You have planned a dream holiday, an anniversary trip to Lisbon and Rome, with luxurious hotels, curated tours, and reservations at Michelin-starred restaurants. Flights and everything are booked and paid for. You are just waiting for your passports to come back with the approved visas.
Then it happens, the unplanned glitch—glitches are always unplanned. Brain, the villain with deluded dreams of world domination from the hit TV show “Pinkie and the Brain”, steals your passports and hides them in a copy of Joseph Heller’s absurd novel, “Catch 22”. Every planned unforgettable memory is on the brink of collapse.
Waves of nausea, hot flushes, and dizziness to the point of total blackouts—that is just a tiny taste of how it felt for the would-be travellers. As their Travel Professional, I stepped up to assist in tracking down and recovering their passports, which were trapped somewhere out there in bureaucratic limbo.
What really happened was a massive computer crash at a country level (I won’t name the country), and nobody knew where anything was—the applications, the status of said applications, the documentation, and the actual physical passports. Stuck, lost in a system.
I have been working in this nightmare for the past week. The unglamorous grind of visa applications is an unavoidable reality.
Top Travel Tip: Always apply well in advance and supply all they ask for in the paperwork: a confirmed flight plan, proof of accommodation, and a heartfelt reason for the visit. Do it all in your best, neatest handwriting!
Every good travel professional will tell you that the visa system desperately needs an overhaul. Handing over your passport to a Third-Party Visa Centre is like opening the door to a spaceship and allowing that precious little book to float out into an abyss of darkness.
I called every contact I knew, emailed everyone, called call centres and learnt their entire scripts – which just seemed to be asking me if I wanted to cancel everything… “No…I just want my clients’ passports back, please!…and why are there no humans to talk to, everyone is a recorded robot!” I even bought a new sleeping bag on Takealot so I could camp outside the embassy door.
A “glitch in the Matrix” can be terrifying, but with a travel professional on your team navigating limbo, fighting bureaucratic dragons, ducking under the red tape with calls, emails, WhatsApp messages and camping gear along with some prayer and pure manifestation for a positive outcome) chances are things are going to be ok.
My clients got their passports and visas back in time to celebrate their love story amidst the historic beauty of Lisbon and Rome. I took a short nap.
The world of travel is full of challenges. Glitches happen, so plan for them, work through them, stay positive and, if you can, choose to use a travel professional to help you through the illogical and unyielding systems you will encounter. There is such beauty and joy in travel with the attitude and the right team.
Call me for a consultation to make your dream trip a glitch-free experience. Even if Pinkie steals your passport, I promise to be there for you.
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