Getting There

Getting there (here) was quite an experience. First, I had all the paperwork to deal with. You can’t apply for a work visa without a letter of invitation and a work permit from the Chinese government. That has to be sent to you, or at least that’s how I got mine. It took a week longer than expected. Then, you have to have a flight itinerary. This is a real Catch-22 if you don’t know how much time it will take to get your application processed and back to you…especially if you are already running on a tight schedule.

I ended up having to change my flight reservation because I didn't get my visa in time. Here’s what happened, and it was all my fault. I used Travisa.com to get my visa. They were great, by the way. I had used them last year and had saved the visa application form on my computer. The form was mostly in Chinese of course. I just printed that form and sent it in (2 copies) not realizing that there was a new version. The next day Travisa called to say they couldn’t take my application to the Chinese
Embassy for processing because I’d used the wrong forms. I would have to overnight the correct forms immediately, and by the way, I needed a new flight itinerary too.

Filling out the new forms was easy, but it turned out that Northwest wasn’t going to let me change my flight because I had used their new Cash + Miles program. No changes. No refund. I spent 2 hours on the phone with them until finally someone agreed to let me change my flight.

By the time I had all the new documents in hand, it was nearly 2 PM. I rushed to the post office and arrived just as the overnight express truck was pulling away. I was told that maybe if I hurried, I could catch it before it left Deerwood (the next town). So, I jumped in my car and sped away. No luck. I missed it there. I finally chased it down at the next town and my application was in Chicago the following day. I had it back in my hands in time for me to fly out on Thursday, August 28th. Don’t think, however, that FedEx didn’t receive an anxious call from me when it hadn't arrived by 1 PM Wednesday!