Prisoner in my own home!

09. February 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

The flight back to Kuwait was uneventful. Or should I say everything went smoothly. As it should. I slept well. And I didn’t overeat.

Finally, almost 12 hours after I left Malaysia – hello Kuwait! Hello hubby! He had told me on the phone it was 10 degrees Celsius outside – so put on a jacket. He had also arranged the “Marhaba” meet and greet service for me and an Arab lady dressed in a light black coat holding a placard with my name on it was waiting for me as I exited the plane. I waved at her and smiled. She was holding my visa and asked for my passport.

Downstairs in the arrival hall, we went to a counter where she presented them to an immigration officer behind a window. They exchanged some remarks in Arabic, he stamped my passport and then I followed her out to the baggage claim area via the exit for “Crew Only”! Amazing. All that in less than 15 minutes. The regular immigration queue was exceptionally long in all counters!

A few minutes later the baggage carousels started moving and I got my two suitcases. All my worries about being asked to open my luggage after it went through the scanner were unfounded because as usual the officer was sitting there very relaxed and certainly not in the mood to stop anyone! Maybe it was still too early.

It was so good to see hubby. All dressed for work. And the airport looked…..festive….decorated with lots of green, red, black and white balloons and flags.

Welcome to Kuwait!

To welcome me? Awwwwww…..nice touch! Of course it wasn’t to welcome me back…it was to celebrate the Kuwait national and liberation days in a couple of weeks. LOL

Kuwait airport all done up for 5/20/50

Hubby immediately asked for my passport and visa and slipped them inside his breast pocket as we made our way towards the car. I thought he was worried we might lose it before we even got home but no….he had to rush off to meetings at the office after dropping me off and he was taking my passport and visa to the office so that the mandoob (messenger or runner working for a company) could take them to the Ministry of the Interior to obtain my residency visa again.

He reminded me that I didn’t have my civil ID. So I shouldn’t go out anywhere. At least not for a couple of days. Not until I get my passport back with the residency visa.

So this is the last bit of Kuwaiti bureaucracy. Hubby had to go through it and I have to go through it now. Once I get my residency visa in my passport, I can apply for my new civil ID. The civil ID takes 2 months! Apparently they have to make an announcement in the local papers about the loss of the civil ID. If, after 2 months, no one has reported finding the civil ID, then a new one will be issued. In the mean time, a temporary document will be issued which must be carried around for identification..

Basically its KL all over again. Arriving with no papers…but I’m not in my own country, so better to be safe than sorry. So, unless I’m out with hubby, I’m a prisoner in my own home LOL!

And now the re-entry visa…

31. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , ,

Exactly one week after hubby submitted the copy of my passport to the Ministry of the Interior, my re-entry visa was completed. Yaay! Hubby called me and told me that today.

And its been exactly one month since our passports were stolen on new year’s eve.

Seems like it has been forever. We almost don’t remember our Spanish vacation. Our culinary experience in San Sebastian. All the things we did in Madrid. San Sebastian really seemed like another lifetime. But there we are. My passport is ready. My visa is ready. My flight back to Kuwait had to be postponed from 5th February to 8th February because hubby wanted to be sure that I arrived during a work day and during working hours – in case something went wrong and we needed to talk to someone.

Well, that meant I had 3 extra days at home. I still had a lot of stuff to do. Well, no more excuses. No more holding my breath.

I printed copies of all the documents – e-ticket, re-entry visa, hubby’s new passport, his re-entry visa his temporary civil ID and put them away, all set for travel day. Then I began ticking things off my to-do list.

Approved! The passport ordeal is over…or is it?

24. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , ,

It was a busy weekend attending the solemnisation ceremony and the wedding reception of a friend’s daughter.

Nevertheless all I could think about was getting my new passport today.

I wondered what would actually happen. Would they really call me? I had no time to waste, waiting around for someone from Immigration to call so I went about my normal routine. Driving Danial to work. Hanging out with mum and my sister. And a lunch appointment with a BFF.

Then the call came. It was 11:30am and the lady said "your application for a new passport has been approved. You can come and make the payment and collect your passport."

Approved

Yippee! I was elated and made my third trip to the Subang Immigration office. I think the parking people know me by now. I went upstairs and spoke to the lady who had called me. I showed her the letter of acknowledgement Mr Abdul had given me when I submitted the documents last Wednesday. She printed the “approval letter” and gave it to me.

I was thankful that my application had been approved and in such a short time but I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that my new passport was only valid for 2 years.

I asked her why not 5 years? Could I appeal for a 5-year passport? And the reply was “Don’t push your luck!” LOL No, of course she didn’t say that at all. But she might as well have. She said that was the normal case for lost passports. You’re kind of on probation, I guess. Or was it a kind of penalty or punishment? It seems like it because I also had to pay RM300 (which was what was normally charged for 5-year validity passports). The normal fee for  2-year validity passports was RM100.

I was also given a terse WARNING and a reminder in the approval letter that Malaysian passports are the property of the Malaysian government and that I’m required to take proper care of it. In other words – DON’T LOSE IT.

I was asked to go downstairs to the main office and make my payment. The passport would take one hour.

I waited and got my passport before the one hour was up. A crisp clean new passport. With a remark typed in on one of the “Remarks” pages that I had previously travelled on passport number bla bla bla which had been reported lost on bla bla bla date. OK fair enough.

Anyway. I was relieved.

I rushed home to scan the passport and e-mail it to hubby who would kick off the process of applying for my re-entry visa from the Kuwait Ministry of the Interior. Thank God again for the 5-hour time difference. Now we’ll wait for a week before that’s done and then we can book my flight back to Kuwait.

Phew. Now time for lunch with my BFF at Pressroom. Time to breathe.

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Sometimes, who you know helps

19. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

Today was the big day. Again. No, really today is the big day.

My cousin had told me that he had spoken to his friend at the Subang Immigration Office. He finished his meeting at 3pm yesterday so I wouldn’t have been able to see him yesterday anyway. But he WILL be in the office this morning and so can see me. I went there again after dropping Danial off at work and was asked to go into the office area and into a room. My cousin’s friend seemed to be a friendly person and straightaway asked me what had happened to my passport. I told him the whole story and also that I had prepared all the documentation ready to be submitted.

He picked up the phone and told his secretary to send Mr Abdul in! Ahhhh, the familiar Mr Abdul. He told Mr Abdul to please “open a file” I suppose to kick off the process for my new passport. After Mr Abdul left the room, I asked him what happens with the one month period and he told that normally that’s the amount of time it would take to process an application for a new passport to replace a lost passport.

But it was possible to appeal to get the passport earlier to meet extenuating circumstances and he asked me by when I needed the passport. I told him hubby was booking my flight to Kuwait for 5th February and he also needed 7 working days after I get my new passport to apply for my Kuwait re-entry visa. Then he said “I can’t give you your passport today but will 2-3 days be OK? Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow was a public holiday because of Thaipusam then it’s Friday and the weekend. There are some procedures we have to follow and your application has to go to the Director in Shah Alam for approval. We’ll give it to you on Monday. Is that OK?”

Oh wow. Its more than OK. I was elated. I told him I had written an appeal letter – was that necessary? He said not absolutely necessary but attach it as it would help. I thanked him profusely and left the office to see Mr Abdul. Mr Abdul, who had earlier said no one could help me avoid the one month waiting period, was just doing his job and explaining the Department’s policy and procedures.

He was very friendly now and he actually smiled. He checked all my documents, ticked the checklist, took my thumbprints, printed an acknowledgement letter, signed it and gave it to me. Hmmmmm….I saw that it said they would inform me if my application was approved in one month. He said that was the normal procedure. Don’t worry. My application was in the right channel now. They would call me when the passport was ready. He asked me to write my phone number on the application form.

So that was it. I think this is the final bit of bureaucracy I have to endure here in Malaysia. After this it’s back to the Kuwait bureaucracy. I can’t wait for Monday.

I have a wedding to attend on Friday and the reception on Sunday….now I have the peace of mind to go and find something to wear.

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The real bureaucracy

18. January 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

After dropping Danial off at work, I texted my cousin to let him know that I was on my way to the Immigration office in Subang to see his friend there. I knew how to get there because that was where I went the last time to renew my passport. The one that was now stolen. It was part of the old Subang airport and had been turned into a branch of the Immigration Department.

My cousin called while I was on the way there to tell me that his friend had texted him to say that he had to attend an urgent meeting and did not know what time he would finish. He suggested I waited at Mum’s place and he would let me know when his friend became available. I was only a few minutes away from the place so I told him I would go anyway and wait there. Mum had a doctor’s appointment that morning so no one would be at home.

When I got there I was surprised that it was so empty. Usually the car park would be packed tight but now it was empty and the place looked dead. Then I saw a banner.

The branch has moved!

They had moved in December 2010 to a new office in Kelana Jaya, about 20 minutes away! Oh dear.

My cousin was as surprised as I was. His friend obviously hadn’t said anything about it to him. Not an issue. I had my trusted Garmin GPS so I easily found the new Subang Immigration Office at Plaza Glomac. Parking there was a breeze – nothing like any immigration office I had ever been too.

I went into the main hall of the branch and it looked like any regular Immigration office. Lots of people. An electronic queue system that worked. And a high noise level. The place buzzed with activity like any government office in Malaysia. Busy..busy..busy. I decided to go to the lady manning the information desk and told her who I was there to see. She made a call upstairs and told me the gentleman was out but I could go upstairs and talk to one of the officers there. Upstairs was where they dealt with lost passports.

Strange – as far as Malaysian Immigration was concerned, there seemed to be no differentiation between "lost" and "stolen" passports. Whether you lost or misplaced your passport, it was considered "lost". If you were robbed at gunpoint, it’s considered "lost". If someone stole your bag right under your nose, it’s considered "lost". There must be some wisdom there.

Anyway, I made my way upstairs. The was a counter with a number of computer terminals, a waiting area and two rooms labelled "Investigation Room". I wondered what the rooms were for. At the counter, I spoke to an officer called Mr Abdul (not his real name) and told him I was there to see my cousin’s friend. He told me the same thing – that he was at a meeting and he didn’t know when he would be back.

But I was at the right place to apply for a new passport so he gave me a couple of forms to fill. One was the official form to apply for a new passport and he had ticked the box "lost" for me. The second form was a questionnaire about the lost passport and was very similar to the form I had filled at the Malaysian embassy in Madrid. Lots of information about my passport, when I last saw it, exactly how it was "lost", what I did to recover it, was it likely to be found, how many passports I had been issued before, how many times I had lost my passport etc. It was quite tedious. I thought I could fill them up and submit the forms today but on the back page of the questionnaire I saw a "Statutory Declaration" where I had to summarise how I "lost" the passport, and sign it in front of a Commissioner for Oaths.

Oops. That meant the forms cannot go in today.

But that was not the worst news. A guy had come in and was talking to the lady next to Mr Abdul. He was complaining that no one had told him it would take ONE MONTH for him to get his new passport after it was stolen. He had a ticket to travel somewhere and needed his passport quickly.

What????? Oh my God. One month? Really? No way…no frikkin’ way. I needed my passport soon if not today. Real soon.

I asked Mr Abdul. One month? Really? I thought passports were issued the same day of application now. I thought the Immigration Department was one of the most customer-conscious government departments in Malaysia, what with opening their offices all week including on Sundays.

He said "lost" passports are not treated the same way as first-time passports or expired passports. They needed to be investigated etc etc.

I kind of argued with him. What was there to be investigated? That was the job of the police. I had a police report lodged with the police where it was stolen – in Spain. My passport was gone. What was there to be investigated? I was courteous though more than a little bit irate. I couldn’t understand it. I felt he didn’t understand that I was the victim here. It’s was like I was the bad guy now.

Anyway he said that the government took this very seriously because there were syndicates out there whose work involved buying or stealing passports and selling them on the black market. I had heard before that Malaysian passports fetched almost USD8000 on the black market. But I argued with him. (Why not eh?) How is that possible these days? Our passports come with a microchip inside the passport cover. Our photos are no longer pasted in the passports. They were scanned into the page. It can’t be easy to forge our passports now. Well, I didn’t get an answer to that question. But he did pick up a pile of papers to show me the amount of Malaysian passport losses in Rome which were currently being investigated. The work of a syndicate there, he said.

Later, a friend told me that if Ah Chong had no money to send his son to college, all he needed to do was find one of these syndicates and "sell" his passport to them for USD15000 or something like that!

I continued to tell Mr Abdul that I needed my passport urgently and that I was supposed to see this gentleman who was the friend of my cousin who used to be a senior official in the Immigration Department. He said, "Well, your friend couldn’t do anything. It takes one month to investigate. You would have to write a letter of appeal to the State Immigration Director. He’s the only one with the authority to dispense with the one month period." He gave me the the name of the Director I had to write an appeal letter to.

I sighed a heavy sigh. A really heavy sigh.

I felt blessed that I had the “wasta” which, as far as I know, wherever you were, often helped to reduce the "bureaucratic effect" but obviously I wasn’t in that channel right now. I was talking to the wrong person, I think.

So I took the two forms I had to fill up and a check list with documents I had to attach with my application which Mr Abdul explained in detail to me.

Immigration checklist

He told me that once all the documentation was complete, I should submit my application for my new passport and then wait for the application to be approved (in one month).

Of course I spoke to my cousin later and he said not to worry. Just get all the documents ready and see his friend tomorrow. He WILL be able to help me get my passport as fast as possible.

So, hopeful that tomorrow would be a brighter day, I went home and started filling up all the forms and wrote out the statutory declaration. I tried to find a Commissioner for Oaths nearby our apartment but there wasn’t any. Thankfully I still had the phone number of the Commissioner for Oaths I had discovered when I needed a statutory declaration for Mum a couple of years ago. She had moved too but it was easy to find her. It was a five-minute job – I gave her my identity card, signed the declaration in front of her, she attested to it, put her chop and it was official. Later at home, I printed the copies of all the documents they wanted.

At night, I decided that I should probably write an appeal letter to the Director IN CASE they asked for it when I submitted the documents tomorrow. I printed out copies of my marriage certificate and various documents to prove my husband lived and worked in Kuwait and prayed everything would be sufficient for me to get my passport ASAP.

We’ll find out tomorrow. Mañana. Buqra. Today wasn’t wasted at all. Despite the fact that I couldn’t see the right person, I was thankful that I went there. I now had all the right documentation and tomorrow will be a breeze. Inshallah.

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Lost in translation?

17. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

I had really hoped that the police report translation would be ready yesterday – Saturday – so that I could go to Immigration on Monday but when I called our Spanish translator-friend, he had told me that it would be ready “sometime next week. I’ll call you when it’s ready”! I was horrified. Disappointed. Even upset. That was not acceptable. Somehow I expected him to be a little more understanding seeing as it WAS an important event in my timeline..

Despondent, I texted my cousin to tell him we should probably reschedule our appointment at Immigration. He didn’t reply so i guess he knew the appointment was off. On Monday I spoke to him and told him the translation wasn’t ready and it still needed to be stamped. He told me the translation was not a problem – a simple one would do. No need to stamp etc.. I spoke to hubby and asked if maybe HE could do a simple translation and e-mail it to me. But he said that a draft of the translation had actually been emailed to him that day for “approval” and he’d just forward a copy to me. Marvellous. That solves my problem.

The Immigration appointment is ON tomorrow. Tuesday.

That evening I was food shopping at Mercato downstairs when I got the text message from our translator-friend that the police report translation was ready “just now”. He said I could go and pick it up from him. But I didn’t have a car as Danial had gone out for the evening so I told him that. That was really too bad because he could have told me that it might be ready tonight when I called him on Saturday. Anyway, I received another text message later which said that he would drop the translation at our apartment. That was helpful.

So I did get the translation just after 10 pm. I was a bit upset but thankful nonetheless that I now had a “certified” translation of the police report. It was too late to call my cousin to let him know the good news..I’ll just call him tomorrow morning after I drop Danial off at work. I sat down to prepare all the documents I had been told to bring.

Despite the “events” since the weekend I was excited about the next step. Finally after more than two weeks, this silly episode of the lost passports would be over.

Tomorrow….Tuesday 18th January 2011 is a big day. I’m getting my passport. Then I can breathe.

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Location:Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

I’m legal again!

15. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

OMG! I’m legal again. That’s right, legal in my own country.

This afternoon I met my friend, Yvonne, who lived in Kuwait as well and she had hand-carried my “Malaysian wallet” flying back to KL for her sister’s wedding.

My cousin had told me last night after he met his friend at the Immigration Department that, without my IC and birth certificate, I would need to first go to the Registration Department to get an extract of my birth certificate and with that I had to apply for a new identity card.

Basically, no identity card – no passport. I knew it.

The certified copies of my IC and birth certificate would not fly. So it was just as well that I managed to get hold of Yvonne to ask her help to bring my wallet with her.

Thank you Yvonne! You are a life saver..it was so great to see her and baby Maya. She was so gracious to agree to bring my wallet to me so now I had my identity card and everything I needed, including my birth certificate which I had asked hubby to insert into the wallet. Now I have all my ATM cards and local credit card, and my driver’s license too.

So that was my whole life in that wallet!

I’m really legal now and I have everything I needed (only waiting for the police report translation) to get my new passport. That’s the next big thing. Fingers crossed there are NO HITCHES.

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Location:Waldorf Tower, Kuala Lumpur

First day back and I’m missing the birthday boy..

12. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

Its hubby’s birthday today and probably only the second time we have not spent it together over the last 15 years. The last time was many years ago in Dubai when he had to go on a business trip and Danial and I slipped birthday gifts and cards into his luggage without his knowledge.

Happy birthday hubby!

It was hard for me to wake up this morning! Danial took a cab to work so I could have the car. The first order of the day was to get a replacement sim card for my Malaysian mobile phone since it too had been in the bag that was stolen.

I was glad that the staff at Maxis understood my situation and agreed to issue me the replacement sim cards for my phone and iPad using just my temporary passport and photocopy of my identity card (IC). The backup plan would have been to buy a new prepaid card.

I called hubby to wish him happy birthday just as he was getting ready to go to work. Yesterday, immediately after leaving the luggage at home and freshening up, he had gone to the Malaysian embassy in Kuwait with my IC, birth certificate and driving license to get certified true copies made. He had then couriered it to me by DHL and I should receive it by Friday or so. My cousin would be back later today and tomorrow I would speak to him about what I should do next to get a new passport.

More bureaucracy I’m afraid.

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Location:Waldorf Tower, Kuala Lumpur

Going home…the odyssey is over

11. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Experiences, Travel · Tags: , , ,

It was the BIG day for us after our nine-day odyssey in Madrid.

We were at the airport early. We did our duty-free claims and it was really fast and efficient. Actually one of the most stress-free duty-free experiences ever. The official didn’t even ask to see our purchases. Hubby got stamps at the Post Office downstairs to post the forms and then everything was done. The check-in too was very smooth. We bought some souvenirs at the duty-free shopping area and boarded our flight.

The flight to Doha seemed to go very fast although it was more than 5 hours. I watched two movies and hubby read.

There were also no hitches arriving at the Doha terminal. Our worry was unfounded. I was afraid there would be issues with my emergency travel certificate.

It was midnight local time and we had a 7-hour wait at the business lounge. We had a drink and started to settle in at a cozy corner of the lounge for the long wait.

Hubby asked “So when do we break Facebook silence?” Hmmmmm…I thought, ok now is a good time I guess. We have made it this far without a hitch and soon he boards his flight to Kuwait and an hour later I board my flight to Kuala Lumpur. So we both updated our status saying “The odyssey is over.”

At around 2am we realised the lounge had gotten really empty. There were no more flights in and out of the airport. It was the dead of night and it was cold. I was really sleepy. Hubby read and I fell asleep although I could hear workers making all kinds of noises in the background cleaning up the place. So this was the time they cleaned the lounge. We did wonder when they did it.

I woke up when I “felt” someone walk towards us. Hubby fell asleep and he needed to sleep because he was going to work straight after dropping off the luggage at home and freshening up. I was becoming paranoid with our luggage and my handbag so I made sure they were properly positioned in case I fell asleep again. But I didn’t. So I blogged.

Keep calm and blog about it

I woke hubby up at around 6am so we could have some time awake together before he left for Kuwait. It was weird. We had never travelled like this before. But I guess, as with everything, there was always a first time.

We said our goodbyes when it was time for him to board and he reminded me to send an SMS to his phone as soon as I had boarded my flight to KL so he would get it when he arrived in Kuwait. I blogged some more and had more coffee. I had to be sure to stay awake on my 7-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur so I could sleep later when I arrived home.

The time passed quickly and then it was time for my flight. No hitches checking in to board the plane.

I kept myself awake on the plane watching two more movies! Or was it three. They served my favourite Malaysian nasi lemak for breakfast. It was almost like the real thing which I would be able to eat when I arrived. Time seemed to pass really slow….I looked forward to the captain making his announcement that we were approaching KL International Airport.

And then it came. I had arrived. I couldn’t wait to call and speak to hubby to hear that he too had arrived safely in Kuwait.

Now on to the final phase. Him getting his residency visa back in his passport and me getting my passport, and at after that my visa back to Kuwait. Then it would all be over.

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Bureaucracy and the odyssey

07. January 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Experiences, Travel · Tags: , , , , , ,

Day 1 in Madrid. Sunday, 2nd January, 2011
It had been two days since the bag containing our passports was stolen on the train from Valladolid back to San Sebastian. After all the speculation about getting our travel documents, things turned out to be somewhat straightforward. Especially at the Malaysian embassy.

We met the Second Secretary and his colleague who explained that there was ONLY ONE OPTION for me: I would be issued with a “Perakuan Cemas” or “Emergency Certificate”, valid for one journey back to Malaysia for the purpose of getting a new passport. Basically, it was a temporary passport which we were told would be retained by the Malaysian immigration when I was issued my new passport.

So it was actually never an option to fly to London to go to the Malaysian embassy there to get a replacement passport. I wonder though, if I had lost my passport in the UK, would the Malaysian embassy there issue me with the replacement passport? Perhaps. I’m not sure.

We filled up a couple of forms, and provided them the copies of my birth certificate and Malaysian identity card, copy of the lost passport – all of which hubby had printed by accessing the scanned documents on “Dropbox” using his iPad – 4 passport-sized photos and Euro 17.10. They also accepted the police report in Spanish, i.e. they did not need a translation. We didn’t know when we would be able to travel so they were very accommodating and gave me a validity period of one month instead of the normal one week.

There was only one proviso: I had to fly back via London or Doha (on a one-way ticket!) as these were the only two places which recognised the Emergency Certificate and as such were the only two airports where I could transit. There were no direct flights from Madrid to Kuala Lumpur. So we chose Doha because it meant we could fly Qatar Airways and collect some air miles!

And we could fly together at least until Doha, then hubby flies to Kuwait and I fly to Kuala Lumpur.

Separate ways...

Once hubby was in Kuwait, he would take my Malaysian identity card and birth certificate to the Malaysian embassy there to have the copies certified and couriered to me so I could go and get my replacement passport. This is what we were told to do. Hubby wondered if he should instead courier my identity card and birth certificate to me in Malaysia…but we thought, NO WAY….imagine losing those documents….wow…then I would really be in much, much more trouble!

Anyway, we were glad to at least have solved half the problem. I have my temporary passport and all this was done within an hour on a Sunday. We were so thankful that they were such nice people at the Embassy who went out of their way to help us. On their day off too.

Thumbs up!

Still, we had no idea what we needed to do about getting back into Kuwait (yes, we do have to go back to Kuwait, as hubby works there, remember?) so hubby called his secretary to break the news to her and to ask her to start finding out first thing on Monday what we needed to do to get back into Kuwait since we had both lost our Kuwaiti civil IDs and our residency visas in our passports.

Day 2 in Madrid. Monday, 3rd January, 2011
It was hubby’s turn to deal with the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to get his passport replaced. It too was a rather straightforward matter if you don’t count the one hour wait despite the 11:40am appointment at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior branch in Madrid AND the reprimand that he got from the ministry staff when he presented his old expired ID and did not have an appointment to renew it. He literally begged her to do the new ID AND the passport with this one appointment. She was very angry but did it in the end. We got his passport within an hour.

It was a big relief for us to have completed this phase. Now we both have travel documents! Technically, I could travel to Malaysia right away but we decided that we would leave Spain together. Hubby still needed to know what he needed to do to re-enter Kuwait.

The Kuwait Embassy in Madrid told us that we needed to get an Arabic translation of the police report done by an authorised translator. The translation also had to be certified by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zainab tells us the same story. She said she had been told that hubby could re-enter Kuwait with a visit visa on arrival but subsequently would need to replace the residency visa in his new passport and for that he would need the translated police report.

We found a translator in the Yellow Pages and she said it would take one to two days to do the translation and it cost 80 Euros for the first 500 words. Profitable line of business, I have to say. BUT we still need an appointment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the earliest appointment available was 17th January!

Amidst all the uncertainty I decided to call my cousin in Malaysia who used to work in the Malaysian Immigration Department to tell him about our situation and basically to find out if the Malaysian authorities would also need a Malay translation of the police report. Obviously, we can’t leave Spain until the translations were available. He said the translation could be done in Malaysia and told me not to worry as he would help me out once I was back in Malaysia.

By now what seemed to be so straightforward this morning was starting to look a bit more complicated. We never thought that it would be the Kuwaiti re-entry visa that would hold back our travel plans. Right now we couldn’t even book flights anywhere.

All we knew was that I had to go back to Malaysia and hubby needed another piece of paper to go back to Kuwait. As would I when I needed to go back to Kuwait. We prayed it would become clearer the next day and wondered how much longer we would need to stay in Madrid.

Day 3 in Madrid. Tuesday, 4th January, 2011
I finally called my Mum and sister to tell them what happened. I was afraid she would be worried but she told me it had happened to them in a hotel in the Netherlands in the ’70s! So far we had been Facebook-silent too as we didn’t want friends and family to worry about us.

Hubby’s secretary calls and told us that the office had started processing his visa and that this was all that was required for him to re-enter Kuwait and the translation to Arabic was NOT required. That was the GOOD NEWS. The bad news was that the visa would take ONE week!

Oh no……we can’t stay here one more week!!!! Hubby decided to call in his “wasta” (Arabic for “influential person” who could facilitate things) and spoke to two colleagues who had high level contacts in the Ministry of the Interior in Kuwait and they said they would do whatever they could to help shorten the process.

Day 4 in Madrid. Wednesday, 5th January, 2011
Hubby’s colleague called and said that the relevant official of the Kuwait Ministry of the Interior had been informed of our case and will be facilitating the issuance of the visa by tomorrow. We were so hopeful and this was very important because the work-week ends on Thursday in Kuwait! It MUST be ready tomorrow so we can take the Friday flight out of Spain.

We focussed hard and tried to maintain a positive outlook. It will be ready tomorrow.

Should we do something to take our mind off this important event? Why not…we had never been in Spain at this particular time of the year. It was the “Three Kings’ Day” (“El día de Reyes”) tomorrow, and tonight was the night of the big float procession (“Cabalgata de Reyes”) and fireworks. So we decided to join the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards to watch this important and impressive event.

Cabalgata de Reyes

Cabalgata de Reyes

What else could we do but go with the flow. Tomorrow was another day.

Day 5 in Madrid. Thursday 6th January
Zainab calls and tells hubby that the visa was ready but there was an error in the document and it needed to be reissued! But by the time the “manduub” (Arabic for “runner”) got back to the Ministry, the official had gone home! Unbelievable!!!! That meant that we had to wait till Sunday for the visa. And the next flight out of Spain would be Monday.

We were devastated. So that’s it. THREE more days in Madrid. Hubby’s secretary said there was nothing more anyone could do. She said “Why don’t you just enjoy the weekend in Madrid?” I guess she was right. There were many more things we wanted to see and do in Madrid so we’ll do it. Why not. We’re here. We may as well enjoy it. Nothing to feel guilty about. It was a “forced extended holiday” by all accounts.

So far we had done a lot of walking, everyday. And tried to enjoy the cuisine. Nothing like San Sebastian – which by now seems like another lifetime – but traditional Spanish cuisine nonetheless. And we had caught Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in “The Tourist” (seems appropriate huh?)

Today is Three Kings’ Day and is a public holiday. One of those days apart from Christmas day when everything was closed. All the shops were closed except for a couple of souvenir shops. The city was dead.

Quiet in Madrid

Hubby wanted to go to Getafe where he used to live when he was a kid. So we took the train to La Margarita which was only 10 minutes away and walked around the area. He showed me where he used to live, play and go to school. It was a walk down memory lane for him.

Earlier, at the Metro Station, we saw an interesting wall painting full of quotes by famous people. One of them said “Si de noche lloras por el sol, no verás las estrellas.” which translated into “If at night you cry for the sun, you will not see the stars.”

Message on the wall...

It was as though a very poignant message had been delivered to us. We decided to give ourselves permission to try and fully enjoy the weekend. We decided to watch two more movies – “The Last Three Days” with Russell Crowe and “The Way Back” with Colin Farrell.

What is it with all these movies titles? First it was “The Tourist” and now these…

Then we bought tickets to a Flamenco show at a theatre nearby the hotel. Neither of us had seen a flamenco show before. And…this was also the first time we had been here in Madrid when “rebajas” or the big sales start the day after Three Kings’ Day.

Rebajas!

Hubby said, “Here’s your chance. You’ve always said you wanted to be here when the “rebajas” started on 7th January. So wth. Tomorrow, we will do what everyone does on 7th January in Spain every year – shop till we drop!

Rebajas!

We thought we would also try to do El Prado again and see the sections we missed on the previous trip. And of course, catch the flea market at El Rastro.

And on Sunday when the offices reopen in Kuwait after the weekend, we will get hubby’s visa and on Monday 10th January, inshallah, we will fly out of Madrid, then our separate ways to Kuwait and Kuala Lumpur.

 

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Location:Madrid, Spain

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