Heathrow - Same old story
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2007
1
54
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
DELAYED! We are off to a fantastic start. The plane is ready, the passengers are ready, however the team leader for boarding the plane isn't. The result - unhappy Weeble and Bob. The excuse "The Team Leader is needed to board the passengers. The automatic rota system hasn't assigned this flight one!"
Getting this far however has been a trial in itself. We queued for eons at the Chinese embassy, moved as fast as a snail, and then decided to go for the Vietnamese visa instead. What a relief! We walked into what seemed to be someone's front room (after a fellow Englishman let us through the security gate!) and queued for 5 minutes before handing over our paperwork. A further 10 minutes later and everything was paid up and we were travelling back to Chelmsford. Collection was performed 2 days by Bob, while Weeble queued for an eternity at the Chinese embassey. 20 minutes before the closing deadline we had handed in everything and were off again. Wednesday - t-minus 5 days before departure and unaware of any problems, we successfully collected our Passports and Visa's from the Chinese embassey. Lesson 1 - always mail in Visa applicaions at least a month before departure.
Obtaining equipment was interesting. Weeble still didn't have his equipment by the day before departure.
Weeble - in my defense I thought I had plenty of time!!! Heathrow was always going to save me ;)
We collected the final items on Sunday and collected our currency on Monday morning (Yes - the morning of departure - Lesson 2).
Getting this far however has been a trial in itself. We queued for eons at the Chinese embassy, moved as fast as a snail, and then decided to go for the Vietnamese visa instead. What a relief! We walked into what seemed to be someone's front room (after a fellow Englishman let us through the security gate!) and queued for 5 minutes before handing over our paperwork. A further 10 minutes later and everything was paid up and we were travelling back to Chelmsford. Collection was performed 2 days by Bob, while Weeble queued for an eternity at the Chinese embassey. 20 minutes before the closing deadline we had handed in everything and were off again. Wednesday - t-minus 5 days before departure and unaware of any problems, we successfully collected our Passports and Visa's from the Chinese embassey. Lesson 1 - always mail in Visa applicaions at least a month before departure.
Obtaining equipment was interesting. Weeble still didn't have his equipment by the day before departure.
Weeble - in my defense I thought I had plenty of time!!! Heathrow was always going to save me ;)
We collected the final items on Sunday and collected our currency on Monday morning (Yes - the morning of departure - Lesson 2).

