the visa adventure.

we got word late last week that my visa was ready for processing. for those who have followed the saga of the visa in detail, originally we were told it would take 6-8 weeks. being that as of november, i was supposed to start work for my new team, my new manager and i agreed it didn't make sense to work from california for almost two months on europe based work. we agreed i would work from zurich during that time, come home for the holidays to finish my visa, and head back after the new year.

sufficed to say we were both surprised when 10 days into my zurich trip, hearing my visa was ready was a bit of shocker. the team who has been working on my visa asked on thursday if i could be in new york the following week to have my 'biometric data' collected - this sounds much more intrusive then it actually is. after discussing with my new boss and realizing that if i could get everything done, i could start in london on november 30th, we agreed it would be best to go to new york and get it done. i booked a flight and flew out saturday. with the current plan, i would stay in new york for a week to complete by bio appointment and submit my documents to the british consulate - all of which had to be completed state side. assuming everything happened as planned, i would fly back to zurich on saturday, stay for another week, and then head to london on november 29th for a november 30th start. with this plan i could still keep my original ticket back to california for december 16th and spend the holidays with the fam before really moving right after the new year.

on the way to new york, i flew through madrid, spain. growing up with a mom/grandma who speak spanish and taking three years of it in high school, i had always wished i spoke/understood spanish better than i do. however, after being in zurich for 10 days, plus two weeks earlier this year, i can't express how excited i was to hear a foreign language that i understood at least 75% of and could communicate back in. this made me very excited to visit spain at some point, because i did realize my spanish is much stronger than even i had thought. also, the madrid airport is pretty cool. check this out:



from there i flew to new york, and stayed with marie for most of the trip. it was great to see and spend time in the big apple. i have to admit the first few days were bittersweet as i was reminded of just how much i love new york and have always wanted to move there, but i'm sure london will be just as cool. marie and i wandered around on sunday seeing some of the christmas sites. we stopped in bryant park at the ice skating rink, which was kind of odd considering it must have been at least 65 degrees out.



spent the rest of the week working from the new york office. i had my biometric data appointment on tuesday. they basically just took my fingerprints and picture. then i turned my life story into the lawyers and was told they would "be in touch" when everything was done. wednesday marie and i saw bye-bye birdie and had dinner. and on thursday i got word that my visa was approved!! i picked it up from the lawyers on friday after work (after a nightmare experience of trying to secure a taxi to take me to my hotel where i was staying my last night there) but i recovered with some shopping since my hotel was literally steps away from herald square and the world's largest macy's. had brunch on saturday and then headed to jfk, only to wait 6 hours for my flight to leave as the plane we were supposed to use was having mechanical issues. one overnight flight and a long nap later, i am back in zurich. it's raining a lot and pretty cold, but i'm just happy my visa is done and i will be in london one week from today! watch out big ben - here i come!