Can you believe it? Still trying...
Sep/26/05 13:55
Now
remember where I said that we applied for our visas
electronically? Well, apparently this is a major
exception and the Information Revolution has
completely passed by the UK. The work permit, issued
by a government office in London, had to be
express-mailed to the personnel office in Swansea,
who in turn had to express-mail the paper document to
Cliff. Forget fax, forget e-mail, forget the
possibility of simply accepting the number of the
permit. One branch of the British government
wouldn’t accept any kind of document
transmission from another branch of the British
government, Cliff had to have the actual piece of
paper in his hands when he re-applied in person in
the consulate in New York. (And he couldn't apply for
a visa at the Embassy in DC- they don't do visas.) We
missed the call from Swansea Friday morning on our
cell phone, asking for a mailing address to mail our
work permit, so we didn’t get through to them
in time, and mailing our work permit had to wait
until Monday. The plan on Monday was to mail the work
permit to his office at West Point, where Cliff would
drive back Wednesday (there being no actual overnight
service available), pick it up, leave his car at our
house, take the train into NYC, obtain his visa, and
take the train back to DC in time to fly the next
day.
As you can probably guess by now, that wasn’t gonna happen. First, the consulate called to inform us that they only deal with the public before 11:30 a.m., impossible for Cliff, because there was no way an express package would make it in time for him to pick it up and still get into the city. So Cliff arranged an appointment at the Consulate for Thursday morning- the day we were due to fly. American Airlines wouldn't let him join the flight in NYC (remember, it was supposed to go from DC to NYC to London), so that meant he'd have to add another flight from NYC to DC, where he would meet us and join us for the flight back to NYC, where we'd then catch the connection to Heathrow. That added expense and cut down on the margin of error, but it seemed like it ought to work. But while driving up to New York on Wednesday to pick up the work permit, Cliff got a cell phone call from Swansea, where the personnel office had heard from DHL (i.e. Airborne Express) that there had been a “delay,” and the permit couldn’t be delivered until Thursday noon. The day we were supposed to fly, too late to get a visa in time. I got on the phone trying to track the package; they told me it had departed JFK but they had no information after that. I was bewildered; it takes less than 2 hours to drive from JFK to the DHL depot in Newburgh NY, how could they not have located it after 5 hours? What no one had explained was that DHL lands its packages in JFK and then ships them to Ohio, from whence they are sent back to NY for delivery. After a few more phone calls we got them to assure us that it should arrive at Newburgh that evening, and that Cliff could pick it up at the distribution center then. They'd call as soon as it was sorted. Well, that evening they called all right-- to say that the last of the new shipment had been sorted and it wasn't there. More calls, with different answers from DHL each time. Finally, we were told might arrive in Newburgh the next morning, and Cliff might be able to pick it up at Newburgh at 8:00.
So the new plan called for more planning, luck and timing than any bank heist in the movies. Cliff was to pick up the package in Newburgh at 8:00, drive across the Beacon bridge, park at the Beacon train station and travel down into NYC, run to the consulate, speed through the visa application process, take a cab to LaGuardia airport, catch the 12:00 shuttle to DC, meet us at National Airport in DC with our travel documents, catch our 3:00 flight and the three of us would fly back to New York and proceed on to London. (Our friend John Stapleton kindly agreed to pick up the car at the station for us. Thanks, John!)
As you can probably guess by now, that wasn’t gonna happen. First, the consulate called to inform us that they only deal with the public before 11:30 a.m., impossible for Cliff, because there was no way an express package would make it in time for him to pick it up and still get into the city. So Cliff arranged an appointment at the Consulate for Thursday morning- the day we were due to fly. American Airlines wouldn't let him join the flight in NYC (remember, it was supposed to go from DC to NYC to London), so that meant he'd have to add another flight from NYC to DC, where he would meet us and join us for the flight back to NYC, where we'd then catch the connection to Heathrow. That added expense and cut down on the margin of error, but it seemed like it ought to work. But while driving up to New York on Wednesday to pick up the work permit, Cliff got a cell phone call from Swansea, where the personnel office had heard from DHL (i.e. Airborne Express) that there had been a “delay,” and the permit couldn’t be delivered until Thursday noon. The day we were supposed to fly, too late to get a visa in time. I got on the phone trying to track the package; they told me it had departed JFK but they had no information after that. I was bewildered; it takes less than 2 hours to drive from JFK to the DHL depot in Newburgh NY, how could they not have located it after 5 hours? What no one had explained was that DHL lands its packages in JFK and then ships them to Ohio, from whence they are sent back to NY for delivery. After a few more phone calls we got them to assure us that it should arrive at Newburgh that evening, and that Cliff could pick it up at the distribution center then. They'd call as soon as it was sorted. Well, that evening they called all right-- to say that the last of the new shipment had been sorted and it wasn't there. More calls, with different answers from DHL each time. Finally, we were told might arrive in Newburgh the next morning, and Cliff might be able to pick it up at Newburgh at 8:00.
So the new plan called for more planning, luck and timing than any bank heist in the movies. Cliff was to pick up the package in Newburgh at 8:00, drive across the Beacon bridge, park at the Beacon train station and travel down into NYC, run to the consulate, speed through the visa application process, take a cab to LaGuardia airport, catch the 12:00 shuttle to DC, meet us at National Airport in DC with our travel documents, catch our 3:00 flight and the three of us would fly back to New York and proceed on to London. (Our friend John Stapleton kindly agreed to pick up the car at the station for us. Thanks, John!)