“We need to leave promptly at 16:00, to be at the
airport by 17:00, so that you are there two hours before your flight…” was
pretty much Mark’s mantra for the past week, “do you have everything that you
need?”.
“Ja ja ja…” was my chant back at him each time.
I was chuffed that everything had pretty much gone
according to plan, collected my passport and visa from the Dutch consulate in
the morning (admittedly this was cutting things a bit fine, important part, I
had my visa).
Traffic was an absolute nightmare to the airport;
bumper to bumper with the obligatory taxi cutting us off every now and again
and the moustached Mitsubishi driver behind us, oblivious to any kind of safe
following distance; fortunately, we made it all according to plan with time to
spare.
Clocked in at British Airways and proudly presented my
passport as part of the process before heading towards the check in counter.
“Where is the transit visa for Heathrow?”
I was asked as my passport was being flicked through. I indicated that I
was not going into London, just transferring. Apparently, even if you are only
in transit, you need a visa, who knew? Bizarrely if you have a Canadian or USA
visa, you’re good to go and allowed to transfer via London. I renewed my passport in 2017, so I didn’t
have any of my previous visas with me; the only one that I did have, Côte
d’Ivoire, unfortunately wasn’t going to help in this instance.
I couldn’t remember when I was in Chicago, but I knew
that the American visa is valid for quite some time, at least five years. I
couldn’t be sure and there really wasn’t much I could do, other than wait until
Mark got home to check it for me, about a 45 minute drive / wait.
Once he got home, I directed him to where he could
find my old passports. He found it and then worked through all the visas, Canada
~ expired 2008; UK 2011, Canada 2011, USA… 2024 relief! The man then had to
traipse all the way back to the airport through the traffic… another 45 odd
minutes.
While I was waiting, I started chatting to a holiday
maker from India, who had forgotten his mobile phone in a cab and together we
waited in anticipation of getting our respective items before the boarding of
the flight closed. He had some really good advice for me, staple all your
passports together, in that way you have everything with you; am going to do
that the minute I get hold of a stapler.
Mark made it back to the airport in record time! I am
/ was super impressed and so so incredibly grateful!
Old and new passports with all the necessary visas
presented, everyone happy (possibly not Mark… or Bella and the cats who were apparently
highly unimpressed to be fed their dinner late…)
What a palaver! Long and the short of it, you need a transit
visa when travelling through the UK, and always take all your passports and
visas with you.
After a 12 hour flight (direct flight from Cape Town
to London), I’m ready for the next stretch.
Nijmegen, here I come!
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