The Visa Run Complete

 

Remember this pile of paper?  Well, its time to carry it to LA.

 

 In my quest for official sanction to be with My Heart, I have to play ball with the Austrians.  Specifically with my fine Austrian pals at the Consulate General in Los Angeles.  My new pals were desirous of my bio-metric data prior to deigning the issuance of my "D" visa for a six-month stint in Vienna.  Early Thursday morning I boarded my first flight of the day, from Seattle to LA, for my fifteen minute appointment.  By 9:30 AM I was in my crappy rental car crawling up The 405 to Wilshire Boulevard, West LA Baby!  I arrived two and a half hours early, but my pals bumped my appointment up and accepted my stack of documents, my passport and $109 US.  A few questions, the aforementioned fee, a completed FedEx return envelope (more on that later) and I was out the door, fist pumping celebrations in the privacy of the hallway.

My tasks seemingly complete, it was time for lunch.  Just across the street from the consulate was a taco joint and it was calling my name.  I had just tucked into a platter of fishy goodness wrapped in tortillas when my cel phone chirped.  Austrian Consulate flashed across the screen.  This will not be good thinks I to myself.  It was not.  Following the requirements of the Viennese authorities, we had registered my address in Vienna.  The Consulate folks took this to mean that I was already living in Vienna and this is against the rules.  The very firm voice on my phone informed me that I would have to unregister prior to being granted a visa.  Bummer.

I glumly finished my lunch, sent some sad messages to my Baby in Wien, and retired to a nearby cigar lounge for what should have been a celebratory stick to kill time until my 6 PM onward flight.  Okay, breath in, breath out, come up with a plan.  With a nine hour time difference, My Heart started booking an appointment with the magistrate in Wien.  We could do this.  They wouldn't keep us apart, would they?

Regardless, the trip must go on.  I was bound from LA to Tucson to see The Kid.  Back down The 405, I dropped off the car and headed into the maw of LAX and on to Tucson.  Another rental car and I was driving south, through the desert night to Green Valley AZ,  the home of the Maternal Unit.  Not my best day.  Goddamn Bureaucrats!  

Friday brought family interaction and some fast international footwork.  I called the Consulate in LA and explained that I needed a copy of my passport sent to me so I could get it to the magistrate in Wien.  

When the woman asked me my name I said "Etheridge, Marco Etheridge." 

"Oh, like Melissa Etheridge?"  

"Yes, like my cousin Melissa."  (yeah, like fourth cousin twice-removed.  I left that part out)

"You're related to Melissa Etheridge?  Wow, I love her!"

"Yes, she's great isn't she?"

"I'll make sure you get that copy.  Don't worry about this, everything is going to be okay."

Ten minutes later I had an email with a bad PDF copy of my passport, which I quickly sent off to Wien along with the required de-registration form.  My Baby already had an appointment set up with the magistrate.  All we could do now was wait until Monday, Viennese Time.

Time for fun!  I headed back North to Tucson to fetch The Kid.  It had been over a year since I set eyes on the Genetic Envelope.  Joy! to see the two meter high offspring, newly bestowed with a UofA diploma.  All grown up he is and making me feel all bursting proud.  We dined on gourmet burgers followed by Tuscon's best java.  Then is was back down to Green Valley (neither green nor a valley) to endure (sorry Carol) some Grandma time before setting out on a road trip across southern Arizona.

Our destination, chosen by The Kid, was Bisbee, a mining town perched in the rocks of Southeast Arizona.  We poked along the two lane highways, avoiding US 10.  Well stocked with Grandma supplied provisions, we wandered through the tourist town of Tombstone and on towards Bisbee.  Ahead of schedule and needing to explore, we veered off of our route on AZ 90, dropping down out of the hills to the San Pedro Riparian area, a rare year-round river that runs North from the Mexican border.

The oasis of the San Pedro on a gorgeous winter day.

The tallness himself.

We enjoyed the afternoon along the river, watching a few birds, pushing a tumbleweed down the flow, messing about.  Then it was back on the road for the now short drive to Bisbee, home of the Copper Queen Mine.

The big pit that made Bisbee famous.  When the price of copper finally fell too low in the 1970's, the mine was closed.  The miners left town and the hippies and artists moved in, buying up the homes amongst the tailing piles for a few hundred dollars.  The alternative Bisbee was born.

The doorway to the "Free Store" in Bisbee, where folks leave stuff they don't want so other folks can use it.  Alternative, see?

 

What does one do in Bisbee after dark?  Go on the Ghost Tour!!  Back in the Old Days, the Bisbee folks killed each other with some regularity.  Hence the damn town is full of ghosts, haunting the old hotels and shops.  The tour was a hoot, whether one believes in the spirit world or not.  Our host, Renee, is in the foreground of this photo.

Bisbee is perched in, amongst, and on top of shelves of rock.  Many of the homes are accessible only by means of steep stairs, far from any road access.  Note the classy dwelling in the top right of the photo.

Sunday found us at our Air B&B digs with our host's five dogs.  Alternative, see?  We packed up, had a great brekkie in town, and hit the road for Tucson.  I had to get The kid back to his girlfriend in one piece and get myself back to Seattle to continue the visa quest.  Other than a nice chat with a local constable outside of Sierra Vista, the trip was uneventful.  We arrived in Tucson, destroyed an enormous pizza, and I bid The Kid a rueful adieu.  I miss him already.  

Now, through the miracle of blog time travel, I am sitting in my shop in Seattle.  And the visa tale?  What happened?

Today, Tuesday, returning home from running errands, I found a FedEx envelope abandoned on my front doorstep.  Just sitting there.  I rushed inside, plopped myself and the envelope at my kitchen table, and ripped that bad boy open.  Inside was my passport.  Flipping through the pages I found it!!  A beautiful full page visa glued into my passport!!  But how is this possible?  It had only been Monday when i sent the consulate the required additional documents.  Amazing, wonderful!!  Who cares?  I sped the good news on to My Baby, a wonderful Goodnight Gift.  

The answer seems to be this:  while one minion at the consulate was requesting other documents, another minion had already processed the visa.  One of my fine Austrian pals was making my dreams come true at the same time another pal was plunging My Baby and I into frenetic document gathering.  In the end, who gives a Rat's Ass?  The Travel Gods smiled and made it so.  Even the horror at seeing my passport abandoned by FedEx fades away in the joy of knowing that this thing is a reality, the biggest hoops passed through and the obstacles cleared.  

All that remains for me to do is a few house tasks and the determined selling of stuff to lighten the load.  The visa saga is over, for now.  The journey continues.  February 27th I will bid farewell to the USA and take up my new residence in Wien.  We did it Baby!!!