In my previous post while I was sharing my India return from South America, I realised; how I slipped into a mud pool. A pool where I was trapped and can not think anything but the difficulties and my helplessness.
It was end of my trip in South America. Almost the end of the planned three months and I was in Bogota, Colombia. I remember it was 30th of May 2013 and I was flying to Mumbai via Madrid. I had bought a ticket with Conviasa airlines via Edreams.
Even before flying from India, I had a confirmation from the Spanish Embassy that I do not need a airport transit visa to change planes. However when we went to check with the airlines office in Bogota, they denied. They said they would need a visa to let me board the plane. That is when all the problems started.
The hell just broke over and my friend Jorge stood by to help. Several visits to the office of Conviasa and it is confirmed in written that I would have a situation in the airport while boarding the flight to Madrid. They even said I would not have any problem in Caracas while changing plane. The problem would be in Madrid. It sounded logical. So we started to look for alternatives as below:
1. Spanish Visa : I had already asked for one in India and was denied. They said that the duration of stay is too long and I do not have enough means to travel. Only god can explain what that means and what they thought of my application. Sorry but I just wanted to travel.
But then I wanted to use the expensive ticket I have bought and was not sure how little the refund would be if I cancel. So we made rounds to the Spanish Embassy after talking to them over call. Bogota is a city designed like a Mathmatics notebook. The streets in the entire city would criss cross and would make grids/square blocks. Our hotel was at street 87 and the Spanish embassy was at street 92. Reaching there they informed that they can probably grant visa only after reviewing my documents, which they will only receive before 11 am the next day. It was disheartening to walk all that distance to hear a no. So we ate some arrequipas and went for our daily hangout in the city.
2. Cancellation of the ticket with Edreams : I decided to cancel the existing ticket and buy another expensive ticket from emirates and fly through 6 nations and 7 airports in 5 days. The cheapest flight I found was with Qatar airways connecting Buenos Aires and Mumbai via Sao Paulo and Doha. Another two flight; the first one taking me to Buenos Aires from Bogota via Lima, Peru and second one taking me home i.e Bhubaneswar from Mumbai. But the Challenge was Visas. My visa with was valid for another year. I would leave my plane in Sao Paulo, so I would not need a visa for Brazil. For Qatar if there is a halt, the airline facilitates the visa. The only problem was with Argentina. My Visa had expired. It took me two rounds of the Argentinian Embassy in Bogota and I got Visa for free.
That is how I finally managed to reach India from the other end of the world. Really Visas are big issues for Indian travellers.
