Yesterday, Mr. and I travelled to London, England. The plan was to go to London for 5 days and Ireland for the another 5 days. We had everything booked, hotels, connecting tickets and with passports in hand, off we went to merry old England. We made it through two customs check points in Germany before getting to London and then the fun began.
If you follow my blog you know I have had an issue with my EU visa before, if not then check out, how the Parisians thought my visa was witchcraft. Before we left for London, I asked Mr., several times, if he was sure I didn’t need a separate visa for London. He assured me and actually swore on his life (scary) that I was fine since I had the SOFA visa. So when we went up to the customs counter in London and the officer told me that my EU visa was not valid for London, I looked over at Mr. just as a look of dread spread across his face. The officer said they would have to detain me and I replied by saying, “Nothing like being detained while you’re pregnant.” That made him laugh, so I figured he was a nice guy. We waited in the airport holding area for 8 hours while they figured out my situation. I didn’t know that while we were waiting, hoping and praying that the visa God’s would help us out, the customs authorities were trying to get me a flight back to Germany. Mr. had just gotten up to use the rest room, when the officer came out, after about 7 hours and told me that they couldn’t get me a flight that night but I that I was booked on the first flight in the morning back to Germany. Then he looked me straight in the eye and said, we have to detain you overnight. I almost burst into tears right there, I am surprised I didn’t since I am pregnant and seeing a cute puppy makes me cry! I think I was just in shock! Then he said… BUT, I have spoken to my supervisor and since you’re pregnant, we will allow you to go to your hotel for the night and then come back in the morning. ” It doesn’t seem proper to hold you”, he said.
After another hour we were allowed to leave the airport and headed to our hotel, which was 1 and 1/12 from the airport. We decided to go out and get some English dinner, we were in London for 6 more hours, why not make the most of it. The fish and chips I was so excited to try was bland and flavorless! I was so disappointed and it somehow just made the day worst. In Cape Town, we make amazing fish and chips, even my American husband agree’s it’s the best he’s ever had, so my logic was that since we kept the idea from when South Africa was English colony, that the version they make would be better. Oh how wrong I was. By the time we finished dinner it was almost 9pm, we decided to call it a night, we were both emotionally and physically drained.
Not as good as it looks
The highlight of my day was having my dear friend, Annie, who happened to be visiting London from Cape Town, come over to our hotel. She arrived at midnight and we stayed up laughing until just before 3am when we had to start making our way the airport. We made fun of how the room we were staying in was NOT at all like the pictures on the internet and chalked it up to my travel bad luck! It’s become a joke that if something can go wrong on a trip, it usually happens to me. The room was small, cramped and kinda ghetto but we made the best of it and it made for good laughs.
Love her so much!
Once we got to the airport (after a nauseating and bumpy ride) I had a number I had to call so I could be escorted through security. I thought I was just going to be escorted to my flight, turns out they were going to have to detain me until my flight. It didn’t matter to them that I came back. I figured that would make them realize that I was actually not trying to stay in their smelly country illegaly. Nope, I was searched, questioned, photographed and got to sit with two other detainee’s in the nice, plexiglass holding area. I can’t complain about the guards who were watching us. They were nice and even offered to get us food and drinks. I was warm and reasonably comfortable. I sat in the holding area for a few hours reading; knowing my situation could have been worse, made those few hours fly by. There was two other girls in holding who had stayed the night. I felt bad for them and was thankful that the authorities took pity on a pregnant women and had allowed me to go to the hotel for the night.
My entry refusal paperwork and me looking like I only got one hour of sleep, because I did.
When it was finally time to board I was escorted to the plane and my passport was handed to the captain. Which made no sense. What was I going to do? Skydive into London? Anyway, I just pretended I was a celebrity and I needed the security since I had so many crazy fans. Everyone was staring at me and I just smiled and even waved a few particularly obvious gawkers.
I feel that I should mention that Mr. felt awful about the entire situation. He was the one who told me that my visa was good to go, and he feels responsible for everything that happened. I wasn’t cross with him, of course not. It was a mistake and he was felt just as sad as I was that we had to leave. I think the best thing I take away from this is that no matter how bad things get, if we have each other, it’s not that bad at all. We were laughing through most of the 8 hours we were held in the airport. That’s how you know you’ve married your best friend, when in the worst situation, you don’t take it out on each other but rather laugh through it together.
We are still doing the trip to Ireland as planned, we will just be flying out of Germany now instead of London. South African’s don’t need a visa for Ireland. The Irish are cool like that.
This Travellers Heart 