Going to Wales was never like this.
At the earlier stage of having the germ of the idea when talk was easy - I considered that the length of a visit would more or less cost the same however long I went for (obviously apart from living expenses) and it seemed pointless to go for 2 weeks. I thought that if I did turn out to be useful, it would make sense to stay for a reasonable time and initially 3 months seemed sensible. However, my nearest and dearest thought that a month might be too long (for me or the orphanage???) - so WE compromised on the chosen 2 months. When to go? That was easy - it's coldest in England during January and February - decision made.
It was almost a year away at this stage so the easy talk continued on and off. It came to a fairly abrupt halt though as the time moved on and it was getting close to putting my money where my mouth was!
I now had to make some sort of arrangements and I realised that before booking a flight - I needed to be sure that the Indian Government would allow me into their country and that it was proper to sort out a visa first. The choice was a 3 month, 6 month or 12 month one.
The 3 and 6 month ones were the same cost and the 12 month one much more expensive. It seemed more practical to apply for a 6 month one I though in case I became so indispensable that Sarah begged me to stay on longer as they couldn't possibly survive without me. That was a relief as I therefore needed to wait until nearer the end of the year in order to apply for a visa in order to fit the time frame.
I could start the easy talk again.
Unfortunately, November came earlier this year it seemed and I knew that I would have to stir myself into action. After some research, I discovered that I could apply for an Indian visa online - Great.
Not so great actually - it took me hours to do it. The process of saving information and going back to complete the application using a 'password' failed EVERY time - so I must hold the world record for the number of times an application has been started from the beginning. Nothing seemed to be straightforward with it and so I had to call in the services of SUPER SON.
My boy Jon is pretty hot with computers and stuff - he'd soon sort it.
Thanks Jon for the hours you spent wrestling with the application and taking my photo and adjusting it to their peculiar size requirements to be copied onto the form.
Then just when we thought that we had cracked it - we discovered that they wanted an actual hard copy of my photo clipped to the application!!!? How on earth do you clip a real printed photo onto a virtual form and submit it for process?
Answer: You print the form off, clip the actual photo to it and post it to the Indian Embassy.
How on earth that equates to an online application still puzzles me.
Anyway, payment made (online!!), form POSTED by Special Delivery and surprise, surprise - in less than a week, an approved visa arrived through my letterbox.
Around the same time I explored my innoculation needs - Japanese Encephalitis (What's that !???) - £170 !!!, a few lesser ones and Malaria treatment. (Fortunately I'd had a necessary Hepatitis B jab some years before because of my policing exploits otherwise that would have been an extra £180!). The only painful part of these was the payment and that task was soon sorted.
Next was the flight arrangements. There are so many choices. Cheap airlines
Crowded planes
Actually, booking the flight was relatively easy and for the princely sum of £460, Emirates Airline has the privilege of my custom leaving from Birmingham Airport at the civilized time of around 1.15 pm to arrive in Hyderabad at 8.40 am the next morning, taking in a 3 hour visit to Dubai Airport en route.
And no worry when I do arrive at Hyderabad, Sarah has arranged for me to be picked up.
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