Visa Update: Don't Stop Believing, aka advice I didn't buy into and instead managed my anxiety by playing pinball and bowling

Welp, after two weeks of anxiety and concocting plans B, C, and D, I now have my original passport in hand, complete with a fresh Russian visa valid for three years.

How did it happen? I’m going to blame it on sheer luck and the Russian Consulate for giving me a direct number to the visa service center where I sent my passport.

I called the ILS center in Houston first thing Monday, June 3 as I was driving back from Kansas. A very nice woman named Oksana answered after a few rings, asked for my name and my phone number, and said “Okay, we will call you back when we find your package.”

...Find my package? After 6 weeks of waiting for my passport to return, it was still sitting unopened in there office. I was not optimistic at all, but lo and behold, three hours later Oksana called me back. The online visa application I had submitted to the Russian consulate had expired, she said, but she went ahead and filled it out again for me. All I had to do was print, sign, scan, and e-mail  the first sheet back to them by the end of the day. Oksana guaranteed that I would have my passport the following Friday, June 14, a whole three days before I left for my trip. They would call me on the 13th to ask for my credit card information to overnight the passport to me ($43).

I asked her, “so, what are the chances that my visa application gets rejected and I don’t get the visa?”

She said, “point zero zero one percent chance.”

Okay Oksana, whatever you say. So after sending the sheet back in, I decided to let it all go, and started to wait.

I waited, and wasn’t really that stressed about it, since ten days seemed so long away. It wasn’t until the following Wednesday that my anxiety really started to heighten again. And it was bad. I was thinking of all the possible scenarios, revised itineraries, emailed and called to no avail on Wednesday only to get a email that evening: “yes, your visa is expected tomorrow. We will call you then.”

Thursday came, and alas, no call. I called multiple times and no one answered. I emailed them and there was no response. I was all prepared to go into the Minneapolis Passport Agency Friday morning- I filled out an application, had more passport photos taken, was prepared to drop another $200 on a passport without a Russian visa. To distract myself my friend Katie and I went to Can Can Wonderland to play pinball. It was a chill evening, and I almost forgot all about it, until I got home around 10pm and read my email:

“Dear Sophie, Unfortunately we didn’t get your visa today, but definitely expecting tomorrow. We are really sorry, but Consul had promised us we should have it tomorrow.”

AHHHHHHHHH. I went ahead and canceled my 8am passport appointment and hoped for the best.

After some online research and confirmation from a couple of folks I knew I could get a passport same day. So if worse came to worse, I could go in Monday, THE DAY I LEAVE, and get a passport before my 8pm flight.

I did not hear anything from the ILS folks all day. Once again, I tried to distract myself. I went bowling. I went to an event at a brewery. And sure, enough, the moment I stop monitoring my phone at all times, I miss a call and get a voicemail:

“Yes Sophie, we have your passport, we will ship right away and you will get it Saturday.”

I can’t even tell you how relieved I felt when I got that voicemail. It was even more amazing when at 10AM THE NEXT DAY my passport had been delivered to my front door, visa intact.

I have to tell you, I hated it when people would tell me, “oh, it will come. Stop worrying, it’ll happen” That didn’t help my anxiety at all, because I wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Well hey, they were right, and I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my first flight!