Visas

This morning I was thinking about the differences between the two tours I booked for April. The first, through Geckos was canceled. The second, through Intrepid is a day shorter with a slightly different itinerary. Something was bugging me about the Intrepid trip, so I pulled out the trip notes. Good thing I did!

With my first trip I would have crossed from Jordan into Egypt overland. It would have most likely been a fairly painless, simple process. See guard at border crossing. Pay money. Get visa. Done.

However, with the Intrepid tour, I'll be entering Egypt via Ferry at the port of Nuweiba. You wouldn't think this makes much of a difference, but apparently it does! Nuweiba is moderately difficult to enter Egypt through and it is STRONGLY recommended that tourists attain travel Visas prior to arrival.

Blast.

So I started researching visas. I figured that I would go ahead and get both a Jordanian and an Egyptian Visa ahead of time and just save any hassle. I've never been to the Middle East before and I'd like to avoid any possible problems ahead of time. After all, it is the Middle East. You've heard horror stories about dark prisons and torture. So have I. I want that visa and I want it now.

Well, the whole visa process was a bit confusing: Do I need to go through the US Department of State? Do I contact Egypt's consulate for it? HOW do I do this? (The answers: No, Yes and painfully!)

Turns out there are several ways to get visas for foreign travel. You can go through a service company to get them. They'll secure them quickly and efficiently, but it will cost you a pretty penny. ($50-$150 per visa) For me, given that I still have about a month before departure, I will try to get my visas from both the Jordanian and Egyptian consulates in the US, at my nearest branch (San Francisco). They'll each cost around $15 US.

Sounds easy enough, right?
Please.
I'm just getting started.

You can either apply in person at the respective consulate you want a visa from or mail your passport, form, fee (money order or cashier's check specifically) and a return envelope to them. I figure if I have to go to the trouble of getting a money order at the post office, I might as well just mail my passport and forms and save the trouble of trip(s) into San Francisco to the Consulates (Which are only open M-F, 10am to 2pm, closed from 12-12:30 for lunch, which means I'd have to take time off from work to go...)

So, because I have to mail the passport with my visa application, I can only mail my passport to one Consulate at a time. Because the Egyptian visa is the most important visa to secure, I'll start with that one. Then, time permitting, I'll either mail in my Jordanian application or take it in personally.

(This is a pain! But I'm betting the Pyramids will be well worth it. Seriously, why isn't traveling everywhere as easy as traveling to the UK/EU?)

So today on my lunch break I ventured over to the post office with my completed application, recent photograph stapled to the assigned spot on the page. Outer envelope addressed and ready to go. Needed to purchase the inner return envelope as I didn't have a smaller one to stuff inside the big one. Grabbed it at the post office, addressed it and proceeded to fill out millions of forms to send both envelopes Certified Mail. (After all, I'm MAILING my PASSPORT... Just the thought of that makes me hyperventilate a little bit. Do you know how much those things go for on the black market? Not that I do. Or that I know anything about the black market... But you know, you hear things.)

Check, check, check. I ticked off the things I needed to do for this somewhat complicated procedure. Wait, I really did need a check. Or more specifically, a money order (or a cashier's check, but I was at the post office, not the bank, so Money Order). So I said to the Postal Worker (who, by the way, was very confused by all of the multiple envelopes and steps to my procedure) "One Money Order, please!" And she said "Okay" and I handed her my credit card and she frowned and I wondered why she was frowning. "Cash, check or debit card only for Money Orders."

Blast.
I have all of those things, you know. But being that I was on my lunch break and didn't want to travel around with my garhugic purse I only grabbed one credit card before setting off for the bank.
So I paid for my envelopes, postage and certified mail fees and retracted my passport-laden package from the postal worker, took it with me and went back to work to get my debit card.

Being that I am me and easily distracted, I sat down at my desk and began working again. A few hours later I looked at my desk and spied the still-unmailed envelope, grabbed it and hoofed it the four blocks back to the post office.

This time I got my Money order. Stuffed it in the envelope. Made sure my passport was in the envelope and got the whole shenanigan mailed. So there.

I'm only hyperventilating a little bit.

Can I have my passport back please?