What a Trip to the US Embassy

Today Kevin and I headed down to London with little Harrison to the US Embassy to apply for his US passport.  It's been quite an ordeal to get up to this point.  

After Harrison was born I went online to line up an appointment with the embassy but I couldn't get one until November 24th and we were planning on traveling home for Christmas on December 12th.  Since we weren't sure if we would get his passport and VISA before we headed back we talked with the CAT legal people to help us.  

So this is when the drama began.  The law firm helped us get a new appointment for us on October 30th while my parents were going to be here, but they were cool with another trip down to London.  I went early to buy our train tickets, so I could get the "cheap" ones.  Well about a week before our appointment we got a notice from the embassy saying they were going to close down their offices on the 30th for an "Administrative Day" and moved our appointment to the 5th of November.  No big deal we thought until I went to change our train tickets.  You see in the past I have been able to get the "cheap" tickets and was told that if our travel plans would change I could get a refund.  Well this time around there was some fine print, I guess.  The four tickets I purchased to London were now non-refundable and would cost 10 GBP per person per trip to move and whatever extra the new tickets cost (so to move Kevin's and my tickets to November cost me just over 40 GBP).  I was almost in tears when the gentleman behind the counter told me all of this and had no sympathy for me.  I ended up switching two of the tickets and we "ate" the rest (almost 150 GBP total).

Okay, so the day we go to London on the 5th, Addison got to spend the day at Auntie Min's house which she absolutely loved (I think Min liked it too).  We got up around 4:30AM so we could get to the train station to catch our 6:10AM train in order to get to the embassy at 8AM.  Our "appointment" was supposed to be at 8:30 and they told us to be a half hour early, but when we got out front we were told that the embassy doesn't even open until 8:30.  There was no official line but over the next half hour about a dozen or so more people were just hanging out outside the doors waiting to get in.  Apparently where we were randomly standing outside ended up forming the queue (line) and even though we were the 2nd people to show up at the embassy that morning we ended up 10th in line because they gave priority to people taking the Foreign Services Exam.  We were a bit irritated, but this is when the funny stuff starts to happen.  

One gentleman in front of us was trying to get in the embassy with a large blue suitcase which obviously is not allowed.  The gal who was confirming the appointments just outside of security said that he couldn't bring it in, but he couldn't leave it sit outside either.  She then directed him to some places to be held but would charge a fee...he then said he didn't have any money.  Finally she told him that he needed to visit with the policemen who were guarding the embassy, but I thought it was hilarious that he couldn't bring it with him and he couldn't leave it...what a pickle he was in.  Another guy in front of us had accidentally left a bag of his on the Tube and it happened to have his passport in it. The kicker was that he was flying back to the States that night and the Underground personnel couldn't find his bag.  

We didn't get inside until 9:10 because security was ridiculously slow. They only let one person inside at a time to go through the scanner and you had to give them your cell phones and key fabs to keep there.  When we got inside it wasn't at all what we expected.  We waited in line again and when we got to the window we had to give the guy all of our original documents.  Thankfully we sent copies ahead of time to "expediate" the process, but in the shuffling of papers the law firm forgot to include the passport pictures.  We were going to be shuffled downstairs and out of line to (these were to be used sent in later for the work visa).  I was a bit miffed at this point because I had hauled the kids all the way to city centre and paid 10GBP for each set of those pictures and they lost a set!!!  Anyway we got a number and sat in some chairs to wait...I felt like I was at the DMV.  

Okay so here is the funniest part of the day though.  While outside there was obviously a pretty clueless lady and her not so patient husband.  They paced all over outside and kept bothering the gal checking us in.  They ended up right behind us in line and then sat in front of us in the chairs.  We had the number 4 and they obviously got number 5.  So, at one point Window number 11 called up number 500, which I thought was a bit weird since we started at 1, but the lady in front of me had just started breast feeding and got all in a panic thinking they were getting called up already.  So she jumps up with the kid attached to her, hanging halfway down her body, and runs up to the window....you have to picture a woman though that is probably about 120 pounds at most and she holding what looks like a 6 month old baby who is much bigger that Harrison.  She runs up and asked if they called number 5 or 500.  They said 500.  Then she runs back at her husband and asks are we number 5 or 500.  He says I think we are number 5. She goes back up and asks again - 5 or 500. She rushes back to the chairs and says go up and make sure.  Then he goes up with their ticket and asks if its a 5 or 500.  They weren't being called obviously but they were sooooo clueless.  It was pretty amusing though to just people watch - fellow Americans in a strange land - or maybe were they strange Americans in a pretty normal land?  

Lastly we had some time before our train so we thought it would be great to eat at TGI Fridays since were pretty close to Piccadilly Circus (about a 20 minute walk).  They didn't open until 11 and it was about 10:30 so we walked slow and then looked around some shops.  At 11 we are at Friday's door and there is no one to be seen.  We wait out under the canopy of the restaurant for another 15 minutes because it was raining and then we finally see the bartender.  Then a gal comes out to the front door and looked like she was trying to unlock it and then mouthed to us that they weren't open.  WHAT???  I want my Sesame Jack Chicken Strips now!!!  Well it ended up that we ate lunch at KFC...another American favorite but not what I really wanted.

In light of this interesting set of events and it being the day after the election, the coolest part of the day was getting the little piece of paper that recognized that little Harrison was a native born American citizen.  This means he can legally run for President of the United States some day. As good parents, we will keep the paper safe so when they American people ask to see it during his election we can produce the proper documentation. (unlike some other candidates we know of this year...)