Plan M is in effect

After a couple days of nervous waiting i was told by the Swiss Embassy that yes my Schengen visa will be issued but it'll take a further 4 weeks... 4 weeks i didn't have... SIGH! Once again Stu and i chatted long and hard about the situation, played with a few ideas and scenarios and eventually decided enough was enough with this visa game... we're playing no more. So all flights and booking were cancelled and Stu booked myself a flight to Durbs... he arrives in 10 days :) :)

We've decided to put Plan M into effect... do the marriage paperwork here in Durbs and apply for my Swiss residency permit, enough with these silly tourist visas!! So yes, we are doing things a little differently but it's what works for us... and that's all that matters!


So, here i sit... in Durbs (enjoying the wonderful Durban winter weather), trying to keep myself busy with this and that and procrastinating about studying... nothing new there :P

The visa saga continues

I am currently back in SA on a "visa run". After much research and discussion Stu and i established that i had no choice but to return to SA to reapply for my Schengen visa and to apply for my US tourist visa. We discovered that once a Schengen visa has been issued for a certain duration, it can't be extended in the Schengen region and a new visa has to be applied for... sigh!

So here i am... once again thousands of miles away from the love of my life, waiting around on visas. The day after landing in SA (after a torturous flight full of delays and layovers) i turned up at the US Consulate and applied for my B1/B2 visa... which was intially denied because the lady was not convinced i would be returning to SA. After some pleading i walked out of there empty handed with tears rolling down my cheeks... but whilst on the phone with Stu trying to figure out what's next, the phone rang... it was the lady from the consulate imforming me she had reconsidered and is going to issue me my visa... SIGH!! :) Now my passport and application forms sit at the Swiss Consulate in Pretoria and i await a decision on my visa... not sure how much more visa stress my nerves can handle!!!

Now that i think of it, i didn't actually write a post about my engagement... oops!!!!! I think i just got swept up in everything that i forgot about my poor blog... well Stu and i got engaged on 23 june... i'm very excited about our life together and just can't wait for the "fine print" to be behind us so we can get on with it!! Right now i'm missing him terribly and am just focusing on getting home (that is now Zurich)!

Switzerland here i come

After 10 days of nervous waiting, the Fedex man finally dropped my package at my front door and Julz had the responsibilty to open it (because i was at work) and inform me whether or not there was a Schengen visa stuck in my passport... after a very long and nerve racking day, at 4:05pm i finally received an sms from her reading, "your foto looks cute in your schengen visa, YEAH" i haven't been that relieved and happy in a long long time!! :)

Now all the plans that Stu and i have been discussing seem real without the visa cloud hanging over my head (well except for the usa tourist visa i now need to apply for)... i can now let myself get super excited about my summer in Switzerland and Europe... YAY :) details to follow on plans whilst in Switzerland... there is nothing concrete yet!

Taken from the beach at JI... a flock of pelicans doing a fly-by

Other than the visa excitement not much else is happening in Zero Beach, except for work... we are mid way through Easter week, the week we were told we would be the busiest the entire season but so far business has been slow... it would seem that this economic recession has hit even the rich! The US unemployment rate reached a 25 year high of 8,5%... at this rate they are going to leap frog over SA, a scary thought for the "world's most powerful nation"

Once Easter is behind us our season is basically over, a large majority of the members return up North and a number of staff go off to start their summer jobs... i can't believe it's been 6 months already, it's been a hard season but a very enjoyable one! :)

Sunset over the Beach Club

The waiting game...

After weeks of research and document collecting i have finally submitted all my documents and passport to the Swiss consulate in Atlanta and am now playing the waiting game... "patiently" waiting for my passport to be returned to me with a Schengen visa inside... fingers crossed :)

Work is crazy at the moment, i'm working 60 hour weeks with little time for my body to relax so i'm feeling really drained and tired... but i know it's only for another 2 weeks (til the end of easter) and all for a good cause, in 51 days i will be jetting out of here, onto bigger and much better things :) i'm really excited about what (more like who) is waiting for me across the Atlantic!! :) :)

So watch this space for news on my visa...

Schengen Visa application process update

So as my luck would have it, a week after Stu and i meet the Swiss decide to join the Schengen, which means South Africans now need visas to visit Switzerland! The application process is not complicated, just time consuming with all the documents that have to be collected... and when you are dealing with services in SA things become delayed!!

I've managed to tick most of the requirements off the list (itinerary, flights, travel insurance, letter from employer, bank statements), i'm now just waiting on UNISA to get their act together and send me the docs i'm waiting on (this could be a long wait)... grr!!

The countdown continues, with 76 days til i leave the states... it's getting very exciting :) i have another countdown running... 9 more sleeps til Stu visits again, for now that is even more exciting!! :) we are just planning to spend the weekend chilling on a beach in FL somewhere... get away from it all.