Amsterdam :(
So, I am back. Actually, I got back Monday night. Why am I back two days early and without Harris? You'll never imagine.
Unbeknownst to him (and us) as of 1/1/06, citizens of the Philippines (and only like, 4 other countries in the whole world) have to have visas to visit European countries. One for each country. And they can take anywhere from one week to a month to get. So when I got off the train, Eric and Rachel were waiting for me and the first thing they said was, "Your man isn't here." When they told me what happened I couldn't believe it. It took almost all day for it to sink in.
Basically, he never should've been allowed to leave NY. Delta was fined what we think is a few thousand dollars for letting him even get on the plane. When he got to Amsterdam, he was told he had to go home. Delta only has one flight a day to NY and he'd missed it so he was forced to check into the one hotel attached to the airport that holds illegal travellers. It cost 180E a night. (He could've just stayed in the airport but he wanted a place to sleep and have a TV etc.) Delta paid for him to fly back the next day and he's looking into having his tickets refunded or transferred to another date. But he's not coming to Europe this summer. The next available appointment at the French consulate is Aug. 23. He would then have to wait 1-3 weeks for the Visa.
I ended up staying in Amsterdam for a few days (Sat morning until Monday evening) and Rachel and Eric were amazing. They showed me around and we smoked and drank and ate surprisingly good food. It was so nice to be with friends for a few days. But the first 24hrs we kept hoping that someone could cut Harris a break and let him stay. It sucked so much knowing that he was on Netherlands soil but couldn't see us. I talked to him on the phone and he said that when he got back to NY he was going to try and get a visa right away and come back. But obviously that was not going to be the case. The three of us had a lovely time but I kept saying there was a big brown elephant at the table. And no one likes to be the 3rd wheel.
So here I am back in good ole Paris. After the whole ordeal and all of the "partying" we did, it felt really good to come back "home". I've hardly done anything in the past 2 days as I've been totally exhausted. I did go to the Picasso museum and walked around the Marais a bit more today but then I came home and took a two hour nap. And I had slept 10 hours last night. Again, thank freakin god for my current state of unemploy. Ha ha.
So now I have 2 more weeks alone. I really was looking forward to having Harris visit and being able to experience Paris' amazing nightlife with him. I do enjoy being alone but I think this weekend I'm going to have force myself to a bar or something. If I can ever get myself out of bed.
Anyway, thanks for all your emails and I will talk to you soon.
Unbeknownst to him (and us) as of 1/1/06, citizens of the Philippines (and only like, 4 other countries in the whole world) have to have visas to visit European countries. One for each country. And they can take anywhere from one week to a month to get. So when I got off the train, Eric and Rachel were waiting for me and the first thing they said was, "Your man isn't here." When they told me what happened I couldn't believe it. It took almost all day for it to sink in.
Basically, he never should've been allowed to leave NY. Delta was fined what we think is a few thousand dollars for letting him even get on the plane. When he got to Amsterdam, he was told he had to go home. Delta only has one flight a day to NY and he'd missed it so he was forced to check into the one hotel attached to the airport that holds illegal travellers. It cost 180E a night. (He could've just stayed in the airport but he wanted a place to sleep and have a TV etc.) Delta paid for him to fly back the next day and he's looking into having his tickets refunded or transferred to another date. But he's not coming to Europe this summer. The next available appointment at the French consulate is Aug. 23. He would then have to wait 1-3 weeks for the Visa.
I ended up staying in Amsterdam for a few days (Sat morning until Monday evening) and Rachel and Eric were amazing. They showed me around and we smoked and drank and ate surprisingly good food. It was so nice to be with friends for a few days. But the first 24hrs we kept hoping that someone could cut Harris a break and let him stay. It sucked so much knowing that he was on Netherlands soil but couldn't see us. I talked to him on the phone and he said that when he got back to NY he was going to try and get a visa right away and come back. But obviously that was not going to be the case. The three of us had a lovely time but I kept saying there was a big brown elephant at the table. And no one likes to be the 3rd wheel.
So here I am back in good ole Paris. After the whole ordeal and all of the "partying" we did, it felt really good to come back "home". I've hardly done anything in the past 2 days as I've been totally exhausted. I did go to the Picasso museum and walked around the Marais a bit more today but then I came home and took a two hour nap. And I had slept 10 hours last night. Again, thank freakin god for my current state of unemploy. Ha ha.
So now I have 2 more weeks alone. I really was looking forward to having Harris visit and being able to experience Paris' amazing nightlife with him. I do enjoy being alone but I think this weekend I'm going to have force myself to a bar or something. If I can ever get myself out of bed.
Anyway, thanks for all your emails and I will talk to you soon.
posted by Myrtle at
11:11 AM
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