If you have been reading our blogs from July to October, you probably have gotten some gist of the difficulties we have had trying to obtain a visa to travel in India. Obviously, had we had the time and the benefit of hindsight, we would have made it a priority to get it in Vancouver, where it should have taken us a mere two days to receive. However, events, circumstances, and a few not-so-bright decisions on our part led to an epic tale of wrong turns, roadblocks, and embassy frustration.
June 23 - Seattle, USA
Although we knew that Canadians need a visa to travel to India, we made the decision to get the visa in London, since we've got Ev and Ken's wedding to help with, packing to do, and a house to clean. We didn't think we could afford the two days it would have taken in Vancouver before we leave.
July 25 - London, England
Arriving in London after our tours through East Africa, we realized that we're only in town for a weekend, which isn't enough time to process the visa. We decided to get it in Spain instead, at the Indian Embassy in Madrid.
July 28 - London, England
Since we were traveling through Spain with Jon, we didn't want to make him wait around for us while we waited for our visas to be processed. We thought it would make more sense to get it in Rabat rather than Spain, since we would be traveling on our own. We downloaded the visa application forms for Morocco.
August 16 - Tangier, Morocco
At the youth hostel in Tangier, we filled out the application forms for the Indian Embassy in Rabat. However, that evening, instead of going directly to Rabat from Tangier, we met up with our Japanese friend Harue and decided to travel with her to Chefchaouen instead. We'd go to Rabat after we visited Chefchaouen.
August 19 - Fes, Morocco
At our hotel in Fes, we met Harriet and Nancy, who are going down to Merzouga to see the desert dunes. It seemed like a great idea, and we changed our plans again to go south, deciding that we'll go to Rabat after we loop up from the south.
September 1 - Rabat, Morocco
We arrived in Rabat and took a cab to the Indian Embassy. There, we found out that they needed ten business days to process visas from outside the country. If we had been Moroccan, they would've been able to rush it and get it done in two days, but for Canadians, no go. They recommended that we try in Tunis as soon as we got there.
September 5 - Tunis, Tunisia
We arrived in Tunis on Thursday evening, and went straight to the Indian Embassy Friday morning. There we were told there that we needed to wait until the Ambassador came back on Monday morning. In the meantime, we started putting together travel plans through Tunis.
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September 8 - Tunis, Tunisia
We returned to the embassy on Monday, and were dismayed to discover that they decided not to accept our application, let alone grant us a visa. The receptionist was particularly unfriendly there. See the details of our frustration here. We change our travel plans to leave Tunisia as early as possible and skip our proposed visit to Sicily, so we can give the embassy in Malta as much as possible.
September 15 - Sliema, Malta
There wasn't an Embassy in India, but there was a High Commission. We had found the address online, and confirmed it by looking it up in the phone book. However, after going to the location, even with the help of a friendly travel agent, the High Commission could not be found at the listed address. We then discovered that the building that the High Commission was supposed to be in was actually abandonded. There was no Indian Embassy, Consulate, or High Commission on the entire island of Malta.
September 25 - Istanbul, Turkey
We decided to drop Greece from our itinerary to give the Indian Consulate in Istanbul as much time as possible to approve our visa, once and for all. Ironically, the cab driver who took us there, first took us to the residence of the Consulate General, instead of the actual Consulate, which was an hour and a half detour. Amazingly, when we got to the Consulate, they didn't turn us away, and they actually accepted our application with little incident. We were told to pay $10 for faxing costs, and to return in five business days to find out if we were approved.
October 2 - Istanbul, Turkey
We showed up exactly five business days later, only to find out that the Consulate was closed that day; it was Ghandi's birthday, of course. Because we were leaving that night for our two week excursion through the rest of Turkey, we wouldn't be able pick up the passports until two weeks later.
October 6- Selcuk, Turkey
We called the Consulate General's office in Istanbul, only to be told that they would not process our application without the remaining $80 fee. We asked if we could pay on the 14th, when we get into Istanbul, but they will still need 24hours before they would be ready. After considering all our alternatives, including leaving our tour early, we called our travel agent Taner from Let's Go Travel and asked him for a huge favour. Not only did he arrange for someone to go to the Indian Consulate to prepay the $80USD they required, but he did it the day after we called him to ask for the favour.
October 14- Istanbul, Turkey
We picked up our passports with the Indian Visas on our last day in Turkey, just one week before we flew to India.
October 23 - Mumbai, India
We finally enter India with our approved visas with no incident. Phew!
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