This week has been full of emotions for me. From elation and excitement to sinking depression to nagging, terrible stress to relief and excitement again. I feel an obligation to write this post as a cautionary tale to those planning to fly out and don't know what I've learned.
I'm really excited about our trip around Southeast Asia that's coming up in September. So usually when I have a few spare minutes, I start researching things to do in the places we'll go and booking hostels and writing down things. I was working on Cambodia Sunday night, and it was sometime after I read about the fried tarantulas (not on my bucket list but that's cool) that I stumbled across some information. Someone in a forum advised to make sure you are able to get a Cambodian visa. With google's help, I realized that you need an extra 6 or more months on your passport from the date of entry in order to get into the country. "Oh no," I thought. "My visa expires in January! How fast can I get it renewed!"(google google) "Oh okay. I have enough time to do it after we get back from Bali in a week and a half. Phew." Then I thought about it and wondered who else might have this random, arbitrary rule.
The answer? ... All of them.
All of the countries we're visiting (in fact most of the world's vacation destinations it looks like) require at least 6 months left on your passport before it expires if you're visiting. Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand... Indonesia. Indonesia. I hurriedly checked the expiry date on my passport again. January 15th. We arrive on the 27th. I was off by 12 days. Seth and I then spent a good hour in forums and government websites checking and double and triple checking the rules with other people's experience, and yes, this is a real thing, and yes, they are usually pretty strict about it. If we don't meet validity requirements, we could be turned away from the plane before boarding or worse, sent back to Korea as soon as we got into Denapasar, a 7-hour flight one way. The next hour was spent trying to figure out how to get a valid US passport in less than a week while you're out of the country. If we were in the States, the whole thing could have been fixed in 24-48 hours, of course for a price but nevertheless done. But as most experiences in Korea, it's not so straightforward here. I had to get to Seoul by Friday to see if I could convince them that I needed an emergency passport. I made an appointment at the Embassy and apologized to my boss in advance for not being able to come to work that day. The most information I found on the internet was that I had to prove I was flying in the subsequent 72 hours. An email from the embassy said they could not guarantee anything and I would have to show up at my appointment to "explain" my "need for travel."
I was pretty terrified of what might happen at the Embassy. In my head, I saw a judgy officer shaking his head and rolling his eyes at a desk saying "This isn't an emergency. You just want to go on vacation. You should have KNOWN about the visa requirements, and it's not our fault you didn't. Emergency passports are given for things like a death in the family, a medical situation or other dire circumstances. You're wasting valuable American time." (With a disgusted expression) "There's nothing I can do for you."
The Patrice in my head then countered/pleaded: "I haven't had a vacation in 8 months. I swear I would have done this earlier the right way if I'd known. I didn't want to go on an 8-hour round trip in the middle of the week (sacrificing valuable gym time notwithstanding)! This was my only choice given the emount a time I had. I could have gotten it done much easier if I was on US soil. Please help me out." And then I start to cry pitifully while the officer goes over my paperwork with a pessimistic face.
But actually my experience was almost downright pleasant. The US Embassy website says it is their main responsibility to serve American citizens abroad and they are not joking. I spent the night in a nearby hotel and when I walked there in the morning I found a long, tall concrete building which was not what I picture when I hear "embassy" at ALL. It was not beautiful. There were at least 100-200 Koreans lined up around it for visas. Above them every several meters was a sign that read: "American Citizens do not wait in this line. Go to the front of the line." So I got to walk past ALL the people standing in the rain and a nice old man brought me to the front. I went through security and checked my phone at the door, then walked in. Apparently this wasn't the area into which all the Koreans were being admitted because the room was completely empty -- they had just opened. I was told to grab a number at a machine and waited for a window to open. In the 15 minutes I had before my appointment, people started trickling in and I got to warn another American about the passport thing, which surprised him too. He was there to get a notarization, which they also do there. Finally my number was called. I walked to a window, said I needed an emergency limited validity passport and handed them all the paperwork including my flight itinerary. The woman checked the information and sent me to a payment window. I paid $110 and then eventually got called to another window where I had to take an oath that everything I said would be true. Not sure what I testified to, but in any case I nearly left having accomplished nothing. The man told me he could give me a passport with 6 months validity, and I thought, "hmm that's funny. It's not a year." Then I walked away. Then I ran BACK to the window and said, "Wait, my passport will be valid for 6 months from TODAY?" "... yes." "Okay. I need it to be valid for six months from Sunday. That's when I enter the country." "Oh, I'm pretty sure I can extend it another month or two. Good catch," said the window man.
I was called back to the window about 20 minutes later to find my new friend had kept my new passport valid for 10 months! That was awesome. Then, noticing it was thin, "Oooh. I see this only has 6 pages... hmmm that's not enough for my travels around Southeast Asia..." I said, pushing my luck. He said they don't let you add pages to these passports. Damn. So when I get back from Bali I have to send in my new passport and get another one. But that's OK. At least I know where I'm going this weekend! Denpasar, watch out! You're about to get Patty-Teacher/Sesse-Teacher-stormed. Back to Seoul I go in 40 hours.
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