The Ghanian Visa Saga

One week to go and no passport = panic attacks and dreams of adventures floating out of reach.

Turn the clocks back three weeks. We all sent our passports to the Ghanian embassy in London to get our visas in advance. We had tried to get as many of them as possible before we flew; in case we were ripped off on the borders or had some kind of bureaucratic delay; travellers will know what I mean - Poipet?

In some instances we weren't able visas until we arrived in the country in question (such is the case with Togo), but with others you were required to get a visa beforehand. Swings and roundabouts really - in hindsight, what an utterly ridiculous phrase.

Dree and Barney's passports came back within a week, but Kerry and I assumed they were just doing two at a time. We had triple-checked all of the details; money, signatures, forms, photos, and were sure that everything was in order.

Another week passed and Kerry was getting especially nervous (she was flying out on Weds 23rd), so she phoned up the embassy. This was a trial in itself, with irregular opening hours, and no one able to give a definitive answer. Two days before she flew out to Malawi, Kerry and Dree drove down to London and got the two remaining passports back minus the visas, but thankfully with a full refund.

Possibly the most ironic thing about all this is that I we were more worried about getting our Burkina Faso visa, from a bloke called Colin in Guildford! We had to send them to a private address as there was no other way to get the visa until we were in the country. But Colin was very professional and they were all returned within days.

At least we got the refund, but I can see this causing a grand ol' pain-in-the-proverbial when we come to apply for it abroad...