VISA success!

As exhaustively detailed in my posts from December 1 and December 20, I was trying to figure out my Vietnam Entry Visa options.  After a semi-spectral conversation with someone in Vietnam, I get my VOA in my email box this morning. Yay!

They put a whole bunch of names, nationalities and passport numbers/birthdays on one form.  Much like staying in a 16 bed hostel, there are no secrets.  So, there I am last of 16 .  Sharing a Visa with a family from India, couples from Ukraine and Hong Kong, another Canadian and the Australians. 

God love traveling Australians.  They are so blasé about travel.  I was getting a bit worried about leaving in only a month.  There is an Aussie couple on my visa who are leaving today.  TODAY!  Talk about cutting it close.   I feel a bit embarrassed that my entry date is the very last of everyone else.  Now I seem too eager.  I am not going to be the coolest 'immigrant' in the cool kid entry visa crowd.   Dork!

 

the Visa saga continues

I applied for my Visa on Arrival (VOA) letter a couple of weeks ago through VietnamVisaPro (see previous post).  I got this agency name from Trip Advisor Vietnam posts so I felt as confident as I could under the very shady/questionable circumstances.  I paid my $6 US ($7.91 CAN) and then nothing.  The website said it would only take a couple of days to receive my 'letter'.  I am leaving in a month so if this wasn't going to work, I needed to know asap so I could still get the embassy issued visa (for WAY more money).

Now that my course is over, I had a bit more time to actually read the Vietnam Visa Pro email and found the 'check my status' link.  So, I checked my status: Waiting for payment.  I had paid and sent them an email with payment details just to make sure.  Ok, time to get serious.  A phone call was in order.

Vietnam is 15 hours ahead of Victoria time.  I tried calling them in the day but no answer.  So, last night, I got out of my warm bed at 11pm to call.  They answered.

I suspect if a deceased loved one tried to contact me from the beyond, that the message would sounded something like my phone conversation with the VietnamVisaPro agent, garbled, distant and completely incomprehensible.  I could tell she was female but that was it... ??

Grandma/VVP Agent!  What are you trying to tell me!!!???

I literally don't know if she was speaking English.  I was using all of my linguistic skills to figure out her part of the conversation based on intonation and the occasional word passing through the ephemeral membrane separating the living from the dead, Vietnam from Canada.  I swear if she had been underwater, the conversation would have been better.

Much yelling on my part in an attempt to demonstrate the sound level required.   Pleading for her to just answer 'yes' or 'no' but she never did.  I would ask the simplest question  'did you receive my payment' and she would answer with a 2 minute string of bubbles and whispers.

Eventually, eventually!, I heard what sounded like positive intonation? and the words 'yes' and 'email'.  I hoped for the best, thanked the dead mermaid (I have to tie those mixed metaphors together somehow) and hung up.

This morning I receive this email:

Dear Madam,

We will proceed visa letter for you right now and send you this afternoon if possible!!!

Because we have not checked your payment at the earlier so we can not make visa for you at that time. We are so sorry for this!
please wait for your visa letter we will send you as soon as it is completed.

Best Regards,

Vietnam Visa

So I hope I am back on track.  I will keep you posted.  

To do list

I have been adding things to my to do list as I think of them

1. Visa
1a. Get Entrance Visa - not done (see previous posts)
1b. Get passport size photo for Entrance Visa - done

2. fill prescriptions, get Dukoral - ordered, not picked up

3. Get Iron Infusions - first one done, second one booked.  I am feeling super peppy now.

4. Renew Driver's Licence which will expire while I'm out of country - turns out this can only be done on a workday, during work hours.  I don't have any more flex days before I leave so I will have to do this between Christmas and New Years.

5. Renew House Insurance which also expires while I am gone.  Plan to do same day as DL

6. Get money (not done)
6a.  order Vietnamese Dong (yes, I know! Let's all pretend to be adults and never speak of this again)
6b.  have enough $$ for Yvonne

7. Cat supplies.  Done.  One does not realize how much a cat costs until you have to buy months of supplies all at once.  10 kilo of kibble, 24 cans of wet food, 80 kilo (a bit overboard there but it doesn't go bad) of litter.  She should be set until Armageddon.

8.  Reorganize cultural activities - done
8a. Give away Belfry ticket - done.
8b. Switch Opera tickets - done. (I'm not having another incident of sleeping through an opera again like I did after Europe.  New rule, at least three days between arriving home and an evening opera)

9.  Set up my travel computer with relevant websites, apps. - not done.

This doesn't even cover the basic stuff like packing or figuring out where I am going/what I am doing. 

planning (sort of)

Guess what, the visa plan is not going to visa plan.  I ordered my VOA visa through some shady Vietnam visa agency, paid my $8.04 Can, and I haven't heard from them.  Now that I am finally finished my course, I guess I have to deal with that, and quickly since I am leaving in a month!  A MONTH!.  Whose crazy idea was this???

I have bought a few things (ha, a few...). Black Friday was my best friend and worst enemy. 

For my last couple of trips, I borrowed Paul's small binoculars.  I figured I need my own so I bought a pair.  They haven't arrived yet but they are:

Nikon ProStaff ATB 8x25 Waterproof Binocular

I also read that northern Vietnam can be cold in the Winter so I bought a packable IgniteLite reversable winter coat from Eddie Bauer (in Dark Berry with Orange lining in case I need to do some road work while I am there - just reverse!)

While I was in Eddie's website, buying 50% items, I bought some more packing cubes which turned out to be tiny.  But lemons/lemonaid, I seem to have a million cords for all of my vacation electronics so one of them will be perfect for that.  But the cords are already tangled. 

This is the biggest one of the three (barely a cube)

Etsy.com (HaroldandDot in Quebec)  to the rescue.  I just ordered these (pack of six, special order of one of each colour) so they haven't arrived yet.

And my bird book.  I have one from Thailand but the Southeast Asia one has more pages so I bought it even thought there is some crossover. 

I have been reading the Lonely Planet book a bit (I was forced to sit quietly for 2 hours while I had an iron infusion so I don't die on my trip).  One month trip is not enough time.  I see why everyone takes a year to travel in SE Asia, it is the least amount of time to see everything worth seeing (which is everything).  

Entry Visa trauma

Research thus far:  I read the overview of Vietnam.  South, Middle and North.  Sounds like South and Middle are where I want to be.  Now to narrow it down a bit more (parks, cities, islands; how to get from one to the other, where to stay, eat, view relax - OK, i have to read past page 7).

Entry Visa:  From what I understand, there are three ways to go.
1.  Show up with no visa.  This is a terrible idea.  Will not do.
2.  Get a proper visa through the Vietnam Embassy in Ottawa.  This seems safest but online blogs (Trip Advisor) and Rachelle tell me this is easily the most expensive way to go.

Sub-options for entry visa from the embassy are

2A. in person in ottawa (no)

2B. By mail.  Send in visa form, picture, passport, an open invitation to take as much money off of my credit card as they deem fit.  According to Rachelle this is upwards of $200!  They do not list the cost on their website. 

2C. by email.  Pretty much the same as mail but I send in a scan of my passport and photo but still with the unknown cost.

3. Give my info and six bucks to some completely sketchy sounding 'agency' who will email me a letter with up to 20 peoples names on it called a Visa on Arrival (VOA) which I will then stand in line when I get to Ho Chi Minh City (forever after to be called HCMC like the cool kids on Trip Advisor do).  Once in Vietnam, I pay $25 US for a single entry stamp, or $50 US for a multiple entry stamp.  So, way cheaper than option 2 but somewhat sketchier.

I think I am going with sketchy and cheap.  That's sort of my jam.

UPDATE:  I just went in and applied for the VOA.  And then I actually gave my credit card number to an email that started with this:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Warmest greetings and thanks for your concerning with us on viet namvisapro.net

Well, it's just $6 (and my Financial identity) so what can go wrong?

Damn, I just read the next line of the email.  What does this mean!?  Do I have to email them!?

This email confirms that we received your application for Vietnam Visa Aprroval Letter. If you still not finish the payment, please make the payment for visa service fee, after that send your receipt of payment my email which we can track and proceed your visa approval letter in time.

I'm pretty sure I blame Rachelle for this too.

I was going to tell you about my Black Friday shopping for the trip but I am too traumatized by the visa business (plus, as usual, this is getting too long).  Next time.