walked out of the embassy pretty exhausted, but relieved...it sunk in on the walk back to the tube that 1) i could get home and 2) i could go to france if i chose to, even though i had lost the money and flight itineraries. so my first order of business was to go back to our hotel, book our journey to paris, and take a much-needed nap, after probably the most stressful 36 hours of my life.
and that's it, folks. i lived to tell...it's probably even a great story, no matter how tragic and hopeless and miserable it felt to live it. right now i'm typing from paris, france, the city i've wanted to see my entire life; my passport (and james') is sitting on the little fireplace right within my line of vision...and life is pretty good.
paris entries to come...for now: sleep.
bon nuit, mes amis.
so, day-from-hell, check. london arrival, hotel check-in, amazing breakfast, check. afterwards, james and i immediately began our pursuit of my passport. we took the tube to trafalgar square, where
beezlebryan had off-handedly mentioned to us was "where all the nation's embassies are located." upon arrival, and some walking around, we noticed the united states embassy was nowhere to be found--upon further perusal in my little book, i found the address scribbled in, citing a completely different street name and location. we decided to walk it, even though it was a bit far (off oxford and up up up). we weren't sure it was the right place or building until we saw the gawdy gold eagle perched atop a big building typical to the london skyline. as we walked closer, other details started to unveil themselves: the barricades, the machine-gun-toting-cops, the long long queues, the overall sense of heightened security. i have to admit, it freaked me out. i waited in line and was separated from the long group (70% of all people there) who were waiting in the VISAS/immigration line; i was one of the rest there for passport/other purposes. standing at the american embassy in london, i felt pretty ignorant and simultaneously priveledged--i wasn't even sure why all these people were in line or what they wanted, and yet cognitively recognized that it most likely was to work on (temporary or permanent) residency/visa/greencard issues for the united states...people who wanted to live/work/visit a country i, some days, am not all that enthusiastic about. talk about an eye opening and humbling experience: it's no babel but it'll do for me in terms of a little world wake-up call.
i made my way through security, and waited in another line for passport-issues. i wasn't sure if i was even doing the right thing, as the embassy website implied that appointments must be made (i made one for 3/20 just to be safe) and that passports take at least 15 days to process. still, the vague website wording gave me hope i could, at least possibly, get a temporary emergency passport to make good on the rest of my travel bookings, so i waited. and waited. at the first window i spoke to an incredibly helpful british woman, who gave me paperwork and implied, so long as i confirmed i was traveling "today or tomorrow" (i wanted/intended to) that it'd be no problem. i sat down, filled out paperwork, got back in line with the passport photos i took at victoria station and my application. the passport photos were for british passports (who knew?), so she sent me back outside to take u.s. pictures; i did so, then waited in another 2 lines, only to find out that the crown of my head was cropped off, so the photos wouldn't do, so i was sent outside through the war zone and 2 blocks away to a pharmacy to take (count 'em) a third set of passport photos (running total 16 GBP). i returned again, dealt with armed policeman and security and lines again, only to be bounced around from window-to-window, where i broke down again (was snapped at by a unnecessarily rude embassy employee, who had that sort of perfected demeaning curtness in her reply that, at this point, i really couldn't handle). finally--4 hours or so after my arrival--it was all sorted out, i raised my hand under oath, paid my fees, and was issued a temporary (1 year) passport on the spot. i was warned about my lost/stolen passport status, and how one is only allowed maybe 2 in a lifetime, so i was "awfully young" to have already had one lost. i also was told by this same u.s. embassy employee to never, ever travel with your passport on your person, except from destination to destination: he said it is never necessary (at least in the u.k/europe) to have a passport on you when you're sightseeing or shopping, and to always leave a passport in your hotel/apartment/fire safe. i told him this was contrary to everything i'd read or been told, but he said it was the number one reason "people like me" come to "people like him" and how there is no logistical reason to have your passport on you for risk of being stolen or lost. fair enough.
we walked out of the embassy pretty exhausted, but relieved...it sunk in on the walk back to the tube that 1) i could get home and 2) i could go to france if i chose to, even though i had lost the money and flight itineraries. so my first order of business was to go back to our hotel, book our journey to paris, and take a much-needed nap, after probably the most stressful 36 hours of my life.
and that's it, folks. i lived to tell...it's probably even a great story, no matter how tragic and hopeless and miserable it felt to live it. right now i'm typing from paris, france, the city i've wanted to see my entire life; my passport (and james') is sitting on the little fireplace right within my line of vision...and life is pretty good.
paris entries to come...for now: sleep.
bon nuit, mes amis.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-22 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 06:54 am (UTC)SO glad they were nice to you and you get to enjoy the rest of your trip! keep posting :)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-22 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-22 05:55 pm (UTC)i'm coming to NYC in april! we should meet for drinks!