When You know it is just right

[David5o]

Shaun,

I'm sure if you went to your main State passport office in person, you would walk out with a new passport in your hand. It's not as if you have never held a passport, you have!! Which means they already have a file on you. So if an expediter can get a passport in a week, you should be able do it yourself in person much quicker.....

Take a sickie day from work, ....you can't lose more than 400 dollars by taking a day off!! lol!!

David.....

[Vince G]

My Passport is long expired (maybe 15 years or so) and I will have to put in for a new one. All the info on the old one is no longer good in any way. I do not live even in the same state, So all the info is going to be different.

Dave (5o) They don't do the passport at the post office they just receive the paperwork and send it out to some federal office for process. Starting I think it was last year you now need a passport to go to Canada and Mexico and some islands near by, where it wasn't needed before. There was a flood of people going for passports since. So they have been backlogged (then). I haven't heard anything lately so lets hope they have caught up?

[shaun]

Vince,

Your passport situation is like yours.  Out of state and all.  I have walked a passport through twice in my life. Almost went to jail the first time.  It is a long story in Juarez, Mexico. The second was in Houston, Tx.  The passport issuing stations are still backed up.  I can set an appointment but you must have plane tickets or itinerary with the date of departure and that it has been paid for.  So I guess they are still very busy.

You will need to send in your old passport with your application.  They will accept it as a verified birth certificate.

I spoke with 3 expediters today.  The local one flat turned me down.  He said it is too much trouble right now.  He have me the phone numbers of the other 2.   Both were $400.00 plus the plane ticket before they would set the appointment. The also said 1 week turn around.

David,

There is no way the school will let me take another sick day this year.  I've been back to work 2 days after being out 4 weeks on medical leave for hand surgery.  If I am sick I will need doctors excuse.  There are too many people out with what we call yellow fever.  Pay is being cut again January 1 so many of the of the drivers are laying out.  April is looking better all of the time.  I will talk with Peggy tonight and see how she feels about this; like I don't already know.

Shaun

[Buzz]

Ok guys, what am I missing here?  You are on a web site that has thousands of chinese ladies looking for husbands.  You have been writting for some time and expressing a desire to visit them.  You know that it will take a least two trips to China before they can get a visa.  So why is your passport 15 years out of date?  Having been here for over a week, I can tell you it is all in the details.  You are watched by your lady, her friends, her family, and everyone where you eat.  In order to make a positive impression, it is the small details that matter most.  So the fact that you are now trying to hurry and make plans at the last minute and at extra cost, tells me you are not planning your trip very carefully.  You need to move your focus 3 feet north and get right.  You have only one chance at a first impression, and trying to explain to the lady that my passport was out of date by many years even though I was planning to see China very soon, will take a lot of fancy dance steps.  I am sorry, but I just see this position as a no win suitation.  


Now on to the thread topic, you know it is right when you find laundy hanging in the bathroom, when you are at her sister's house making dumplings with the family, when she is relaxed enough to yawn in front of you, when she takes hold your hand walking down the busy streets of Beijing, and when you just can not get her out of your mind.  It takes a good foundation of letters building trust and let me make this very clear "IT DOES NOT HAPPEN WITH OUT MEETING FACE TO FACE"!  

buzz

[shaun]

Buzz,

You busting my chops again? :icon_cheesygrin:

I was planning to go in April or June to fit my work schedule.  I have the last two weeks in December open from work but the 3 ft down brain and others thought I should go now.  Peggy agrees.  So trying to play catchup is difficult and is looking worse all the time.

I do not disagree with anything you have said about being there face to face.  I would go tomorrow if I could. There are issues here that cannot be avoided like employment.  I only work 182 days a year minimum with a max of about 220 depending what extra work I can get my hands on.  The school frowns deeply when a person is off while classes are in session and I am too close to early retirement to buck the system.  It is less than 1 year right now.  If I can make it 6 more I get better retirement and medical insurance the rest of my life.  So... I am trying to work within their time frame.  Summertime I get 10 weeks in a row off.  To me this is the best option.  I can stay longer.

Shaun

[Buzz]

Buzz,

You busting my chops again? :icon_cheesygrin:

Shaun

Yes I am, because if you get it right you win a prize.  If not, well does it really matter.  Examples of a prize worth waiting, AND PLANNING, for below.  (pics won't add, sending to vince by pm so he can add)

[Vince G]

Buzz, nice pics just had to size them a little.

There is a long involved story about the passport and why it's expired. Things are straightening out now and I did have to do some fancy dancing for the lady to stay interested. She's still there and waiting so the dance went well? :icon_cheesygrin: It had nothing to do with planning.

[Willy The Londoner]

When the average American citizen realises that there is life outside of the USA then your passport offices will have to really get organized.   I would imagine now that very few of the 60 odd million people who live in the UK that do not have a passport.  

Willy

Or should that be 60 million odd people?

[shaun]

Willy,

Most Americans are still trying to decide if it would be OK to put up a fence around the country.  Get a passport? You are talking about war.  With only 8 post offices in our area, only 2 of them offer passport services and the hours are part-time with one clerk.  This is more that we had 5 years ago.  Many Americans have never seen a passport let alone know where to get one.  Looks and see in about two years when government officials start talking about voter ID cards again.

I would say there are 60 million odd people here.

Buzz, Jim, Maxx and the rest who are pushing me to go now.  I appreciate and understand what you are trying to do but I am not going to tell everything here.  There are other issues to consider that are private.  Some of you have put yourself in a position to be able to go whenever you want and I commend you for that. I started this journey back in April and wasn't 100% sure about it until I met Peggy.

Peggy and I talked about waiting until April last night.  She understands.  Neither one of us like it but we understand. I talked with the Chinese Embassy in DC yesterday and it looks like to get done what I want to do will take 2 days.  Day one the passport and day 2 the visa.  They only issue visas between the hours of 9:30am and 12:30pm.  Plane tickets went from $1300.00 to $4600.00 yesterday.  I do not see how this is possible.  I guess the seats are few now.

I'll pass on the ticket price alone.

Shaun

[victor-hills]

Poor shaun they really haveing a pop at you,guys you got to remember if you work at a school you have set times you can have of you just cant take time of willy nilly when you want and not only that not all of us have the funds to jump on a plane when we like to as much as we like to so give shaun some elbow room guys.

[Vince G]

I talked with the Chinese Embassy in DC yesterday and it looks like to get done what I want to do will take 2 days.  Day one the passport and day 2 the visa.

Shaun, I think you have to use the Embassy in Texas as I do? There are services or do it yourself (overnight mail) to get the visa, so no need to fly there, stay and wait? I'll send the info. (email)

[Willy The Londoner]

  Plane tickets went from $1300.00 to $4600.00 yesterday.  I do not see how this is possible.  I guess the seats are few now.

I'll pass on the ticket price alone.

Shaun

Wait until the time is right for YOU Shaun.

On air tickets

The fare from London to Hong kong is reasonable when you split it down  at £170 GBPounds - thats about 270 USD. But then add on the airport taxes at both ends and the fare comes out at just over £400 GBPounds that is about 640 USD.

What do we get at the airport for our money - queues - to get back here this week I spent a longer time in queues than it took to travel from Hong Kong to my home in Zhongshan, Mainland China via the ferry.

Willy

[shaun]

Thanks Willy,

The one thing I intend to do is what is right and the right time.  I will not do anything to cause undue financial pressure on myself.  Not intentionally anyway. Peggy and I discussed it last night and we are on the same page.  Yes it would be absolutely wonderful to go right now but rushing and paying extra for everything is not wise.

Peggy and I were talking this morning and a couple of things were said that caused a lot of serious discussion and laughing hysterically too.  It was almost midnight for her and I was dead on my feet.  I am not comfortable with sharing what was said but it would cause almost any hot blooded mail to rise up and pay attention.

Peggy's English is unbelievable for a woman who has only studied 7 months but sometimes we just can't understand each other.  For almost an hour she tried to tell me what the following sentence meant.  "Human who falls in love with bed altogether Hangzhou."  I can follow up to the word Hangzhou and then I am completely lost.  I can't tell you if it is a idiom or a cultural thing a portion of a saying that Chinese understand or if I need a definition for the word.  I know there is a city in China with that name but beyond that I am completely and totally lost.  Anyone have and ideas?

If she wasn't so important to me I would blow it off and move on but I think this is one of those things that reveals some of her character.

Shaun

[brett]

The Chinese have 1000's of these sayings, I guess you'd have to learn them all to become fluent in Chinese. Periodically my lady sends me a new one.

Some people are much better at learning languages than others. My lady amazes me - she remembers her high school English and it got much better when I was with her. She speaks 2 Mandarin dialects and became fluent in Cantonese after spending just 7 months in Guangzhou. Sadly her written English is as bad as my written Mandarin and I am now aware of how horribly difficult English is to learn.

[shaun]

Shaun,

Did she verbally say this or did she type this?

Jim

Jim,

She typed it. We are using the talking for learning language right now.  It slows us down when we want to talk with each other.

Shaun