So, you're in Bahrain and looking to go to India?
Awesome!
This won't be any trouble at all! You just go down to the embassy and...um...wait, you don't?
Well hold on for one minute...why is that?
Actually, let me start from the beginning. And as the Mad Hatter said: "Once I get to the end, stop. Or make stupid jokes for a few more lines so you feel like you've written enough. Either"
But don't quote me on that quote.
I am trying to take a group of students to India on what can only be called a mission of peace and love.
Now, this is pure volunteer on our part, so no one is getting paid. Okay, strike that - there is one group getting paid like is the first of the month.
I signed up for this trip with a co-worker back in September. It sounded great! We would get to miss a week of work and we would travel to Romania and tour a lot of the sites I had always wanted to see. I would be a way to get a mini trip and do some good for a local school in need of some help.
Great! I am sooooo in!
Now, the more observant of you will notice that I spelled India as
R-O-M-A-N-I-A. There is a reason for this.
BECAUSE I WAS TOLD WE WERE GOING TO ROMANIA.
You know...the land of Vlad and...well...trees and junk, I suppose!
That is California clever, right there...
After I put pen to paper and signed on for this, the reality began to slowly come into focus. The Romania idea was an idea.
The missing work thing? At least that still was a defini...oh? Okay then. We would not be missing any work. In fact, we would have to give up our vacation to go to Not-Romania.
So where would we go?
I bet you think I spoiled it by saying "India" earlier?
Wrong! You are so wrong!
It is Sri Lanka!
Well, that is okay - a really nice country. But, ya know, I just took a trip there and I would like to go somewhere else.
Oh good the trip isn't going to pan out. Our last option is India?
Let's go to India! YEAH!
I would really like to go to Not-Roma...I mean India.
This is actually true, I would like to go to India. It is a beautiful country with a lot of history and natural allure. I am okay with this. We get locked in - India, here we come!
Oh...not yet? Okay...
We first have to get our personal visas before we can get the visas for our group. I look it up online and this should be easy.
I went to the Indian Embassy website, and within 5 minutes had the name of the place we should go to get our visas done. I tried to call with no answer. Odd, but probably just a lunch break.
So I figured I would ask our visa contact. We were paying a professional "non-profit" group to handle the details like this. We were paying the, a lot and they would soon become a little...worrisome. A few days later the response came through - it was meandering and completely avoided the question. But I did learn that where I thought I had to go was not the right place.
I AM SURE THAT LAST COMMENT WON'T BE RELEVANT LATER ON IN THE BLOG.
I won't list their name here because we haven't been on the ground with them, but as yet I am not impressed with our well-paid trip advisors.
We have put down an ENORMOUS amount of money to this group, and in return they have attempted to put our young group in photoshopped and mosquito ridden hotels, consistently take multiple days to respond to anything other than money issues, and their visa "team" is a guy who knows how to send out one choppy and confusing form email.
But that can be overcome by just doing it ourselves. So I pepper the embassy with calls. After 4 days of no answer, I finally get someone not from the visa office and am told to call a specific number and they will help with my visa.
27 calls according to my work phone. 0 answers over the course of a week. But it was still early...and, as always...
HOW TOUGH COULD IT BE!?
I mean, look at the new embassy! Let's just drive there and get this done!
IT IS GLOOOORIOUS!
I bet we just wheel on over there and drop our forms, get the information on how to get a group visa for our students, and BAM! Off we go to Jaipur, India!
What's that?
That ISN'T the Indian Embassy?
IT IS...NOT BUILT-IOUS!
Okay, so let me get this straight - there is no Indian Embassy in Bahrain?
But don't worry! In a country where a large majority of expats are Indian in nationality there has to be an easy way!
So, I ask around and there is a stroke of GREAT LUCK!
My co-worker knows a place that issues visas in Riffa...we live in Riffa! This will be a snap!
Just get directions to the Indian Embassy Visa building and...
What, you don't see it?
It is right there next to CARROTS! Turkish Delivery and a muffler repair shop.
So we go to this hole in a wall...and when I say that it isn't a saying. This was a wall with a rectangle cut out of it, and some chairs next to a PC that I would have thought was old 20 years ago.
Of course, we had to wait to get into the wall - from 1 to 4 pm there is a break. But promptly at 4 the metal gate slides up and we are told they don't do visas anymore.
Our question of "Why?" was met with a shoulder shrug. They told us about a place in Manama that may be able to help us.
Okay, TOMORROW IS THE DAY! YEAH! THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN!
I get my directions, I plan my route, I time my trip...all lights are go!
We pull up to the Bab Al Bahrain souk and a few unanswered phone calls and Google Maps and a wing and a prayer later, we are there! The place called *** Travel, (once again, they are just doing their jobs so no need to be specific)
We crawl through the mall, past the sports store and the kitsch shop with US license plates decorating the walls - past the 5 other travel shops and the pet store that is completely empty except for a guy behind a desk - and the security guard who was helpful enough to point us in the right direction...and was in the exact same spot an hour later.
No idea how he did that.
Anyway, we were there! Not what I expected, but we are there!
We wait for maybe 5 minutes as we watch the guy in a t-shirt direct the table full of Indian nationals how to fill out paperwork. We get to the counter and the t-shirt guy takes our applications and passports, promptly hands them back and says they don't do visas here.
After a nice, long shared look of murderous intent, my co-worker and I inquire where might be the place that, in fact, does do visas is located.
At another travel company.
REALLY!? I AM NOT DRIVING ALL OVER THIS ISLAND ON A WILD GOOSE CHAoh it is right next door? Thank you!
So in we walk into what can only be described as a 5 star travel agency. Considering it was right next to a one-star-if-we-round-up agency, this was a good upgrade!
We commented on how nice it smelled. The guy replied, "You just came from next door. Anything would smell better."
Nice.
We asked about the shop in Riffa. Well, turns out that was about as illegal a processing shop as you could operate and we should probably keep our distance as it is still a bit of a no-no for legally obtaining your visas.
We hand our paperwork in, and after trying desperately to keep our agent focused through talks about Texas and Dish Network Customer Support, we left with a receipt and an assurance we would have our entry visas for India within a few days. We left our passports happily and raced back to work.
In the end it was simple.
In the end it was quite easy.
I am sure there are people who have had no trouble at all finding and getting a visa within a few hours. I sit here, a day later and a few hours wiser, and I reflect on how easy this actually was.
It would have been much more easily done IF I HAD JUST GONE TO THE PLACE I FOUND IN THE FIRST PLACE INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO SOMEONE ELSE.
I told you earlier that would be relevant. You probably thought I would forget.
So now I wait. Not a lot of pictures in this entry to protect the innocent and because I didn't think about it til now.
No backsies.
