Ni Dieu Ni Maitre

Pretty boring stuff concerning the bureaucratic boondoggle of getting my journey… back on track.

After five weeks in America, dealing with banks and mainly the US State Department, the journey has resumed. Very first on the list of things to be done was to pay off the government for the flight home, and a Cashiers Check went immediately off to the address given on the documents provided by the US Consul in Chaing Mai. In retrospect, I may have let slip in the hours I sat in a tiny, chilly cubicle, separated from the representatives of my government by thick bulletproof glass with only a slit to push paperwork through, that my travel plans were to move around Asia for 3 years and then check whether the USA was worth returning to. Probably the reason that the consul cancelled my passport, something which no other State Department functionary I spoke to (and there were many) could explain. In fact, they were startled.

Stupa next to my hotel in Colombo.

Second on the list was to get a new passport, with an expedited 14 day waiting time. Easily done at the local Post Office. I then called my bank to see if the Cashiers Check had been cashed and it had not. Here began a long series of back and forth calls, emails and so on with two State Department offices located in different States. Accounts Receivable had not gotten the check somehow and had put a hold on my Passport processing, done elsewhere. After speaking to various sympathetic but unhelpful employees, I hit a guy at Accounts who was on the ball and suggested an electronic payment, which was quickly done.

Colombo, capitol and port city.

Unfortunately, this payment was made on the same day that this agency sent off a letter informing me that a hold had been placed on the processing of my passport. Quite a lot of days went by when I was on the phone with both agencies, Passport Control unaware that the hold had been lifted on my processing, and Accounts befuddled that this was not getting cleared up. Let’s just say that this entire experience was quite stressful and frustrating. Eventually things got cleared up and the passport arrived on the day before sub-freezing temperatures and 2 feet of snowfall, closing the airport.

But, after a few days I was able to do the monstrously long flight from Boston to Abu Dhabi and then on to spend a few days de-jet lagging in Colombo. Next, on to the overnight train across Sri Lanka to Trincomalee and the beaches on the East Coast of this lovely and friendly country. Back on track!