A post from Margo
We have been having a really nice time in NY ... Sarah and I have been spending a lot of time with my family: Cousins Reenie and Mary and their families. We also had the chance to visit a cousin from my paternal grandfather's family, Barbara Green. It was a really nice visit and great to get the chance to meet another member of my family.
Yesterday we narrowly averted a disaster. While checking online to determine whether I needed to carry the hard copy of my work permit with my passport in order to clear immigration in the UK, I discovered, to my dismay, that Mike and Sarah also needed visas in order to enter. I had been informed that I needed one, but I didn't know that they did too. As we are scheduled to leave on Wednesday, you can imagine that I was in a bit of a panic. After trying to get an appointment with the British Consulate (unsuccessfully ... no opening until next week) I got somebody on the phone who directed me to a visa expediter. Fortunately I had with me the originals of all the necessary documentation such as birth and marriage certificates etc. Mike was already in the city for the day and had to go and get passport photos taken. Sarah already had an extra set.
So ... I pulled together all of the documentation, went to my cousin Mary's house and filled out the applications online, paid the fee, printed the applications and put the packets together. Then Mary, Reenie and Arthur watched Sarah while I took the train into the city to meet Mike and get his photos. Mike met me at Penn Station and we took a cab across town to meet the expediter, who doesn't work out of an office per se, but rather met us at a coffee shop, wrote out a receipt for all of our most important documents, including our passports, and disappeared into the urban canyons. We fervently hope that he returns today as planned ... with our stuff!
I'm actually not too worried, as he is registered with the consulate ... also I just got an email from the consulate advising that the visas have been approved and issued, so the paperwork got at least that far. Mike is scheduled to meet with him as I type, and I expect to hear soon that he has all of the paperwork in hand.
So ... a disaster narrowly averted. Thank god for the internet and wireless computer access in the hotel. We would otherwise have found out about all of this when Mike and Sarah were refused entry in Dublin or Edinburgh.
And that's the news for today. We think of all of our family and friends often and miss everybody. Sarah especially misses her school and her best friend Nika.
Love,
margo
Yesterday we narrowly averted a disaster. While checking online to determine whether I needed to carry the hard copy of my work permit with my passport in order to clear immigration in the UK, I discovered, to my dismay, that Mike and Sarah also needed visas in order to enter. I had been informed that I needed one, but I didn't know that they did too. As we are scheduled to leave on Wednesday, you can imagine that I was in a bit of a panic. After trying to get an appointment with the British Consulate (unsuccessfully ... no opening until next week) I got somebody on the phone who directed me to a visa expediter. Fortunately I had with me the originals of all the necessary documentation such as birth and marriage certificates etc. Mike was already in the city for the day and had to go and get passport photos taken. Sarah already had an extra set.
So ... I pulled together all of the documentation, went to my cousin Mary's house and filled out the applications online, paid the fee, printed the applications and put the packets together. Then Mary, Reenie and Arthur watched Sarah while I took the train into the city to meet Mike and get his photos. Mike met me at Penn Station and we took a cab across town to meet the expediter, who doesn't work out of an office per se, but rather met us at a coffee shop, wrote out a receipt for all of our most important documents, including our passports, and disappeared into the urban canyons. We fervently hope that he returns today as planned ... with our stuff!
I'm actually not too worried, as he is registered with the consulate ... also I just got an email from the consulate advising that the visas have been approved and issued, so the paperwork got at least that far. Mike is scheduled to meet with him as I type, and I expect to hear soon that he has all of the paperwork in hand.
So ... a disaster narrowly averted. Thank god for the internet and wireless computer access in the hotel. We would otherwise have found out about all of this when Mike and Sarah were refused entry in Dublin or Edinburgh.
And that's the news for today. We think of all of our family and friends often and miss everybody. Sarah especially misses her school and her best friend Nika.
Love,
margo
posted by Margo Nelson at 12:49 pm
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