The original situation was: to have taken the flight in March, but then, we what know happened and I had to stay in Paris for a few more months. (all this after I extended my stay when a friend invited me to come with him to see Madonna's Madame X concert, which got evnetually cancelled due to the pandemic...)
After the lockdown was lifted and I saw the possibility thanks to Jay of flying back with a working permit which was to help issue a visa to Taiwan, the situation was simple: just book the next available flight once my visa is validated! But... flights are full (so they say at the agency). I found myself on the wailist and was 'offered' to pay nearly 400 euros to have a confirmed seat. Nah...
So the next (less simple) situation was to show up at the airport on that given day and see what happens.
But... my visa cannot be issued if I do not produce a flight ticket showing that I will leave Taiwan afterwards. However I still had a cancelled flight from Taipei to Saigon that could be rescheduled. Hope hope hope...
That would be too easy, wouldn't it? A mischievious elf set up that my wallet got stolen at the bus station a few days ago. Inside were useful things like credit card and other personal documents... The bank stated that I had to wait for a new card to be issued and sent to me, that it usually would take a couple of weeks, and that not much could be done until then. So in the illusory hope that I got the credit card in time, I can book a new flight from Taiwan to Vietnam so that my visa for Taiwan gets validated in time for this Saturday, for a fight on June 20th, then everything will/would/could be perfect!
Well... if ever there is a seat, as that agency pointed out again, otherwise... it's the big blue unknown. But not the unknown I know. Another kind of unknown...
Why make things simple when there's so much joy in complication?!?
Oh, and apparently, the man who stole my wallet immediately ran to the nearest five star hotel to have a nice drink, then to another fancy place where he had another drink. Fortunately, there was a payment limit after which a magical secret four-digit number is required... Apparently, there has been an Amazon purchase which was attempted a couple of hours later....
Oh yes, onec back in Taipei I will have to go through two weeks of quarantine....
If....
No comments:
Post a Comment