Hello, Hello, Hello! It is I, the elusive author and Protagonist. I am alive! Sane, on the other hand, is always debatable. You may be asking yourself, "As a therapist shouldn't you be sane?" Yes and no, I answer. I mean, you have to be a little insane to enjoy doing this job but sane enough to talk to people and make sense, while slightly insane to relate to the world, but don't forget relatively sane to be credible : ). Did that answer your question? Good! Moving on!
It has been a hell of a ride since our last Chapter in November?! We are currently waiting on our visa approval and getting crazier by the day. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am thoroughly over everything; not even my annoyingly lovable joy over Christmas could shake me out of it.
So if I can stay focused enough, I plan to give you visa updates and new info while simultaneously transporting you into the story of our antics. Where to begin? Ummmm crap. FOCUS TIFFANY!!! Yes, that's better! Last we left, we had our appointment for our Visas and were waiting. We were feeling pretty optimistic since I included everything but the kitchen sink and was hearing about pretty quick turnarounds.
We Got an Email!!! Oh Crap
While we are waiting to get approved I am of course stalking every Portugal Facebook page I can to get any info/timelines on Visa processing time. This was the best and worst thing I could do. On a helpful note it helped me determine realistic expectations and timelines on the other hand it gave me complete confusion and frustration (see what I mean about the sane, insane game).
Let me throw some info at ya. All of the consulates apparently have different efficiency levels. Currently, DC is the fastest with some people literally getting theirs in 5 days. New York is messed up right now and taking months for people to get their Visas. San Francisco the one I went through tends to fall somewhere in the middle. This is where the fun starts.
The timelines literally fluctuate between "We had our appointment in September and have heard nothing to," "oh my gosh had my appointment 6 days ago and got my stamped Visa." To further complicate things it's not even consistent based on consulate! So here we are congratulating the 5 dayers (trying not to be a dick but slightly hate you at that moment a little) and giving condolences to the people waiting months (trying not to have a nervous breakdown going what is that happens to us).
Eureka! I think I finally cracked the code! I start to notice that everyone who has a departure date before Christmas or New Year is getting theirs streamlined no matter when they turned it in (nothing like getting penalized for booking your appointments far out in advance). We shushed the Grinch in us and said ok cool, they are going based on flight date which makes sense and we should have ours by our flight January 5th. Silly woman why would this process be logical or make sense? Have we not learned from the Spain hell?
SOOOOOOOO I waited super long to finish this post with holidays, sickness, work, etc. I have a way better post to write now and can't see me finishing this and writing a new one. Attack of the ADHD. Also to fill our time I may have become obsessively hooked to Runescape along with the fam and have been doing that way more than anything productive (It's the best but be wary if you have obsessive tendencies). Due to all that I am just going to fly by and get you ready for my newest pot which I will get out ASAP.
In short, we got an email that said we should expect to hear back from SEF until January 20th and would need to reschedule our Jan 5th flight. We got a flight credit and agreed to not book anything until Visas were in hand. I emailed them around Jan 20th and was told to expect likely another week.......To be continued mwhahahaha
02/01/2022