Don Quixote and Sancho Panza statue in the
Cervantes Monument, Plaza de España in Madrid
Scanned from a Kodachrome slide, photographed by
John in 1971 - with an iconic Nikon F, not the camera in the picture
Perhaps significant as we prepare to embark on an
Iberian Odyssey
This is the ideal time to go to Europe; it is
spring, but the expensive tourist season has not quite begun. We will of course
be writing about the wine, food and accommodation on our travels and have already
made some good contacts there. If you know of any, we would be very grateful
for the contacts, recommendations and 'don’t do’s’! This is our route map, for
our road trip from Porto up the Douro Valley, and to Lisbon, then south-east
into Spain, through Andalusia and up to Madrid, then back to Porto and home
after 4 weeks. We have hired a car and all accommodation has been booked on
AirBnB or Booking.com
All we require now is to receive John's Visa, the
process of acquiring which is being very frustrating. Travel in Europe for
South Africans is becoming very complicated; the amount of information you have
to produce for the visa is staggering, they insisted on all accommodation,
flights etc. being booked and paid for beforehand and documented with both our
names on all the accommodation bookings; this despite an invitation to visit
from Amorim Cork. Lynne spent days on line researching and booking and paying
for all the accommodation. The days of just getting there and exploring are
GONE. They have no idea how much money they are losing in restricting tourists
this way. And WHY? We don't want to live there, just visit as we have done to
many countries over the years. Insurance, medical insurance, receipts, tickets,
bank statements, Passports, ID's, municipal bills and even pension statements
were demanded and some rejected because they were "not quite correct",
so they had to be replaced. Bureaucracy gone mad. And you don't deal direct
with the Embassy any more, you have to pay an Agency to do it all. We suspect
they get paid for the number of visits the visa seeker makes, so they keep
sending you away for more Bumph. It used to be that if your spouse was a citizen
of the EU, as Lynne is, none of this was required. Not anymore. Lynne wonders
whether the same will apply to people with British passports when Brexit is complete.
And it appears that no one at the Portuguese Consulate has any concept of the
urgency when one is waiting for a visa and, indeed, one’s passport with only a
few days until we are due to fly.
However, we are really looking forward to the trip,
flying on TAAG Angolan airline to Porto from Cape Town with a brief stop in
Luanda to pick up more passengers. They have very good fares. We booked with
TravelStart who have great specials on lots of flights. Our house sitters are
ready to spoil the cats.
Portuguese
Visa Postscript: Thank Heavens for a
persistent wife! While John was fruitlessly struggling with VFS (Visa
?Facilitation? ?Services?), Lynne phoned the Portuguese Consulate. Sounds like
an obvious thing to do, but all enquiries are directed to VFS. Phone calls,
emails, web enquiries and, eventually, another visit to VFS in Strand Street
all came up with the information that his passport was with the Portuguese
Embassy in Johannesburg awaiting action. No information about progress or
timescale. This was Thursday, we fly on Monday. Lynne’s call to the Portuguese
Consulate brought the information that the passport had never been sent to
Johannesburg. It was at the Consulate in Cape Town and the visa was ready for
collection from a lady named Sandra. It was collected from her at 8am this morning, Friday, 6th April. Thank you Lynne, thank you Sandra. And, wow! The French gave me a visa for 3 years. The Dutch gave me a visa for 1 year. The Portuguese gave me a visa for 34 days. I can't wait to see the next one... the law of diminishing returns?
This poses the question: Why do they use VFS, an
organisation which does everything it can to obstruct efforts by potential
visitors to obtain a visitor’s visa? Friends who have acquired Schengen visas
for other countries tell us of similar experiences. We had similar problems
getting a Schengen visa last year from the Netherlands and a close friend who
works for Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands Government – and wrote a
supporting letter for our application – found the whole process quite strange.
It seems that VFS is based in India and works all over the world. They make
dealings so difficult that one wonders if the Guptas are involved.
And a final Postscript: we received this email, dated 8th May (the day we caught the plane to fly home)
And a final Postscript: we received this email, dated 8th May (the day we caught the plane to fly home)
From: DoNotReply VFS Global
Sent: Tuesday, 08 May 2018 5:51 PM
To: johnford@iafrica.com
Subject: VFS Response Mail
Sent: Tuesday, 08 May 2018 5:51 PM
To: johnford@iafrica.com
Subject: VFS Response Mail
Dear
JOHN DUNCAN, A decision on your Visa application reference
no.CTAC/230318/0001/01 has been made by Portugal Consulate in CAPE TOWN.Your
application has been received at the Portugal Visa Application Centre in CAPE
TOWN and passport is ready for collection.Our Passport retrieval timings are as
follows: 10:00 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 16:00 Monday-Friday.Please note this is an
auto generated e-mail.Please do NOT reply to this email.
----------
VFS Global: 58 Client Governments. 129 Countries of Operation. 2469 Application Centres. Over 161 million applications processed. Figures as on 31st December 2017.
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Care4Green: Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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VFS Global: 58 Client Governments. 129 Countries of Operation. 2469 Application Centres. Over 161 million applications processed. Figures as on 31st December 2017.
----------
Care4Green: Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
----------
This
message contains information that may be privileged or confidential and is the
property of the VFS Global Group. It is intended only for the person to whom it
is addressed. Any unauthorised printing, copying, disclosure, distribution or
use of this message or any part thereof is strictly forbidden. If you are not
the intended recipient, you are not authorised to read, print, retain, copy,
disseminate, distribute, or use this message or any part thereof. If you
receive this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete
all copies of this message. VFS Global Group has taken reasonable precaution to
ensure that any attachment to this e-mail has been swept for viruses. However,
we do not accept liability for any direct or indirect damage sustained as a
result of software viruses and would advise that you conduct your own virus
checks before opening any attachment. VFS Global Group does not guarantee the
security of any information transmitted electronically and is not liable for
the proper, timely and complete transmission thereof.
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