The White House, Washington, DC
We got our first taste of what traveling will be like a couple weeks ago. We made our way up to Washington, DC as Tico needed to apply in person to get his South African visa. As a US citizen, I don’t need a visa and it’s a similar situation for the first 3 countries we plan to visit. We thought we’d kill two birds with one stone and knock out the Namibian visa as well while there.
I had filled out both applications and had the necessary paperwork, according to their websites. We dropped off the first packet at the Namibian Embassy and were told we could come back in the afternoon for the visa. We left our number and email before setting off for some sightseeing. After a couple hours, I checked my email only to find a request for every hotel booking for our trip. Since we’re choosing to plan as we go, we didn’t have any reservations. So we sat on a park bench in the National Mall (in below freezing weather) and started making a plan. We also needed transportation in and out of the country. After several emails back and forth, the day was coming to an end and we knew there was no way we’d have the visa that day.
Washington Monument, Washington, DC
The next day was also our last day in DC and we needed to be in the South African Embassy before 12:30 pm. After another run around of emails and phone calls with the Namibian Embassy we headed back to get Tico’s passport regardless of whether he had the visa or not. We were told we didn’t get the visa because we took too long to get all the paperwork in, but as it turned out the consular had been out sick the past 2 days and would not have been present to sign the visa either way.
We moved on to the South African Embassy and were quickly told by the receptionist that we had an old application and needed to fill out a new one. They also provided us with a checklist of the paperwork we would need, which included several items that were not listed on their website. We filled out the application and waited to be called for an interview. This consisted of someone looking at our packet to make sure we had everything. We were informed we needed certified copies of his passport, green card and bank statements as well as a bus ticket out of South Africa. We hopped in a taxi and Tico jumped out a few blocks before to print off our bus information that we’d booked momens earlier and I got the bank statements. They were unable to certify/notarize Tico’s documents so I was sent to another nearby bank. While the notary felt that we were both “going down for this,” he agreed to sign the copies and we grabbed another taxi back to the Embassy.
We had to be back before 12:30 and it was already 12:45 when we were using the intercom to call the reception to let us in. The person who answered hung up and we tried again. Before we could get through again, the gate opened as a car was leaving. We walked in the front door and the man who had interviewed us had quite a look of surprise on his face. He tried to tell us that he could no longer accept applications because he couldn’t receive payments, but we told he we were leaving the city that evening. He looked over our papers and we were sent off with the hope that Tico would get a visa in the mail in 5-10 business days.
Washington Monument, Washington DC
Update: We are now in possession of both the South African and Namibian visas and are ready to travel!