Giving the gift, getting my mum to cry, even making sure the whole thing remained a surprise till D-Day seemed to be a piece of cake compared to what was to come after.
May 26 was when the whole gift giving, and surprise breaking, happened. November 01 was when we were due to travel. In between, we had to get our luggage sorted, visas approved, and also a teeny weeny thing called deciding where the hell we were going to go from Milan.
We started with deciding where we wanted to go. The obvious came first. Venice was only a couple of hours away, and we put it on the list. Florence went on it too, along with Pisa and Rome. Mom wanted us to fly to Switzerland after Italy, I wanted Normandy and Krakow on it. Dad didn't care, and my sister had a sudden fascination for Portugal. I doubted whether she knew where it was on the map. And on top of it all, we were planning to drive within these countries, which meant an International Driving Permit was required. Things did not get finalized till July. We were still fighting it out.
Come August, it was time for us to get the Schengen Visa. The advantage of moving within the European Union, or within the Schengen Area to be more precise, is you needed only one visa for them all. One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them. There's today's quota of the Lord of The Rings' quotes for this blog. The Schengen rules said we would be eligible to apply only before three months of the date of journey, which put August 01 as the earliest we could apply for the visa. Choosing which embassy to apply in was relatively easy. Though the rules said we had to apply either in the country of exit and/ or entry (Italy, in this case), there was also a sub-clause that allowed you to apply in the country where you spent the most time. Considering the reputation for delayed response from the Italian embassy, and also the fact that we didn't know where we would actually be going, we assumed Germany would be a safe bet and decided to go with VFS, the local visa processing agency for the German Consulate. Easy, you'd think. Things are going to plan? No!
What was to come after was straight out of a horror story. VFS conveniently forgot to mention I was not eligible to apply in the Chennai Consulate as I had moved to Bangalore. As I was the main applicant and prime sponsor, the Chennai Consulate returned my visa application. The other three visas were rejected. It was September, and we did not have a visa, no idea where we were going to go, and don't even mention the Driving Permit, because we could only get that after the visa. Things were going downhill, and to make matters worse, I had spent close to 150k on flight tickets that were non-refundable in case we dropped the plan.
We had to get our act together. I decided the visa was Priority One. I applied alone from the German Consulate in Bangalore, and got the visa in 2 weeks. With my approved visa, the other three visas were applied from the Chennai Consulate with my sponsorship letter. The German Consulate was okay with it. We got our visa approved in the first week of October.
Post visa approval, we had our typical family meeting (Family Meeting: Get into a room, switch on the AC, and leave only when a decision is made. Food is generally ordered on these days, to my sister's delight) to decide where we were going to go. I have to admit I contributed very less, and functioned more of a Skyscanner and GoEuro app operator as decisions were being made. A quick check showed petrol+toll in Italy was more expensive than train. The plan to drive around was dropped. We booked train and flight tickets. It's actually astonishing how cheap flight tickets are in Europe. Sample this - my flight from Milan to Paris CDG cost me 1100/- per person. Less than what a similar fight from Chennai to Coimbatore would cost.
We stuck to the Milan to Venice plan, just that we were going to go by train. Then Venice to Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre (this was a last minute addition, I must admit, and thank God for that!), Rome, and Naples (Hello, Pompeii!). From Naples, we fly to Milan again (800/- per ticket), and to Paris. Three days in Paris, out of which one day would be spent on a day trip to Normandy. We were then due to take a Eurolines bus to Brussels, and stay in a castle near Luxembourg. Switzerland was dropped, Portugal conveniently forgotten. That was for the first leg - the family plan, as I called it. The family were due to fly out of Brussels to Milan, and back home. I was to go solo to Prague, Krakow and Berlin. My return home was from Milan too.
The train tickets were booked, we got rooms on Booking.com and AirBnB. We were due to travel hand luggage only, considering the number of places we were going, and the steep prices for luggage on European flights, so hand luggage was purchased. We were all set...NOT.
Two weeks before we were due to fly out, Air Italy, the guys who were supposed to fly us from Mumbai to Milan, crashed all plans. They postponed the flight by two days. So what? We had planned all internal trips, accommodations, and whatnot! All of these were non-refundable. We either had to re-plan everything, or book alternate flights on the original dates. We chose the later. Our new mode of transport was Turkish Airlines, and Air Swiss, and this pinched our pocket to the tune of approx. 50k. I was disappointed. The real reason we had planned the trip was the cheap tickets. Now we were travelling just like anybody else, maybe even costlier tickets considering we booked them just a week before our flight. Screw you, Air Italy.
We learnt a whole bunch of stuff during these testing last few months before the flight. We learnt patience was key, and taking informed decisions was everything. Going through an agent was not an option, as most agents were 2x expensive. I remember reading a lot, to a point I knew the exact distance between every city by heart. I prepared my visa documents the second time all by myself (Screw you too, VFS!). Every place, every Airbnb booked, the distance from the city center to the accommodation, everything had to be checked, because one loose nail could ruin the plan. I have to admit it was a whole lot of fun, the process. Maybe I can afford to look back today and laugh because we managed to make it in the end. It could have been a lot worse.
May 26 was when the whole gift giving, and surprise breaking, happened. November 01 was when we were due to travel. In between, we had to get our luggage sorted, visas approved, and also a teeny weeny thing called deciding where the hell we were going to go from Milan.
We started with deciding where we wanted to go. The obvious came first. Venice was only a couple of hours away, and we put it on the list. Florence went on it too, along with Pisa and Rome. Mom wanted us to fly to Switzerland after Italy, I wanted Normandy and Krakow on it. Dad didn't care, and my sister had a sudden fascination for Portugal. I doubted whether she knew where it was on the map. And on top of it all, we were planning to drive within these countries, which meant an International Driving Permit was required. Things did not get finalized till July. We were still fighting it out.
Come August, it was time for us to get the Schengen Visa. The advantage of moving within the European Union, or within the Schengen Area to be more precise, is you needed only one visa for them all. One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them. There's today's quota of the Lord of The Rings' quotes for this blog. The Schengen rules said we would be eligible to apply only before three months of the date of journey, which put August 01 as the earliest we could apply for the visa. Choosing which embassy to apply in was relatively easy. Though the rules said we had to apply either in the country of exit and/ or entry (Italy, in this case), there was also a sub-clause that allowed you to apply in the country where you spent the most time. Considering the reputation for delayed response from the Italian embassy, and also the fact that we didn't know where we would actually be going, we assumed Germany would be a safe bet and decided to go with VFS, the local visa processing agency for the German Consulate. Easy, you'd think. Things are going to plan? No!
What was to come after was straight out of a horror story. VFS conveniently forgot to mention I was not eligible to apply in the Chennai Consulate as I had moved to Bangalore. As I was the main applicant and prime sponsor, the Chennai Consulate returned my visa application. The other three visas were rejected. It was September, and we did not have a visa, no idea where we were going to go, and don't even mention the Driving Permit, because we could only get that after the visa. Things were going downhill, and to make matters worse, I had spent close to 150k on flight tickets that were non-refundable in case we dropped the plan.
We had to get our act together. I decided the visa was Priority One. I applied alone from the German Consulate in Bangalore, and got the visa in 2 weeks. With my approved visa, the other three visas were applied from the Chennai Consulate with my sponsorship letter. The German Consulate was okay with it. We got our visa approved in the first week of October.
Post visa approval, we had our typical family meeting (Family Meeting: Get into a room, switch on the AC, and leave only when a decision is made. Food is generally ordered on these days, to my sister's delight) to decide where we were going to go. I have to admit I contributed very less, and functioned more of a Skyscanner and GoEuro app operator as decisions were being made. A quick check showed petrol+toll in Italy was more expensive than train. The plan to drive around was dropped. We booked train and flight tickets. It's actually astonishing how cheap flight tickets are in Europe. Sample this - my flight from Milan to Paris CDG cost me 1100/- per person. Less than what a similar fight from Chennai to Coimbatore would cost.
We stuck to the Milan to Venice plan, just that we were going to go by train. Then Venice to Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre (this was a last minute addition, I must admit, and thank God for that!), Rome, and Naples (Hello, Pompeii!). From Naples, we fly to Milan again (800/- per ticket), and to Paris. Three days in Paris, out of which one day would be spent on a day trip to Normandy. We were then due to take a Eurolines bus to Brussels, and stay in a castle near Luxembourg. Switzerland was dropped, Portugal conveniently forgotten. That was for the first leg - the family plan, as I called it. The family were due to fly out of Brussels to Milan, and back home. I was to go solo to Prague, Krakow and Berlin. My return home was from Milan too.
The train tickets were booked, we got rooms on Booking.com and AirBnB. We were due to travel hand luggage only, considering the number of places we were going, and the steep prices for luggage on European flights, so hand luggage was purchased. We were all set...NOT.
Two weeks before we were due to fly out, Air Italy, the guys who were supposed to fly us from Mumbai to Milan, crashed all plans. They postponed the flight by two days. So what? We had planned all internal trips, accommodations, and whatnot! All of these were non-refundable. We either had to re-plan everything, or book alternate flights on the original dates. We chose the later. Our new mode of transport was Turkish Airlines, and Air Swiss, and this pinched our pocket to the tune of approx. 50k. I was disappointed. The real reason we had planned the trip was the cheap tickets. Now we were travelling just like anybody else, maybe even costlier tickets considering we booked them just a week before our flight. Screw you, Air Italy.
We learnt a whole bunch of stuff during these testing last few months before the flight. We learnt patience was key, and taking informed decisions was everything. Going through an agent was not an option, as most agents were 2x expensive. I remember reading a lot, to a point I knew the exact distance between every city by heart. I prepared my visa documents the second time all by myself (Screw you too, VFS!). Every place, every Airbnb booked, the distance from the city center to the accommodation, everything had to be checked, because one loose nail could ruin the plan. I have to admit it was a whole lot of fun, the process. Maybe I can afford to look back today and laugh because we managed to make it in the end. It could have been a lot worse.
Well, having bookmarked this blog last year, I was clearing out my bookmarks today and it was a pleasant surprise to find new posts which I devoured with glee!
ReplyDeleteYour mom's reaction is so cute, and oh, my family has the same definition of "discreet". Glad things could be salvaged at the end of it all!
Cheers, and happy New Year in advance
Haha, I didn't know people still read my blog. I've been planning to write on my entire Europe trip. So if you have nothing else to do, and read, this is the place you should be. :p You can also follow my instagram handle @siddzbalan. Little more colourful.
DeleteThanks again Samantha, and a happy new year to you and your family.