am here now
Hi Folks,
Well im here now and I can tell y'all that it was worthwhile. Lovely spot here in St Vincent with some promising employers. I tell you what though. The travel here was a nightmare. It turns out that I needed something called a caricom visa, issued for the duration of the cricket world cup. Everybody told me-no problems- they issue it on arrival in Barbados. Everybody that is apart from the American Airline staff in Miami who refused to let me board then could offer precisely NO advice on what I should do next. I kept my cool but they were just a shade short of hostile when I persisted on seeking advice on what to do next. I was fobbed off to several other complete nincompoops until finally I got one lady who appeared to have had some humanity about her. Bear in mind that my luggage had also been lost and I hadnt slept for nigh on 30 hrs, what with stopping over in LA-more hostile and officious cattle herding staff-and the queing and outright crap that occurs at that airport. So I get this one good lady and she points out there is a Jamaican embassy in Miami. So I jump in cab in a big strange city with my piss poor spanish,luckily got an honest cabbie, and somehow manage to get the visa with some begging and whining and then its back to the airport for more fighting with AA staff who were trying to charge me for the later flight.
The final twist to this sorry tale is- I get the 90 days visa waiver in the States but they dont stamp me out which im told is common practice these days, and I ive just checked my passport and I wasnt stamped into Barbados-so as far as my passport is concerned, Im still in the US....except Im not. International travel is very complicated these days is it not? Oh, and to cap it all off, Barbados does issue that Visa on arrival. Sometimes you just feel that your existence depends on the mood of bad temperered people. You do everything your supposed to do, paid lots and lots of money for tickets, and you get treated like rubbish. Anybody else feel the same? Whats wrong with the picture here??