Tag Archives: flights

We Are Going To Florida Next Week

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We are going to Florida next week to see my two daughters, which is the only chance I get to see them every year, and as usual I am beginning to panic slightly.

As well as wanting to make sure that everything goes perfectly, gone are the days when I used to travel regularly for work, knew exactly what I needed to take, what clothing to pack etc.  The older I get, the more forgetful I get, the more aware I am of having A.D.D., and the more I fret about forgetting something important.

As well as the obvious items like passports, flight and car rental bookings etc, it’s things like the cameras and MP3 Player, making sure that these are charged, clothing, making sure I pack the right things.

Silly to fret about some of these things I know, but with money being tight I can’t afford to buy replacement items while we are away, and I can feel myself really finding it harder to remember things the last 3 or 4 years, which is worrying.

Even though our trip coincides with the Olympics in London, Delta for some reason are not flying direct between London and Miami for the summer, and so we have to change planes in Atlanta on the way out and Detroit on the way back.  A change of flight time has already forced us to leave Miami two hours early on the way back, and now we will have 4 1/2 hours in Detroit, which we are not looking forward to, especially as it will be late evening.

My other worry is whether Debbie will get held up in Immigration.  She is usually ok unless it’s Miami, where she always gets pulled over, even though she now has a 10 year visa in her passport. It’s a long story, but an interesting one that you can read about HERE if you have time.

But hopefully all will go well, and we are staying at the same condo in Hollywood Beach that we stayed at last summer. I know Hollywood pretty well, and we know the condo too, so that makes me more confident that it will be a good trip.

I am really looking forward to seeing my daughters, and will tell you all about it when we return mid August. If you want to see where we are staying and to read about last year’s holiday, it’s all HERE.

Holiday, Boxing Day, New Year & Winter Flights Sale at CheapOair.com

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CheapOair has announced Super Savings on all Holiday, Boxing Day, New Year & Winter flights.

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Traffic Chaos For Christmas

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british-airwaysI suppose that we should be grateful for some things when it comes to travel, especially at Christmastime.

When I booked our flights to Florida for Christmas some weeks ago, there were no direct flights to be had from London, well at least not for the sort of price that anyone but the most desperate would be prepared to pay.   Two weeks ago I just happened to look and see what was available, and for the same price, there were direct flights from London to Miami and back with British Airways, leaving at a better time and best of all arriving in Miami 5 hours before we are due to land, which makes a big difference when travelling on Christmas Eve.

So I was a little frustrated to find that we could have had better flights, especially for the same price, but then yesterday the news was filled with the story of British Airways staging a strike for the Twelve Days Of Christmas, which is going to cause traffic chaos and grief for many thousands of travellers worldwide.   I am just so grateful now that we are traveling with American Airlines, who seem to have had few strikes over the years, and on all the flights that I have had with them, which some years were as many as 80, I rarely had a problem.

The news last night was full of stories of people who were set to fly with British Airways on honeymoon, or to see family and friends for Christmas, or who booked other once in a lifetime holidays, and now those dreams have been shattered, thanks to the thoughtless employees at British Airways.

I do sympathise with the fact that the employees have grievances, but I am never sympathetic when anyone does something that inconveniences thousands of people.   I know that if I suffered with cancelled flights due to something like this, I would be highly unlikely to travel with that airline again, so to add to their financial problems, I would imagine that British Airways are going to feel the pinch a lot more in the coming year, as passengers switch to other airlines.

So far our plans for Christmas are going ok, but we are both still concerned about getting through immigration without a problem, after Debbie’s experiences last time, and of course with it being winter you never know when old man weather is going to play his trump card either.

Do you have any travel experiences or horror stories to share?  We would love to hear about them…

Our Christmas Trip Is Finally Coming Together

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If you are a subscriber to our blog or a regular reader, you will know that whan I moved back to the UK from Florida at the end of July, I had to leave my two daughters behind (with their Mom), and since I am missing them terribly, like all Dads do, we decided to try and spend Christmas in Florida to I can at least see them for a week.

The problem with going to Florida over Christmas though is that this is high season, the time when flights and accommodation are at their highest prices, and also at their scarcest.

In the wintertime, South Florida is full of people from the East Coast of the USA and Canada, the “snowbirds” as they are known.   Some snowbirds spend a good three months in Florida to escape the bitterly cold winters up north, while others just visit for one or two weeks.  If you go to the beaches in South Florida over the Christmas period and look at the licence plates of the cars, at least 2/3rds of them if not more are from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and in the Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale area too from Quebec and Toronto.   Just listen to the conversations on the people on the beach too, and the all too familiar Hispanic voices are replaced by New York twangs and even more so by Canadian French.

Last week after much searching for a decent route at a decent price, we bit the bullet and purchased our flights.  The price was high, but not as much as we could have ended up paying.  It was actually cheaper than it cost to get Debbie over to Florida for Christmas two years ago, but we also don’t have direct flights, which I hope is not going to be a problem.   When taking a multi-leg flight, you need to allow for delays in schedule, and inbound to the USA as well for delays in immigration, where Debbie has already had issues, her last trip to Miami resulting in her being stuck in immigration for 15 hours!   But hopefully we will be ok this time, since we have a 3 hour layover in Raleigh/Durham before catching our flight down to Miami, and I also now have my USA Passport, which ought to help.

Last night we also bit the bullet and booked a place to stay.  It’s not a luxurious hotel or resort, it’s a typical family owned motel on Hollywood Beach, and although it cost a lot it will hopefully work out best for us.   The few reviews that we managed to find for the motel sounded more good than bad.  There is no pool or hot tub, it’s above several restaurants so it could be noisy at night, but it is right on the boardwalk and we will be able to eat and walk along the beach at night, instead of being stuck in a hotel away from the beach in the evenings.

There really were not many choices for hotels unfortunately, since prices are sky high, and most places are already fully booked.  Left are the hotels close to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, those on the interstate, and some high and low end places that are either too expensive or in a bad neighborhood.  Of the three places on the beach, one was $250 a night, way out of our price range, a second was $100 a night but in the middle of being renovated and with some horrible reviews.  The place we picked was about the only choice.

My biggest fear is that because we don’t land in Miami until 9:30pm on Christmas Eve, is that everything will be closed, and it will be 11pm at the earliest before we get to where we are staying.  Since few places open in Florida on Christmas Day, we could end up without any essentials like bread, milk, juice etc for a day.  However staying right on the beach, there ought to be some shops and restaurants open at least.  It’s going to be a different Christmas with no turkey and trimmings I am sure, but hopefully a good one.   Getting up on Christmas Day is going to be tough, since by the time we get to bed it will already be 5am UK time or later!  Probably a good day to just spend relaxing on the beach or the terrace.

Now we need to find a good deal on a rental car, which I hope is easier to sort out.  There appear to be plenty of choices at least from all the car rental companies, but even that is expensive.  I must remember to use my AAA (equivalent of AA/RAC in the UK) discount to save some money, but since we will be taking the girls out we need to have transport.  

I doubt that we will be spending many days on the beach, but at least we will be right there in the evenings, plenty of opportunities for walking, either on the boardwalk (promenade) or along the waters edge.

So wish us luck!  Hopefully the flights, immigration process, accommodation and weather all work in our favour.  Will post updates and photos later, also a video or two maybe…

I’m Back In The UK

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Finally I am back in the UK and with my Debbie after more than 3 months apart, way too long for both of us.

After many evenings of packing that frequently went beyond midnight, I finished packing about 1am on Wednesday, with the alarm set for 3:45am to give me enough time to get out and catch my flight in Miami at 8:30am.   I had a quick webcam chat with Debbie, showered and packed the last of my things, said goodbye to Tim my landlord with whom I have become very good friends, and drove down the highway to the train station in Hollywood where I had arranged to leave my car to be picked up.

I lugged my bags (2 to be checked in, my laptop bag and a backpack) up in the elevator, across the bridge, down the other side, and then realized the ticket machines were over the other side.  Fortunately the platform was almost empty, and the only person close to me asked if I was English – turns out he came over to Florida from Birmingham 10 years ago.  So I took a chance and left my 2 big bags where they were and legged it up the stairs, across the bridge, down across the other side, where I purchased my ticket.  Then it was back up across and down, by which time I was completely soaked in sweat.   Despite the fact that it was only 5:30am, the temperature was in the mid 80′s and it was extremely humid.  It took me most of the way to Miami before I cooled off.

The shuttle from the train station dropped me about 1/3 of the way along the terminals in the airport, but of course as luck would have it, United are in the new terminal at the far end, so I had to lug my bags well over 1/4 mile to check them in.  It was rather cool in the airport, and by this time I was desperate to go to the  bathroom, plus I was nervous in case my bags were overweight and I would have to repack or dump some things out.  However, I got checked in pretty quick, was within the weight limit, and got through the security without any problems either.

I had plenty of time to wait for the plane, managed to call Debbie to let her know I had checked in, called Tim as I had remembered I left a drawer of dirty laundry (the result of packing too late at night), and called my daughters before they went off to their swimming lessons.

Under normal circumstances I would have caught an evening flight direct to London, however direct flights at the end of July were about $1,000 and multiple legs weren’t much cheaper.  Debbie fortunately found a flight for $406 through Vayama, a company like Priceline, that offers discounted travel but you don’t find out the route until you purchase.  Fortunately with Vayama having purchased you have an hour to cancel, which swayed me over to trying this out.  I knew the flight left Miami at 8:30am and I didn’t get into London until 6:30am the following morning, but other than knowing it was 2 planes, I had no idea where my connection point would be.  The last thing I wanted was to fly to some place out west and have a short connection time, which might mean spending a day in some god-forsaken spot that I didn’t want to be.   I was lucky however, in that the flight from Miami went direct to Dulles (Washington DC) where I had a 7 hour layover before my flight to London.

The first flight went very smoothly, and there was plenty of legroom too.   In Washington I wandered around the terminals to try and find somewhere reasonable to eat, since by this time (midday) I was feeling a bit peckish.  The terminals are connected by shuttle buses, that look like lounges on wheels and drive all over the airport.    Having covered the rest of the terminals, I found out that the majority of the restaurants are in the terminal that I hadn’t covered.  Of course, the shuttle dropped me at gate 3, and the restaurant I wanted to eat at, Max & Erma’s was at gate 72, a good 1/4 mile hike at least!   I was hungry, but I also had a throbbing headache, which could be stress, tiredness and also the humidity.  I thought a good warm meal might help that.     I opted for a starter of Tortilla Soup, which wasn’t bad, then a Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries.  Not the healthiest item on the menu, but I really wanted something warming and filling, and it hit the spot.  That and 4 glasses of iced tea, which helped replenish the water I had sweat out so far.

I still had 5 more hours to kill in the airport before my next flight, and saw on one of the shuttles that I could take a bus to the Smithsonian Museum for 50cents, and there was free admission too.  On another day I would have jumped at this opportunity, but right then all I needed was to sit and try to relax before the next flight.    I found a seat close to the gate where my plane was due to depart from,  powered on the laptop, and settled down to watch a movie.  I selected “Miracle At Santa Ana” which turned out to be a WWII movie set in Italy with a company of Buffalo Soldiers.  Not a bad movie, but it helped kill 2 1/2 hours.   I had forgotten to copy any movies onto my flash drive before I packed my external hard drive away, so other than the movie all I had was a 1972 Genesis concert.  This got some strange looks from people sitting close, since back then the costumes and stage act from Peter Gabriel were rather odd to say the least.

I did get a lot of amusement from the fact that there was a small glass sided area set aside in the lounge for smokers with about 15 seats.  Not only were most of the seats taken most of the time, but often it was standing room only, with the occupants puffing and dragging away on their cigarettes like their life depended on it.  Really quite funny, but at the same time sad.

My 6pm flight to London Heathrow boarded on time, and I was very pleased to find that I had an Economy Plus seat with extra legroom.  All that for a bargain price, woo-hoo!   However, instead of landing 30 minutes early as we were supposed to, we ended up delayed an hour and a half due to bad weather in the Philadelphia area, which caused air traffic control to stop the take-off of any flights in the area for a while.   But eventually we got under way, and had a smooth flight.   Food wasn’t bad, with curried chicken to eat, and a quick snack for breakfast, and in between a few hours sleep while I listened to some of my favorite songs on my new MP3 player.  I also ended up sitting next to a lady from Fort Lauderdale who was originally from Devon and on her way back there for a visit, so we chatted for quite a while before we headed off to sleep.

Since I was supposed to arrive 30 minutes early and ended up landing over an hour late, Debbie was there to greet me, and I got the most wonderful hugs and kisses, two things that she excels at.  A little more than an hour later and we were home, where I had a much needed shower and cleaned up, then some yummy bacon rolls and off to bed.  We were both really tired, since I had hardly slept for two nights, and Debbie had to get up as well by 4am.

Well two days and lots of sleep later and I was feeling more human and also adjusting to the time difference in the UK.   I will update more on my adventures back in the UK in my future posts.  If you would like to be receive posts automatically, why not Register with us, we promise no spam and will keep your email addresses private.

And so the frustration continues

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Great.  After all the frustrations of the last few weeks… weeks?  Who am I kidding?  MONTHS… Tony is stranded at Atlanta airport due to a flight delay.

When we planned this trip, obviously cost was more of an influencing factor than usual.  So we decided on a stop over rather than a direct flight as it was so much cheaper.

First leg was Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta with a one hour ten stop over before boarding the second flight to Gatwick, UK.   Just about enough time to make the connection with a few minutes to spare.  However, the first flight was delayed by 45 minutes.  Great.  So Tony, along with another 20 or so passengers making the same journey, were boarded anyway.  They arrived at Atlanta around the same time as the Gatwick flight took off.

Now I’ve been on flights across to the UK where we’ve been boarded and then told we were waiting for other passengers from a delayed flight… and we waited and waited.  I think it was almost two hours we waited.  But Did Delta do that?  NO!!!  They boarded passengers in Fort Lauderdale fully aware that there was no way they’d make their connections.  But did Delta hold the connecting flight so the 20 or so passengers could make it?  NO!  So it took off right on time.

But wait, there’s a later flight going out of Atlanta… but it was fully booked.  The airline staff at the desk kept Tony, and others, waiting for over an hour while they sorted things out.  No hotel offered as the delay was due to the weather but they did kindly give him some food vouchers for his 24 hour stay at the airport. 

Another passenger suggested they ask to be put on standby for the later flight.  This wasn’t actually suggested by the airline.  So they found another desk, asked to be put on standby for the 10.10pm flight.  That was delayed due to the cleaning crew apparently.  A third of the passengers hadn’t turned up (probably delayed from another flight)  so things were looking hopeful.  But no, due to the delay, they arrived and were boarded.  At the last minute, someone who had put their name down before Tony, was in the process of being handed a first class ticket as there had been a no show.  Just as he was about to board, in walked a woman who was VERY late for her flight, no apology and that was the last seat taken.  So the other passenger was then given a hotel voucher for the night and off he went.

Tony then resigned himself to the fact that he was stranded for the night.  He left home at 10 am saturday morning and it was now 11pm at night and the next available flight is 5.20 pm Sunday evening.  That arrives at 7am (local time) Monday morning  in the UK.  He’ll have been travelling for 48 hours by the time he gets here.

I spoke to him this morning, which was around 3.30 am for him.  He was cold, thanks to the air con pumping out all night although he had found a nice armless bench to lay on.  The lights were all blazing away and the TV’s were all left on.  If that wasn’t enough to keep him awake, some cleaners and security officers reguarly walked past talking or laughing at the tops of their voices just to make sure no-one got any sleep.

Although he has his laptop with him, there’s no free access at the airport and currently he’s refusing to pay for it.  We’ll see how desperate he gets through the day.

So there we have it.  Another frustration to add to the long list.  Today we should have been having a relaxing day together.  Instead, Tony is exhausted and stranded and I’m sat here worrying.  It would have been a nice easy drive to collect him from the airport this morning.  Now, I’ll be driving up and back in rush hour traffic and trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near London in Monday morning traffic.  I’ve also had to speak to my boss as I’m not going to be here for the start of my working day. 

I hope Tony does eventually get some sleep on the flight back tonight but I doubt it.  So tomorrow he’ll crash when he gets here and then it’ll take him days to get over his jet lag.  Thank goodness he’s not here just for one week.

So, would the person, persons, Gods, long gone ancestors, spirits in the sky, fate or Karma, whatever/whoever you are, please stop testing us… we want to be together, Ok?  Live with it!

I GOT MY USA VISA!!!!

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Well, it finally arrived!

Four whole months after my interview at the US Embassy in London, and the help of my M.P. (Member of Parliament), this arrived:

Please be advised that we are now in a position to issue your US Visa. Please resubmit your passport to us for visa issuance. Note that you have three months from the date indicated above in which to resubmit your passport.

Three months?  It was on it’s way the next day!!  Of Course, this email was quickly followed with:

We regret the delay in responding to your inquiry. We have been waiting for information on your case from the Non-Immigrant Visa Unit.

Why the wait?  Where have they been?

I have to say, I’ve been appalled at the way this has been handled. This all started to go wrong when Tony and I decided to ‘do things properly’ and get a Non-Immigrant USA Visa to allow my to visit to the USA for a year. How often do you get the opportunity to have a whole year off work to spend in another Country?

At my first interview, I was asked questions about Tony that I simply didn’t know the answer to… why would I know what his social security number is? The consular officer that interviewed me obviously had a hunch that she wasn’t comfortable with and so denied me the visa.

As the Chief Immigration Officer at Miami quite rightly summed it up ‘ I was denied a visa because some A**H*** was having a bad day’ Some bad day. Some bad day that took away my only chance to have a year out. Some bad day that caused me to be held for 15 hours at immigration. Some bad day that left Tony stood in arrivals all night long not knowing what was happening. Some bad day that cost us in changing flights and re-applying for interviews. Some bad day that my employer went to a lot of trouble for and then did it all over again so I could return to work early. Some bad day that meant I had to find somewhere new to live from 4500 miles away. Some bad day that worried my kids, my parents, my friends not to mention Tony and myself. Some bad day that meant I couldn’t even go through the United States in transit. Some bad day that meant Tony and I couldn’t spend time together last week when I had the week off work.

I hope she doesn’t have another bad day any time soon. I appreciate the authorities have to be very careful over who they approve for visa’s, but when you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, have a government job for which your criminal record has to be checked reguarly, meet all the required criteria, have documentation to prove you intend to return and funds to support yourself, why does it come down to someone’s gut feeling? A gut feeling that left me almost having a nervous breakdown.

A gut feeling that will leave me feeling sick every time I travel to the United States in the future. A gut feeling that will almost give me a panic attack as I go through immigration and see those men in black waiting to check me out.

Surely the system isn’t right if it relies on gut feeling? Do these officials have any idea of the impact on people’s lives when they make these decisions? Her gut feeling was that I wanted to live in America. If that’s what I wanted, why bother going to all the trouble of getting a year off work?

Apologies for sounding angry, but somehow I feel I’m entitled to. Here’s something to make us all smile though – Funny Immigration Video I hope you enjoy it :)

Positive Vibes Needed Please!

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Debbie and TonyWell as some of  you may know, Tony lives in Florida and I live in the UK.   Over the last 18 months, I’ve done 6 trips over to Florida and Tony has made 2 to the UK.

Anyway, last summer we had the opportunity to spend a year together in Florida as I’d managed to get a years unpaid leave.  All I needed was a little document called a Visa to make it all possible.  I had my interview booked for early August and went armed with all the necessary documentation as stated on the US Embassy website.  I had proof of my intention to return, proof of finance, a place to stay… everything, or so I thought.

I was 100% confident that the visa was mine.  After all, there was no reason for me not to get it.  I’ve never broken the law or done anything wrong.  My job requires a CRB check (Criminal Records Bureau) reguarly or I don’t work, so I knew I was an ok person.

Imagine my horror at the interview when I was questioned about Tony… did I have his green card number?  What was his Social Security number?  Did I have his passport with me?  I was floored.  I’d put on my application that I would be staying at his address, so they wanted to check him out too.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of his documentation with me.  I had no idea that they’d want that.

When the consular officer said the words ‘I’m sorry but your application for a visa has been denied’ it was like the room span and I wasn’t hearing properly.  I was distraught.  I couldn’t understand why I’d been denied.  She explained that she didn’t believe I was a genuine tourist but could still travel under the visa waiver programme- that allows entry for up to 90 days.

So, after such a shock, I had to rearrange everything.  I’d given notice on my apartment and had to move out.  Flights had to be changed, which costs a fortune.  We changed my return to the end of October which was well within the 90 day limit.

However, after poking around on the net, I discovered it was more than likely that I’d be stopped by immigration at Miami and interviewed again.  It was highly likely that I could be denied entry and sent home on the next flight.  So, I took EVERY shred of documentation I had not only on myself, but on Tony too.

 A nine hour flight is bad enough, but when you know that you could be facing an interrogation  at the other end and then have to come straight back, it turns the flight into an ordeal.  To say I was an emotional wreck would be an understatement, but I had to appear calm on the outside as I knew immigration would try and pull me apart during questioning.

About 2/3rds of the way through the flight, it became obvious that there was a medical emergency on board the plane.  Unfortunately, an elderly gentleman suffered a heart attack and died during the flight.  Ok, so what’s this got to do with my situation?  Well, when we landed in Miami, of course all I wanted to do was get off the plane and get whatever was ahead of me over and done with.  But no, the authorities had other plans.  As it was a sudden death, the Police made the plane a crime scene whilst they conducted enquiries.  So there we were… a plane full of people already exhausted from the flight, with a dead body laid in the aisle, sat on the tarmac being held by the Police for an hour after the flight landed.

Eventually we were allowed to leave and I made my way to passport control and my heart was pounding.  I felt sick and was shaking all over.  As I expected, I was asked to step aside and wait for a colleague.  I was then taken to ‘secondary’ and told to sit and wait.  So I sat.  And I waited.  And I sat some more.  And waited some more.  There were approximately 75 people sitting and waiting with me and more people arriving all the time.  The officers at the desk although mostly polite, were obviously not the easiest of people to deal with. I also knew that Tony was sat in arrivals not knowing what on earth was happening, although he’d obviously expected for me to be questioned.

After 2 hours, I was called forward and asked a few standard questions.  Ok, I had the answers, but when the next 3 months of your life depends on the person in front of you and you’re aware that the whole waiting room can hear you, it’s difficult to speak clearly and consisely.

I’m not going to go into detail over what happened for the rest of the night…yes, you read correctly, the rest of the night.  Thankfully there was no latex glove action LOL!!  I was denied entry and then, thankfully, parolled in until the end of October.  I was held for 15 hours in total whilst they built a case to support my visa application.  The authorities were angry and embarrassed that they and I were in the situation we were because ‘some A** H*** having a bad day’ denied my visa application… oh, those were the words of the Chief Officer, not my own ;)

Before I left the UK, I’d already made an appointment for my next interview with the Embassy for shortly after my return.  Miami assured me that they’d made and supported a case record for me that would ensure me a visa.  As it stands now, as I’ve been denied a visa and subsequently denied entry, I am not allowed to travel to the States. 

When I was eventually released, I almost ran through the airport to the arrivals area where Tony had been waiting all night for me.  We’d been allowed a couple of short calls but it was very difficult to talk openly to him in front of officers.  We were both exhausted, cold and emotionally drained.  That experience took me a good 3 weeks to recover from before I could settle in Florida.

When I returned, I went for the second interview.  I’d already arranged to go back to work and found somewhere new to live.  I couldn’t risk being turned down again, and end up with no job for a year and nowhere to live.

When you go to the Embassy for an interview, although you’re given a time, you’re sent to sit in a waiting room with approx 3-400 other people.  And again you sit and you wait.  It was a very nerve jangling wait too.  I was eventually called and interviewed.  It was explained to me that the reason I had been previously denied was because the officer felt I wanted to live in America, despite the fact I had evidence of my intention to return.  I was told that further enquiries needed to be made into what Miami had prepared and I should hear in about two weeks.

Two weeks came and went, no news.  Meantime I’d returned to work, faced all the ‘poor you’ and ‘what’s happening now’ questions (they’re still going on actually).  When I checked the Embassy website, it clearly states you may not contact the Embassy for an update until 60 days have elapsed after the interview.

So Tony booked his flights and came to the UK for Christmas.  Whilst he was here, the 60 days had elapsed and I called the Embassy.  I was spoken to by a very rude person, who didn’t even take any details from me.  I was told to just wait.  It could take 8-16 weeks.  So when Tony went home, we had no idea when we’d see each other again.  It might not be until the summer when he comes back over.

Yesterday I got brave and called again.  This time I got through to a really nice man who took my details and was surprised that I’d not heard anything.  He asked me to email a certain department and gave me a new reference number.  His response suggested to me that a decision has been made.

So, the email is sent.  I received an automated reply saying it could take 3-4 days for a response.  So that’s why I need your positive vibes.  Theoretically, they have no reason to deny me.  In reality I know they can do whatever they like.  If I get the visa, I’ll fly out to Florida mid February, then April and late May as that’s when the school holidays are here and I work in education, so I get that time off.  If I don’t get it, then we wait til Tony can fly here in the summer.

Fingers crossed.

Added by Tony

And if Debbie doesn’t get a visa, since I get precious little time off in a year, we will not be able to see each other until July, which is unthinkable.   Thankfully these days we have webcams, email and cheap phone calls, but that is no substitute for being together.  Sure we can see each other and talk, but we can’t hug or kiss, go places together, and begin our lives together.  If you can imagine what’s it’s like at the weekend for example…  The weather could be perfect, there could be places to go, festivals, concerts, or even just walks in the country or along the beach, but you can’t do that when you aren’t together.  So many weekends have passed already when neither of us have had the desire to do anything because we are on our own.  And so one weekend after another drags slowly past, especially those long holiday weekends, and both of us are not getting any younger.

Any positive thoughts you can send out for us will be much appreciated.