Day 233: 11/19/2018
This day, the day we submitted our Schengen visa application, has finally come.
There were several complications along the way regarding our first ever Schengen visa application. First and foremost, when we first went to the TLS Contact center in Manchester, though we believed we were well prepared, we were not at all. We lacked of several required documents for my application and P’Gluay’s as well. The worst part was that I really thought I was certainly prepared as I had read a lot of online resources along with the TLS website. What was more, I did not realize one important matter to all official passport holders to obtain a verbal note from the Royal Embassy of Thailand in order to submit it as a part of their Schengen application. On that day, I was painfully informed that we could not submit our applications since there were several documents missing despite an attempt to pay extra to use the premium service to print out insurance information and other related documents. One thing I should add was that the night before our trip to Manchester, I had realized that I did not prepare my financial support, my three month bank statements and thus needed to stop by a Barclays bank branch to print it out just to find out later that the application was incomplete. Eventually that day, we left the TLS Contact Center tired, confused and hopeless.
After that I soon submitted a request for a verbal note from the Royal Thai Embassy in London and did not book another appointment with the TLS Contact Center assuming that they would not be too busy as it was still in late October.
Another bad news arrived a few days later. When the note had been delivered, P’Gluay and I tried to book a new appointment and found no time slots available until 11/19/2018 (today) which is very close to the day I had planned to go back home on 12/2/2018. My stress level inevitably hiked and hiked. I was blank for a day or two considering the possible solutions for this issue. The next day, I realized that one thing can be done, which was I can obtain a regular passport and can travel back and forth with it in case the visa does not arrive by the first of December. As a consequence, I quickly booked a passport appointment on the Royal Thai Embassy London website and planned the trip afterwards. I remember it was the day I felt completely drained, burned out, and yet hopeful.
A few days later, P’Gluay and I went to London with the main aim, to apply for a regular passport. On a side note, it was not cheap to book everything just a few days before traveling and it costs us a great sum of money for this London trip including two roundtrip train tickets, accommodation and meals. Yet, we still managed to be positive as we thought it was worth the experience traveling in London this time. Fortunately, Nut went there to join us on the second day of the trip and showed us around London in the areas we had never been before. We fell in love with the city even more. In summary, all was well including my passport application. As an update, a week has flown by and I have yet to receive my passport.
It did not matter though because today we finally submitted our Schengen applications successfully. We could not be better prepared.
Before today, I had occasionally thought and planned about the applications and supporting documents. From time to time, I allocated my time to print out and sort the documents. Though there were still some minor errors and mistakes, everything went well today and I am delighted that the pressure I had had is no longer here. In addition, we were informed by one of the staff members that the current processing time is one week, not two nor three. That, of course, means that I should have plenty of time to have my passport with Schengen visa delivered to my apartment before my travel date to Thailand.
Let us hope that it will be under my hold by December the first.
There were several lessons I have learned from this expensive incident.
1. You can never be overprepared.
2. Think, plan and take action right away.
3. Do you best even in the worst possible situation.
4. Look for backup plans like Plans A, B, C, or even D.
5. Listen to your partner.
11/19/2018 11.38 pm.
