The Austrlaian fever caught four petite girls when they thought they should do some travelling..The destination was decided based on a small poll which went : "Which country would you want to visit atleast once in your life?" The unanimous reply was : "Australia" Its was our dream destination :) So thats how we hit on visiting "Australia"..Now next comes where in Australia - All of us went "Sydneeyyy" ;) That shout "Sydneeeyyy" and all of us enter all own worlds of imagination..
Dame 1 : "Man..All of us by ourselves at an unkown place..Wow have goose bumps now ;)"
Dame 2 : "Heyy..We'll go to that place where they shot "Jaane kyun log pyaar karte hain" Lolz :D"
Dame 3 : "Oyee..Why not make a lil loong trip and try to cover Melbourne too? ;)"
Dame 4 : "Gals..Lotsa snaps,so much to shop..Lets start saving okay :D"
Come on who would not wanna see the Opera House or The Harbour Bridge ;) Then we thought - Why not visit a place which is not so commonly heard of,which not many people have visited? Sounded great coz then we would be venturing out to a place where we had to do everything from scratch..Like find out all about the place,the places we could go around,the transport service there and what not!! That would be an adventure cum fun trip :) So thats how we decided on "Perth" ;)
Oh come on! Who would decide on a place like that? ;) Lolz :D We did some reality checks before closing in on the place ;) The major reality check being - Bank Balance :P Main reason for settling on Perth was : Free Accomodation ;) :P Lolz :D
Months of preperation..Starting with - Contacting the friend at Perth to know if we could stay over at his place? It was more of a demand to allow us stay than a request :P ;) With no choice left he had to agree :) Not a bad start we thought and proceeded to book tickets (Assuming Mustaffa would help us get the Visas) :) Jet Star was the vaahan we booked, thanks to the friend who introduced us to this else we were juss stuck with Tiger Calling (Tiger Airways!) :D
With the calendar application (on our phones) being opened and closed numerous times we decided on the dates - 6th May to 11th May :) As they say "Dates in the calendar are closer than they appear" a month passed and we were still to get the visa's processed..Lotsa shit we had to go through to get the damn stamping on our passports..Scenarios as follows :
Stage 1 - Mustaffa did not work :( They said since we hold Indian passports we had to contact the Austarlian Embassy for our visa's..We tried few other travel agents and got the same response from all :( So we got the details as to where the Australian Embassy was located..We called up the place before we went and they said we needed to fill in 2 forms each about 20 pages,one photograph,bank statements,letter from employer,EP and Passport with photocopies of all..Now the problem here was I had to get my EP renewed as it would expire in April and we were leaving in May..Thats an obstacle! :(
Stage 2 - Getting leave approvals..Problem for all of us :( There were instances where one of us was even asked to cancel our tickets :( Phew after a lot of pleading and literal begging we got all our leave's sorted!
Stage 3 - Now we needed to get a letter from our company stating we work for them with our income also mentioned..We call up the HR and she goes - "No we can't issue any such statements..Just get in touch with travel agents..What are they for they should be able to do it.." But the travel agent also needed the letter at any cost..The HR says - "Need a mail from your respective managers saying your leaves have been approved" Problem Again!!
Stage 4 - Again back to manager to get the letter..Hook or Crook we needed them..After a lot of pleasing again we finally get the letter needed..Next, the gals had to get their EP's renewed and this time they had to get it done themselves..There you go, two days gone for that again :( They get their EP's after two days..We then go to the agent with all our docs :) Agent assures she would get our visa's stamped as early as possible,coz should she have delayed then we would be screwed again coz two of the gals had to fly back home and then join us back for the trip! After we give her all the docs and the filled forms,we were about to leave and she interrupts saying - "Hope it does not get rejected and also you might have to attend a personal interview"..Jacked again..After all this no assurance given..Man you should have seen us then..All sulked and neither of us knew what to say :"(
Stage 5 - We were in the bus getting back home and the agent calls me..She says..Your bank statements are not okay,it does not have your name mentioned..Thats coz I had submitted internet copies..She needed statements which we get every month to our residential addresses..In my case that used to go to my old house :( Now I had no choice but get the statement..Latest month..Old House - Not a clue if they have the statements..Not in talking terms with anyone there! (Don't even get me started on this!) Like they say "Beggars are no choosers" Cursing my damn fate I went to that place to try my luck! As expected the reply was - "No idea if there are any such statement here" Dejected I leave the place and get out of the apartment..I take a look at the postbox and exclaim : "Wait a minute" ;) I open the flap of the postbox to see if something was visible..Thanks to almighty and I could see my statement..Not sure which month,assumed it would be the latest as it was on top..I managed to put my hand through it (Adv of having bony hands ;)) And pull out the statement which was the latest..My happiness knew no bounds!! :))
Stage 6 - Get a call from the agent again saying "She need the bank statement for 3 months totally"..Boy I was $%^&*#..I had no chance of getting them..But then could not give up hope! I went to the bank..See the poblem was if I go to the bank and ask them to give me a statement they would ask me either for my EP or my Passport and I dint have either of them..For any identification here I need to show either of it atleast..Optionelss I went and asked if I could get the statements..The lady said "ya we do issue but we charge 20$ per statement" I was like damn for a prinout soo much! Again prepared for it said okay with a heavy heart :( Then shez like "passport plz" I dint know how to react and juss smiled at her..Then I told her dint have it as had submitted for visa..Shez like okay can you tell me the number atleast..Now how would I remember that? ;) I said No I don't know,but could you plz check for it using my atm card (they could have it coz once they have my account number they would get all my details) Thanks to technology that worked..Next she says :"photo identification plz" What would I give her man?? Guess what I gave her..My Indian DL ;) I am hardly visible in that :)) She dint say anything and then asked me why I needed the statements..I told her everything and she was like where are the prev ones and how did you get the latest one?? I again told everything from moving out of that house to putting my hand in the letter box :)) I don't know if she pitied my state or what but she was such a sweetheart she levied off that 40$ and gave me the statements :-))
Stage 7 - All done and ready went over and gave the agent all the statements..Finally we got our stamped passports :)) There were times when we had lost hopes and almost given up!! But naah we dint and fought for it :)) So eventually we will be leaving on 6th and getting back on 11th :) Yuhooooo :D
Required for futher reading :: Dames disclosed ;) - Anu Prerna Joyce and Siri :)
